By Julie Hullett, Managing Editor, Greenhouse Grower
Labor is one of the biggest issues facing the horticulture industry today. Every market has labor challenges, but for the greenhouse industry, recruiting and retaining employees has long been challenge.
Many roles include repetitive tasks, such as filling pots with soil, moving trays, or sticking cuttings, and these positions can be hard to fill. During the busy season, greenhouse operations need many more employees than the rest of the year, so finding enough seasonal labor is also a challenge.
Many growers have turned to technology and automation to address these issues. Technology comes in many forms, from labor-tracking apps to climate control software to equipment like transplanters and irrigation booms. Growers are selecting what works best for them to fill their labor needs.
Trends in the Labor Market
Everyone is looking for labor savings, says Dave Taylor, Enterprise Solutions Manager for AdeptAg, an amalgamation of AgriNomix Automation Solutions, Zwart Irrigation Solutions, Bellpark Automation Solutions, and Plantech Control Solutions. Many of AdeptAg’s clients are in Canada, where the minimum wage is going up. There are also rising prices in energy and gas, so growers are looking to cut costs wherever they can. By automating repetitive tasks and tracking labor efficiency from their employees, operations have seen improvements in their bottom line. Such equipment is costly — and always has been — but now the cost of labor is becoming comparable to the cost of automation, Taylor says.
Andrew Van Geest, Productivity Specialist for AdeptAg in the Zwart Systems division, says labor and energy have always been the highest costs in a greenhouse. Other input costs, such as the containers, growing media, and tags, are sold as part of the finished product. The cost of labor, however, is ongoing once the plants have been sold.
“Labor savings doesn’t have to mean less people. It can mean less wear and tear on your body,” Van Geest says.
Labor is largely an availability problem, Van Geest says. An operation may only need several employees to work full time but needs an extra 15 people for a couple of months in the spring. Many domestic workers are not looking for seasonal work. More growers have turned to the H-2A program for guest workers to perform seasonal tasks. The H-2A program brings many good workers, but it comes at a price. In addition to their hourly wage, an operation must cover housing, meals, and transportation for guest workers.
In addition to the challenge of finding enough workers, Van Geest says the work is difficult to perform, so finding little adjustments here and there to make tasks easier can be just as valuable as investing in high-tech solutions. For example, some growers have switched from irrigating with a 3/4-inch hose to a 5/8-inch hose because it is lighter to pull.
Michael VanWingerden, COO of Metrolina Greenhouses in Huntersville, NC, says the cost of labor has increased significantly in the last four to five years. Metrolina had not used H-2A labor in the past because the domestic labor pool around Charlotte and Huntersville filled their needs. However, that dried up about five years ago, so Metrolina turned to H-2A. VanWingerden described that as a “huge win.” H-2A provides a highly efficient workforce that is steady and reliable.
The Success of Growmentum
Metrolina is finding other ways to improve its labor situation as well. The operation partnered with M&S Solutions in West Virginia to develop an app to track labor efficiency, which the team at Metrolina calls “Growmentum.” The app was developed over 18 months, and every task completed with hourly labor in the greenhouse is a scannable function and labor efficiency is tracked.
“In 2022 we worked 1.8 million hourly hours. This year we will do the same amount of work in 1.7 million hours,” VanWingerden says. “We will have a 100,000-hour reduction just by giving people true expectations.”
Before the use of Growmentum, tracking labor efficiency was done on paper. Sometimes numbers were not entered into the computer accurately or employees forgot to turn in their paperwork.
The employees like using Growmentum, VanWingerden says, because it shows accountability. Every team says they are the fastest workers, but the app shows who is truly the most efficient. They can compare the efficiency of different teams, which increases employee motivation. There are about 30 different tasks in the app to be completed, all of which are non-shipping and non-production. Metrolina plans to add production-related tasks next year and shipping tasks will follow.
VanWingerden says employee buy-in is the biggest challenge. Some people do not like the feeling of constantly being tracked. However, introducing the app with positive examples is helpful to ease workers’ minds. Sometimes workers switched from working in one large group of 12 to 15 people to working in two groups of six, for example. This makes the job more manageable for the employees. When they see that working in smaller groups allows them to work 50 hours instead of 65, they are more willing to make the change.
Automate or Stagnate Philosophy
VanWingerden says Metrolina has always believed in the value of automation. His father, company founder Tom VanWingerden, coined the phrase “Automate or stagnate,” a philosophy that remains central to the operation today. However, VanWingerden says that not all automation works, and it is important to measure the pieces per person per hour. Some tasks are completed faster manually.
Shrink wrap is one example of this. Metrolina considered buying a shrink wrap machine, but a worker could complete the task in less time than it took to set up the cart before the machine wrapped it. On the other hand, transplanters for production and ISO machines for propagation are some of their biggest wins in automation.
VanWingerden advises growers to talk to colleagues. Hearing a review on automation from another grower is the best way to find out how well it works. He also suggests looking at processes outside the industry.
“A greenhouse is a manufacturing facility,” he says. “We’re just dealing with live plants.”
How To Leverage Your Growers
Van Geest of Zwart Systems says the best person to irrigate plants is the head grower due to his or her knowledge and experience with the crops. But a head grower is too valuable to have on the end of a hose.
Automation helps stretch out the quantity of work that laborers can complete.
An irrigation boom automatically travels to the end of the crop at a set speed to water the crops uniformly. This way, one grower can manage 30-40 booms. Concrete flood floors are another option to save on labor. With floors that fill up with water to sub-irrigate plants then drain the water, a grower can water acres at a time.
The biggest hesitancy with automation is the cost. Van Geest says it doesn’t take long to spend $20,000 on a couple booms or 200 feet of conveyor belts. And much of the year, these items are not being used. But they are critical at peak season.
Automation helps stretch out the quantity of work that laborers can complete. Van Geest says a head grower is probably the most expensive person on your payroll, so consider what tools they need to manage more area in the same amount of time.
Taylor of AdeptAg says automation can significantly reduce the number of general laborers that are needed for certain tasks. There may be tens of people sticking cuttings, but a sticking machine can reduce that to two people. Those two workers are inspecting what comes out of the machine rather than sticking cuttings themselves.
Van Geest says the need to save labor is not going away. But growers may find it helpful to change their mindset. If growers invest in automation and streamline processes in the greenhouse, they are improving efficiency in their operation. This is an investment in their business, which could be passed on for generations to come.
