June 2022
SPECIAL
6
Text: Nursery Stock Trade Fair GrootGroenPlus
ANTICIPATING SHORTAGES AND PRICE INCREASES Both the corona period and the war in Ukraine have a major impact on
businesses, also in the nursery stock industry. How do nurserymen handle
price increases, increased delivery times of raw materials, and a shortage of
production resources? And how does the drought impact nursery stock crops in different areas? To answer these questions, GrootGroenPlus talked to a number of growers and other stakeholders.
Different strategies
a preference for nightly watering, and
French nursery Laforet Jeunes Plants.
control irrigation depending on the needs
We asked Emilie Carré, president of the “Covid-19 and later the war in Ukraine
have put us into an economic system
training of our employees, to better of the plants.”
that makes products that need to be
“We’ve also taken measures when it
and with longer delivery times. As a
a market perspective, we are also
imported less available, more expensive, producer, we have to be flexible, to
maintain the production cycles, and
control the costs. Our goal is to maintain a commercial dynamic with reasonable sales prices”, says Emilie Carré. Laforet
developed multiple strategies to manage these limitations as much as possible. Carré: “This means that we have to
anticipate when it comes to the delivery times of pots, diversifying suppliers,
reducing the number of deliveries by
comes to marketing”, says Carré. “From developing the assortment by offering
adjusted varieties such as the planting
of Phillyrea hedges (Phillyrea angustifolia Green Quick®), the expansion of our
assortment of Mediterranean plants
(shrubs and perennials), introducing
Mexican garden or dry collections, and by having the guts to use thyme or
chamomile to replace lawns. We have our AlterGazon® concept for this.”
potting soil mixtures (less peat), involving
It is important to keep an eye on the price
waste and to reuse everything that can
Os are managers and owners of the
maintaining more stock, developing our our very motivated teams to reduce be reused.”
The next problem is the availability of water. Besides the difficulties of the
industry, we have to deal with a shortage in water supply, like the rest of Europe.
For years, we’ve been trying to use this
resource the best we can: recuperation
of drainage water, protecting cultivation areas from the sun, mulching the crops,
Mart Peeters and his colleague Stijn van shrub nursery Smart Plants Potcultuur. The shrubs enter the company as
cutting and will be grown for a year.
After that, the products go to national
and international nurseries and trade to grow further, and finally end up at the
final customer, for example via garden centres.
How does he look at the current situation? “We are dealing with an industry-wide
Emilie Carré. problem”, says Peeters. “The companies
Peeters is happy that he doesn’t have
be hit harder by the increased prices
supplier has managed that very well.
in the pot and container cultivation will and lack of raw materials than open
soil growers, who will mostly be hit by drought.” He does notice the issue of
shortage of raw materials and increased prices in his company. “Take potting soil for instance,” he says, “a part of those
raw materials come from the area that is now hit by the war between Russia
and Ukraine. The potting soil now has a different composition. Fortunately, the properties have remained the same
for the most part, but you do notice it.”
any issues with the supply of the soil. “Our They didn’t accept new customers, so
they would be able to supply the current customers. I hear from colleagues that they do experience issues. That will
probably differ per supplier. The pots are still supplied in time, but in more limited quantities. There really is an issue with the availability of raw materials and
increased prices. We have to work with day prices for the pots, and the costs for box pallets have also increased a
lot. From 20 to 35 Euros. According to
Water is a necessity Due to climate change, we have to deal
with extreme weather more often, where
extreme rainfall is being followed by long
important to maintain the water, and take the right measures to do that.”
periods of drought. Therefore, it is very
The water board cannot do that alone. It
balance. Water is a necessity, especially
parties. “For the nursery stock industry
important to maintain a good water in the nursery stock industry.
A very important player in water balance is the water board Brabantse Delta.
What do they think of the situation? “This has indeed been a very extreme year”,
says René Rijken, account manager for
is important to cooperate with different
we’ve found a great partner in Treeport.
They help us with maintain a good water quality and reducing emissions. They
also help us find out how the industry
can help with limiting the consequences of climate change.”
agriculture at the water board. “In case
During the extreme drought of the
we can to make sure that water users,
confronted with issues around the
of continued drought, we do everything including nurserymen, get the water
they need. At the same time, it is also
summer of 2018, we were already
availability of water, and a pump ban for surface water was issued. If the water
level in ditches and streams lowers due
There are some great examples of that. If
might prohibit people from pumping
not let it get away. If you place a barrage
to long-term drought, the water board water from these ditches and streams to use in for example nurseries. In
some areas, a pump ban has already been issued again. “As opposed to other nursery areas, we don’t have
any large rivers here, that we can use to get water from”, says Rijken. “The
level in our waterways is low, and the
groundwater level is alarming. It’s really
in the red.” Something needs to happen. Rijken mentions reducing the need for
sprinkling as an important step. “This can be done more effectively, for example
by drip irrigation on specific locations,
instead of everything from the top down.
the water falls down, you have to store it, in a ditch, you prevent the water from going to the main water way. We can
also wonder if we need as many ditches as we have. In this area, ditches are not
used as water buffer. The system can be compared with the highway. It becomes more crowded due to all these access
roads. If you close down a few of them, it will all get a more quiet.” Rijken also
mentions improving the soil quality as
an important aspect. “Ensure the soil is
very permeable. I cannot emphasize that enough.” By taking the right measures together, we can cope with extreme weather conditions.
