With demand stronger than ever, less staff and already planting for the next season, they're working overtime at Orchard Park Growers, a Canadian propagator and finished plants grower in Ontario. After a horrible April, owner Gerard Schouwenaar is relieved with this uplift, and he and his employees are happily working their tail off.
On the left: Gerard Schouwenaar, on the right: The sign of Orchard Park Growers, .
Horrible April
The months April and May are often the busiest months, but this year, like every grower experienced, COVID-19 has disrupted the usual. "April was horrible", says Schouwenaar. "We only sold 30% of what we expected to sell. Several plants like potted gerberas we had to dump and other plants like mandevilla, bougainvillea and lavender, we pushed to May sales." About 60% of their finished plant business goes to the US, with the rest split between propagation and selling finished plants in Canada.
Disappointing Mother's Day sales
Usually April is the month when orders for Mother's Day are placed. Unfortunately, as April was such a hectic and uncertain month also regarding the opening of the garden centers, not many orders came in, explains Schouwenaar.
Sales higher than ever
Fortunately, since May 4, the garden centers in the US and Canada were gradually opening up, enabling the sales to gradually increase again. Now, more than 2 weeks later, sales are higher than ever. "We are very pleased with how things are rolling at the moment. Sales are higher than usual, even without the big orders of some of our large customers, who have not opened their doors yet for the general public. They do online and curbside sales, but they are not moving volume as usual during this time of the year."
Selling more with fewer people
On top of the high demand, at Orchard Park Growers, they are also dealing with a lack of labor, as they are down 20% regarding the number of Mexican workers. "All foreign Mexican workers had to be quarantined for 14 days. We are selling more but with fewer people, and that is quite a challenge." Moreover, the planting of their next crops, like Christmas cactus and cypress also started.
Longer season than usual expected
Even though May sales are, so far, still down compared to last year, Schouwenaar expects to have higher sales at the end of May compared to last year. On top of that, he also expects a prolonged season. "Usually, the season ends by June 1, but now we expect that the season will be a bit longer and slows down by June 12.
Easing the pain
This month is easing the pain, but it is not recovering the financial damage that was done in April, and it does not give any certainty for the coming moths. "We are very pleased how everything rolls at the moment and we all are happily working our tails off. However, in April we lost 70% of the expected sales, which cannot be covered by the increase in demand." And he stresses that the coming months will be uncertain as well. "We are already working on the crop for fall, but it is a little unknown. We had customers cancelling for fall because they are uncertain about how the COVID-19 situation will develop, but we hope they will come back."
Orchard Park Growers
Gerard's parents, Dutch immigrants, began a family-run fruit farm in 1969 in St. Catherines, Ontario, and named it Schouwenaar Farms. In 1990, their first greenhouses were built and they gradually shifted focus to floral, renaming their company Orchard Park Growers in 2000. Today, their St. Catharines location is a propagation, growing and finishing operation.
For more information
Orchard Park Growers
Gerard Schouwenaar
Email: gerard@orchardpark.net
www.orchardpark.net