Trends don’t develop and become popular overnight. They often take months, if not years, to trickle down from the early adopters and influencers to the masses. And even when something evolves from a fad to a trend, there’s always room for progress.
Based on some of my recent conversations with growers at Cultivate’24, as well as perusing responses to our Top 100 Growers and Spring Recap surveys, I’ve identified three trends (although it’s debatable whether they should even be called trends anymore) that even with significant adoption in the horticulture industry, could still gain some ground.
Artificial intelligence: AI has always been a challenging topic to address because it seems so abstract in nature. There is no shortage of emerging technologies being introduced in this space, with much of its application focused on the controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) segment.
“The role that AI plays is different than just managing the set points of an environmental control system,” James Whalen, Technical Sales Manager at Total Energy Group, told us in an article from earlier this year. “It will be able to look at the variables and much more data. It’s going to use machine vision data of crop performance and production over the course of that growth cycle.”
But adoption is still slow. Our recent Top 100 survey showed that just 5% of the nation’s largest greenhouse operations are using AI. The good news is that 84% of them say they would consider it.
E-commerce: There’s no doubt that e-commerce sales in floriculture have grown rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet there’s still potential to do so much more. During the past five years, e-commerce as a sales tool for the Top 100 Growers has only increased from 14% in 2020 (the question was asked right before the pandemic-related shutdowns began) to 25% in 2024.
The good news is that there is a wealth of information on how to deal with some of the inherent challenges in e-commerce, from weather to shipping. Go to GreenhouseGrower.com/tag/e-commerce to learn more.
Biosolutions: It’s true that the use of biological products has become standard at many greenhouse operations. But again, there is potential for growth. Less than 25% of the Top 100 Growers, for example, use biostimulants to improve plant health.
There’s also a need for more education. The Top 100 survey included a question asking for article ideas, and several respondents said they were looking for more information on compatibility and worker education, along with simply keeping up with new products.
Want to learn more about a couple of these topics? Subscribe to the Greenhouse Grower to Grower podcast to gain insights from industry experts, such as those at Costa Farms, on implementing e-commerce, and how to keep up with new innovations in biologicals.
