When Texans are asked what their state's top farming or ranching wholesale product is, they might say "beef." They would be correct, but when asked to name the second largest agricultural product, many might give an answer of something other than ornamental plants.
Ornamental plants?
"As far as ag commodity in the state, nursery and greenhouse crops has gone over a billion dollars (annually) in wholesale value now, and it is, I believe, the No. 2 ag commodity in the state," Dr. Brent Pemberton, research horticulturist with the Texas A&M Agricultural Experiment Station in Overton, says.
He says ornamental plant wholesale sales rose to the No. 2 position less than 10 years ago.
Statewide, the nursery and greenhouse industry makes up almost 9 percent of all agricultural production, with wholesale receipts totaling $1.2 billion.
Last year, wholesale gate receipts from Cherokee, Van Zandt, Smith and Henderson counties totaled more than $250 million.
Pemberton said the last numbers he saw from Cherokee County indicated its bedding plant growers were producing about $80 million a year in wholesale farm gate receipts.
"There is some crossover (between bedding plant and ornamental shrub production among East Texas growers) because some of the woody plant nurseries that grow trees and shrubs also have some color programs," Pemberton says. "They will grow begonias or something for landscapers and that sort of thing, but the ones that predominate in the bedding plant industry are in Cherokee County."
The experiment station had its annual Overton Horticultural Field Day in June, which included more than 100 vinca entries, about 20 varieties of ornamental peppers, 60 trailing petunia varieties and 30 verbenas, Pemberton says.
LOCAL GROWER
Mark Shuttlesworth, vice president of sales and merchandising at Powell Plant Farm in New Summerfield, says that company's greenhouses produce more than 1,000 plant varieties for retailers primarily in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
"That's our home base," Shuttlesworth says. "For some of the other larger stores, we'll go out of our area if we have special programs for them. I was in the Carolinas this year. We were in Memphis quite a bit, Missouri and Kansas."
Powell is a primary provider for more than 400 stores, and Shuttlesworth said it sees $2 million to $3.25 million in sales per week in April, generally the busiest month.
The company builds a forecast for each plant based on past sales and it tries to supply 10-15 percent more of each plant should its customers need it.
"If I sold you 100 flats last year, I'll try to build you 110 or 115 this year so you can see some increase in sales from the prior year," Shuttlesworth says.
Powell's sales amount to about 20 percent of the $250 million in area sales, Shuttlesworth says, adding the company is the largest color provider in the southwestern United States.
It trucks products more than 3 million miles per year.
But he adds the company faces "extreme" competition from eight to 10 large growers in the Southwest, he says.
"Something that's good is going to create opportunity, and in the last 30 years the opportunity has been pretty easy to get into the bedding plant industry," he says.
A person can notice several smaller growers on the drive from New Summerfield to Tyler via Jacksonville. While Powell Plant Farm has for its customers some of the larger garden department retailers, many smaller, independent nurseries need suppliers, and much of this business goes to the smaller growers.
"Those little independents who are selling in their retail operations all over the state of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma create opportunity for some of the smaller growers," Shuttlesworth says.
Big box retailers give growers "primary" and "non-primary" status.
"That's how we lock in our table space," Shuttlesworth says. "And with that comes field services. I've got 28 management people in the field and over 150 merchandisers who are working those garden centers throughout the Southwest region in the springtime. That will drop off to about 85 merchandisers in the offseason.
"We grow it here, we pack it, we ship it out where it's managed by our people in the field, and we call those merchandisers," Shuttlesworth says. "We keep an eye on it all the way through the cash register."
Powell has 140 acres in New Summerfield and it has an operation in West Texas. The New Summerfield farm has more than 6 million square feet of growing space. Its employment level in New Summerfield and merchandising staff in other locations total more than 1,000, and it averages about 550 in the offseason.
The company, which from the highway looks somewhat like a city of greenhouses, always has expansion on its mind, Shuttlesworth said. It will eventually build another 750,000-square-foot greenhouse to mirror its largest existing greenhouse.
But Shuttlesworth said expansion is expensive, and thus often incremental. Powell might start growing some plants on an irrigated piece of land, or contract with some of the smaller growers in the area to produce bedding plants for it, prior to building a new greenhouse.
"If you go to spend $4 million, $5 million or $6 million on expansion, you've got to have a good payback plan for your investors," he says.
Also, Powell has many types of machinery, a rail transportation system and computerized climate-control and irrigation systems in some of its greenhouses. This equipment not only represents a sizeable investment, but it also represents an ongoing maintenance expense.
LARGE TAX BASE
Shuttlesworth said the plant farm is the largest tax base for Summerfield Independent School District, and a large tax base from Cherokee County.
"We're very proud of that; we're going to make sure we fulfill our commitment to the local community," he says.
Billy Powell started Powell Plant Farm as a roadside stand in 1957, Shuttlesworth says. But the plant farm began to grow after a customer asked Powell if he could grow a certain variety of flower.
"Billy, being the entrepreneur that he is and certainly was then, took on the challenge, and he grew that variety of items," he says. "He saw a niche. He developed that niche from a roadside stand to what you see today."
The company also had the good fortune of having very good customers in the earlier days, Shuttlesworth says.
"Kmart had a very nice garden center long before a lot of people were even in business," he says. "Mr. Powell had Kmart business. He had some of the bigger players in the early days of the bedding plant industry.
And the company helped change the look of garden centers.
In the early 1960s, customers would typically purchase seed, Shuttlesworth says. Powell Plant Farm was one of the first companies to develop the six-pack displays of small plants for sale, and color started appearing in the garden centers.
The company produces about 3 million six-packs and 24-pack landscaper flats a year, he says. It produces more than 2 million mum pots. This year it will produce between 600,000 and 700,000 poinsettias for the holiday season.
Shuttlesworth said when economic times become tougher, the bedding plant industry generally thrives.
"Families want to stay close to each other," he says. "You will find that they spend more time together traditionally in the gardens