Chris Finally Blogs! :: Chris Beytes

Sunarc, which was showing a foam-based shade/heat retention system.

Lloyd and Candy Traven and Dave Eastman.

Eddy and Lela Kelly celebrated 20 years of Dosatron with cupcakes for everybody!

For the second year running, Dummen USA hosted a variety display and dinner at Timbuk II Plant Company outside of Columbus.

Published:7/12/2006

Apologies from the senior bobblehead for making the younger bobblehead do all the work!


But when Bill said that he was having a tough time tracking me down, he wasn’t exaggerating. OFA is NOT like Pack Trials, where you can relax at the end of the day and type over dinner. I was pulled in so many directions by so many people needing something from me that I never had a chance for Bill to even show me how to work the blog thing on our laptop! We did sit together for 20 minutes at the entrance to the trade show, during which I was able to type five whole words in between conversations with show-goers before I got dragged off again. So now I’m giving you a few OFA show thoughts from the comfort and (relative) quiet of my office.


The Big Trend: Partnerships. Last Thursday’s announcement about Ecke buying Oglevee was apparently the tip of the iceberg. On Saturday Lloyd Traven of Peace Tree Farms grabbed me to tell me of a “true merger,” that of Peace Tree and young plant supplier Gro ‘n Sell, owned by Dave Eastburn. Lloyd and Dave have merged their two companies completely, legally, financially and everything else. As company president Dave Newberry put it, “It’s two small companies coming together to be a better small company.” Gro ‘n Sell sells young plants and Peace Tree is primarily a finisher, so they see it as a perfect synergy.


Bill already filled you in on Syngenta’s purchase of Fafard, which was partnership number three we learned of.


On a different scale, Frank Yantorno of Center Greenhouses in Colorado told me he now has three small growers contract growing for him, which effectively doubles his production space without building new greenhouses. He provides everything including production expertise; they grow the plants. That’s no unique in this business anymore, but what IS unique is that Frank doesn’t sell to chains, he sells to independents.


Supply Chain Logistics. This is a topic we don’t talk about much, but it’s coming to the fore. BFG held a press release to introduce their S.M.A.R.T. Business program, which is essentially a paperless ordering system using wireless and Web technology to provide real-time order and inventory info to sales reps, customers and vendors. A cool function is that BFG will know which vendors have the best order-fulfillment track record (and the worst), and will provide that info to customers. S.M.A.R.T. will eliminate redundancy and errors, shorten delivery times and basically tighten up the supply chain--just like other industries have already done.


Container Centralen (better known as CC, the Danish cart company) is now testing expanded logistics services, offering to pick up your racks at retailers and even deliver your plants for you. Who knows? Someday you won’t need racks, trucks or drivers. You’ll just schedule a pickup with CC and they’ll do the rest.


The mood: upbeat or nervous? It was both, actually. While there were many sessions on energy costs and savings, nobody seemed overly worried about heating costs. I think growers have resigned themselves to high gas prices, and companies offering energy curtains, efficient heaters, environment controls and other technology seemed for the most part upbeat about the show.


At the same time, pay by scan has really been a disaster in some parts of the country, costing some growers serious money this spring. And Target quietly went to pay by scan in their garden centers, we learned, adding to the challenges. I wondered out loud if Depot might consider pay by scan a bad idea and scrap it in a few years, but having learned at Super Floral Show in June that Depot is considering putting trees and shrubs into pay by scan, I’m not hopeful the concept will go away.


New products. Watch for these in the September GrowerTalks, but my favorite strange new product is a system by a company called Sunarc that pumps foam between your layers of double poly. The foam serves as both shade and insulation, and is cleaned out by an automatic spray of water. It’s Canadian technology that’s being tested in Quebec. I’ll be up there next week, and I’ll try to check it out in person.


All in all, OFA was as busy as I’ve ever seen it, with great sessions, more receptions and events than you could shake a stick at, and enough opportunities to talk to your fellow growers to keep you busy for a month.


Which is about how long I would need to properly cover the show. Much thanks to Bill for getting our blog out. Next time (wherever that is; maybe Horti Fair) I’ll find a way to be more timely with my contributions.