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State's Horticulture Industry Growing Big Bucks

Posted on: Monday, 29 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

Aug. 28--Long nights of loading packages into crates for shipment around the country are a thing of the past for Montgomery's Arnez Scott. The 20-year-old former United Parcel Service employee found a new job over the summer, and now works among the plants and flowers at Southern Homes and Gardens on Vaughn Road.

"I like this way better," he said from inside the company's fully automated greenhouse. Even though Scott currently studies computer information systems, he would consider getting into the horticulture business on his own, he said.

On Saturdays, 50 customers file through every hour, he said, "and they are buying carts full of stuff."

According to a study released by Auburn University, Scott is working in the state's largest cash crop business.

Alabama's green industry -- which includes nurseries, greenhouses, landscaping, turfgrass and sod companies -- contributes $1.9 billion annually to the state's economy, netting 31,000 jobs in the state, the study found.

The study was a joint effort between Auburn University, the Alabama Nursery and Landscape Association, the Alabama Turfgrass Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

According to a news release from the university, the study is the first comprehensive economic analysis of the state's green industry, a segment often overlooked as part of the state's agriculture scene.

"The horticulture industry, even 10 years ago, was just a bunch of farmers growing plants," said Jessica Deese, brand manager with Plant Development Services Inc., a Loxley-based company that develops, markets, grows and sells new plant lines.

Industry insiders say the growth in the industry has been phenomenal.

"Talk about the largest crop in the state, and most people think of cotton," said Auburn agricultural economist Deacue Fields. "This study ... clearly illustrates the tremendous and far-reaching impact of the green industry to Alabama."

The USDA has identified the green industry as one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of agriculture in the nation, according to the news release.

A number of factors contribute to the industry's rapid growth.

"One of the things is the house building. With this business, there's so many new homes going up. Naturally, they do a lot of landscaping," said Annette Banks, a sales associate with Little Mountain Growers in Montgomery.

Aggressive marketing and innovative plant design are additional factors, which is why Plant Development Services focuses its energy there.

"We want to develop plants that are better than what is currently available in the marketplace," said Deese. "Most of our products have better disease resistance, improved production, more blooms, better blooms, better foliage."

The Encore Azalea is an example of their work. Unlike a normal azalea that only blooms in the spring, the Encore also blooms in the summer and fall. Plant Development Services makes money by developing such plants and getting patents on them.

Because so much cash is available in the industry, the traditional concept of a nursery is being transformed, with American plant retailers taking notes from their European counterparts.

Southern Homes and Gardens' new store features everything from solid wood furniture and housewares to a restaurant and coffee shop -- not to mention two greenhouses that monitor the atmosphere and adjust the temperature and humidity inside.

"It is a huge investment on our part but we feel like it is worth it... because of the year-round shopping it provides," said Russell Brown, general manager of Southern Homes and Gardens.

Responding to consumers' desire for new plants like the Encore Azalea, Brown spends a lot of time figuring out which plants to buy.

"We meet almost daily on new products that are coming out that we can offer," he said.

The point is to appeal to plant lovers who have a tendency to spend real money in the green industry, people like Mary Lowe-Clark, who shelled out $30 on Tuesday for three plants. Lowe-Clark is just as likely to spend $100 in a single visit, she said.

"I'm a Flordian and I grew up with a lot of flowers and plants," Lowe-Clark said. "I don't ever buy on prices, I just buy what I want to. You pay for what you get."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.

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Source: Montgomery Advertiser

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