The Nor Cal Landscape & Nursery Show, scheduled for February 25, 2021, has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show committee met July 16 to discuss how to produce a show that will be safe for all exhibitors and attendees, while the nation continues to grapple with feasible ways to hold large events. […]
Nurseries, COVID-19 and the economy
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Earlier this spring, all signs suggested that the nursery industry might be in for a rough ride. In early March, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 had become a global pandemic. Soon thereafter, states began declaring emergencies, closing schools and limiting large gatherings. Then came the stay-at-home orders and the closure of non-essential businesses, […]
COVID-19 testing site locator goes live
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The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has published a COVID-19 Test Site Finder map to help people find local information about where testing is available, according to a release by the agency. The OHA is partnering with Google, Castlight and local public health authorities to update the site which is available in both English and Spanish. […]
OAN postpones Hawaii convention to 2021
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The Oregon Association of Nurseries has postponed this fall’s planned OAN Annual Convention in Hawaii. The get-together had been planned for November 12–14, 2020 at the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui, but with travel to Hawaii uncertain at best due to COVID-19, holding the convention in Hawaii this year was untenable. A one-day virtual version […]
Nurseries report a profitable spring despite pandemic
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The greenhouse and nursery industry continues to predict high profits during the pandemic, according to the latest market snapshot by Northwest Farm Credit Services. In a straw poll, container and B&B growers in the Northwest reported a 12.05% increase in sales in 2020, although most of the gains were reported by the container growers — […]
Seeding the need to garden
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Nothing about the spring 2020 garden season has been ordinary. From March onward, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many facets of the garden industry in ways no one could have predicted. Six months ago, if you had described a scene where shoppers and workers were wearing masks and standing six feet apart, no one would […]
May 2020: Coping with COVID-19
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The COVID-19 pandemic has upended business-to-business relationships and the entire retail marketplace for the green industry. From navigating social distancing requirements on the worksite to offering services to quarantined customers, nurseries and greenhouses explain how they are doing their best in this issue. Plus, researchers describe how mycorrhizae amendments add to plant efficiency, and scientists […]
Nurseries problem solve a pandemic
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Ben Rough (pronounced “row,” rhymes with “now”) will never forget his first day of work at J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. nursery in Boring, Oregon. The newly hired CEO of the company started on March 23 — the same day that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a mandatory stay-in-place order for Oregonians in response […]
Rationality is our friend
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The COVID-19 virus will most certainly impact families, friends and businesses. It is already causing tremendous disruption in the economy, not to mention knocking our daily lives off auto-pilot. In mid-March, I communicated with our membership the need to embrace that fear is not our friend — rationality is. We provided reliable resources people can […]