Greenhouse business sprouts from hobby

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Published: July 8, 2010

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MADDEN, Alta. – Craig and Libby Smith’s farming dream has grown from a small greenhouse to more than 18,000 sq. feet of space producing flowers, herbs and vegetables.They bought a bare quarter section of land northwest of Calgary near the hamlet of Madden in 1998 and by 2000 had started a small greenhouse that has expanded into a large indoor growing area and garden centre. “It started as a hobby that grew into a business,” Libby said. Seventy percent of their business is selling wholesale to garden centres in Calgary and Cochrane, Alta., with the rest from farm sales and farmers’ markets. They create custom designed hanging baskets and containers and grow vegetables such as traditional and heirloom tomatoes. Herbs are the newest product. This year has been a challenge because home gardeners reduced buying due to poor weather in May and June. Wholesalers reported that business was down 50 percent.”The rain in early June has really killed the wholesale market,” Craig told a June 24 farm tour. Added Libby: “Despite the fact we are in a closed building, we need the sun to grow flowers and this year has been challenging with four weeks of rain and snow…. We are probably not down that much because every year we have been growing our own retail market, but we are certainly nowhere near where we should be.” Libby works in Calgary for the energy company Nexen, while Craig works on the farm full time. They employ five seasonal workers. Craig starts flowers from cuttings imported from Mexico, Costa Rica, Portugal and Israel, but also starts pansies, petunias, snapdragons, dusty miller, lobelia, alyssum and marigolds from seed in February. The greenhouses are covered with plastic and heated with natural gas. “When everything is running we are about 2.5 million BTUs so February and March’s gas bills are a little bit large,” Craig said.They collect 7,000 gallons of rainwater from the greenhouse roofs and use dugout water as a backup. Their water tends to be alkaline, which hinders nutrient absorption, so it needs to be treated to reduce the pH level. Most of their advertising has been through word of mouth, a new website and participation in the Country Drive program, an initiative of central Alberta farms and tourism groups that encourages urban residents to visit farms that offer direct sales. Their experience this year with untimely snow, frosts and cloudy days is not unique. Greenhouse consultant Mohyuddin Mirza said vegetable and ornamental plant producers are hurting. “My estimate is 10 to 30 percent less cash flow across the board,” said the retired greenhouse specialist with Alberta Agriculture.”By the Victoria Day weekend to the end of May, they recover at least their production costs, but this year the weather was consistently not good so on Victoria Day weekend sales were down…. They normally recover sales in June but the weather was not good either.”The cold weather forced operators to heat their greenhouses longer than expected to raise plants that customers aren’t buying. The result is leggy, yellowing plants that may end up on the compost heap. Nevertheless, there is expansion within the Alberta industry, the fourth largest in Canada. Mirza is working with the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association to compile a 2010 industry profile. There are 325 growers working on 300 acres, which is 13.1 million sq. feet. That is down from 385 growers 10 years ago, but acreage is larger now and another 10 acres are under construction to produce vegetables. “These are state of the art for winter production and use supplemental light,” he said.”We are positioning ourselves more toward less imports in winter and more local production.” The industry employs 1,500 full-time workers and 3,000 part-time staff that includes foreign workers from Mexico and Thailand.

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About the author

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth has covered many livestock shows and conferences across the continent since 1988. Duckworth had graduated from Lethbridge College’s journalism program in 1974, later earning a degree in communications from the University of Calgary. Duckworth won many awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Association, American Agricultural Editors Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists and the International Agriculture Journalists Association.

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