Ellison Chair in International Floriculture
Ellison Chair in International FloricultureTeaching, Research, Extension and Service

Factors Affecting Growers’ Willingness to Adopt Sustainable Floriculture Practices

by

From the August 2009 issue of HortScience by Tanya Hall (Purdue University) et al:

In June to Oct. 2008, a U.S. floriculture survey was conducted to examine the factors affecting growers’ willingness to adopt sustainable practices. The factors affecting adoption of sustainable practices were evaluated in five areas: environmental regulations, customer value, growers’ attitudes toward sustainability, age, and operation size. A logistic regression model was used to examine factors affecting growers’ adoption of sustainable practices. Nearly two-thirds (65.2%) of respondents thought sustainability was very important to the environment. Similarly, more than half (63%) of the respondents had sustainable practices in their operations.

Although respondents had positive attitudes toward sustainability and the environment, these positive attitudes alone were unable to predict adoption behaviors. The two most important factors that affected adoption of sustainable practices were the concerns about implementation and the risk perceived by growers. Neither perceived customer value nor the stringency of state regulations affected the adoption of sustainable practices. The results from this study provide original insight into growers’ views of sustainability and identify the educational assistance needed by growers to overcome the factors affecting their adoption of sustainable practices.

Walmart unveils sustainability index

by

Walmart today unveiled its Sustainable Product Index, a guide for rating the sustainability of products. The project will be rolled out in three phases, beginning with a survey of all of Walmart’s suppliers around the globe. The survey consists of 15 questions in four categories: energy and climate, material efficiency, natural resources and people and community. Suppliers will be asked to fill out the questionnaire by October 1.

The second phase of the project involves the development of a Sustainability Index Consortium, a coalition of universities and suppliers, retailers, NGOs and government entities working together to build a global product-lifecycle database, measuring the impact and resource use of products from raw materials through to end-of-life. Walmart said it intends to make the database open to the world rather than use it as proprietary information, although the company has yet to choose a partner help develop of the database.

Finally, once all the lifecycle data has been compiled and analyzed, Walmart and its partners will develop a customer-facing rating system to enable shoppers to make choices based on the environmental impact of their purchases.

Click here and here for more information.

Sustainability as a differentiation tool

by

With the current emphasis on sustainability, much attention has been placed (and some very good articles have been written) in the trade press on what growers can do to become more “sustainable.” From a marketing standpoint, I tend to focus on whether or not sustainability can be a tool for differentiating products/firms in the marketplace. Click here for an introductory discussion and here for an example of a grower already attempting to use sustainability as a marketing platform. A current research project being conducted by colleagues at Purdue will answer part of the question regarding whether or not consumers are willing to pay more for plants that are produced in a more sustainable manner. More to follow on this topic later. In the meantime, you can check out previous posts on sustainability here.

Lawns offer positive carbon footprint

by

Sustainability is a major topic of discussion these days, particularly at the recent Seeley Conference. It may not seem like it, but ultimately sustainability IS an economically-based subject whether you view it from a short-run or long-run perspective. The more the Green Industry can demonstrate its sustainable practices (and mitigate those that aren’t), the better off economically the industry will be.

Several folks in the media and otherwise have articulated the need for our industry to be proactive in demonstrating its “sustainableness.” Project Evergreen, America in Bloom, Arbor Day Foundation are examples of just that.

Research is desperately needed to document the carbon offset, or better yet, the “oxygen credit” that is provided by our industry’s products. One such piece of research recently released is a study that documents the fact that healthy turfgrass can capture as much as four times more carbon from the air than is produced by lawnmower engines.

See http://www.opei.org/carbonreport/ for the full report.

Other university studies are underway, but it will take some time because life cycle analysis is far from an exact science at this point. But in the historic words of Larry the Cable Guy, let’s “Git-R-Done!”

Seeley Conference Delivers!

by

Wow!

It’s been 48 hours since we closed to door on this year’s Seeley Conference and I am still chewing on some of the stellar presentations that were made.

Jim Marstiller kicked off the conference in good fashion. He is Senior Vice-President of Consulting Services for TNS Retail Forward, a leading management consulting and market research firm specializing in consumer behavior and its impact on retailers, those that supply retailers, and the economy. He is also the author of The Power to Innovate. Jim’s talk focused on growth strategies, category reinvention, brand development, and innovative merchandising solutions. For a publication that provides much of his discussion, click here.

I followed Jim on the program (not an easy task I might add) with a discussion I called Industry 2015, which focused on the driving forces and historical trends of the green industry. For an overview of that talk, click here.

That evening, Bill Lipinski, Chief Executive Officer, First Pioneer Farm Credit discussed the difficulties that many businesses had had in expanding while adjusting to the ever-changing business climate. Very few firms have done this successfully for several reasons: (1) the leap from hands-on management to delegating is difficult; (2) there is often a disconnect between strategy creation and strategy execution; (3) there is a hesitancy to change business strategy to the changes going on; (4) a lack of management systems and information; and (5) a lack of an ability to lead.

I opened the Monday morning session with a discussion of the economic drivers underlying differentiation strategies, particularly addressing the nature of perceived value on the part of our customers. Click here for more on this discussion. You can also click on the “differentiation” label on the right hand side of this blog page for more posts regarding this strategy.

The rest of the day highlighted a series of case studies illustrating firms who have been successful in differentiating themselves in the marketplace including Brian Minter of Country Garden and Minter Garden Center, who has one of the premier gardens & garden centers in the Northern hemisphere.

He was followed by Gary Mangum of Bell Nursery, who has been featured in several trade journals articles (click here). Gary discussed the Bell Nursery model and the unique and innovative ways they carry out their own differentiation strategy in servicing Home Depot.

Ball Publishing’s Jennifer Duffield White finished off the day by asking whether sustainability in floriculture is a tipping point for producers, retailers and consumers. The last morning of the conference, Peter Moran, Executive Vice President/CEO of the Society of American Florists (SAF), concluded the conference with a discussion of the draft sustainable standards for agriculture currently being proposed by SCS, the firm who is behind the Veriflora certification.

Needless to say, it was a busy 2.5 days but well worth it. If you missed the conference, the only respite you have is that your brain probably hurts less than mine right now.

New IPM blog available

by

The East Texas Nursery and Nursery Greenhouse IPM Program has recently added another method to distribute information — the “East Texas Nursery and Greenhouse IPM Program Blog” at http://etipm.blogspot.com/. This site will have regular updates regarding advances in greenhouse and nursery pest management, meeting information, efficacy study results and newsletters. If you would like to have updates emailed directly to you the day they are posted, go to http://etipm.blogspot.com/ and simply enter your email address.

No Company is an Island

by

For the twelve weeks from January 23 to April 16, 2008, HBRGreen (the sustainability arm of the Harvard Business Review) hosted six discussions on the emerging intersection of business and the environment. Leaders of the business world asked provocative questions and readers from around the globe answered with robust and lively commentaries, bringing an unparalleled level of insight and experience to the conversation. Click here to glean important sustainable directives for your business.

Standards Committee deadline extended

by

Due to increased interest in the development of the Sustainable Agriculture Practice Draft American National Standard for Trial Use, the deadline has been extended for applications to participate on the Standards Committee and/or supporting subcommittees to May 23, 2008.

This extension is being implemented based on numerous requests to allow time for additional stakeholders to submit their applications. To learn more, click here for the official deadline extension announcement and click here for the Leonardo Academy press release announcing the call for Standards Committee applicants.

Why is it important to get involved? Ever heard the phrase “taxation without representation”? Need I say more?

SAF and OFA have great summary websites if you need to get caught up on this critical issue.