BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
COVID-19 affect on nursery industry is a mixed bag
By KATHY ANEY
STAFF WRITER
COVID-19 is motivating
people to pick up a trowel
and get gardening.
Maybe it’s worry about
empty grocery shelves or
boredom during quarantine,
but many plant nurseries and
seed companies say business
is booming.
“We’re super busy,” said
Tania Hoeft, manager of
Kopacz Nursery & Floral
in Hermiston. “We’re busier
than we usually are and a lot
of people are calling to fi nd
out if we’re open.”
The nursery ran low on
tomatoes and is selling soil
and compost at an unprece-
dented clip. Many custom-
ers are fi rst-timers.
“They haven’t gardened
in the past or they are start-
ing back up,” Hoeft said.
The gardening boom is
reminiscent of World War I
and World War II when peo-
ple planted victory gardens
to prepare for wartime food
shortages.
John Borchert, owner of
Victorian Gardens in Mil-
ton-Freewater, said he is
noticing the same.
“Everyone is home gar-
dening,” Borchert said.
“We’ve had a steady trickle
of customers.”
Gov. Kate Brown’s exec-
utive order on March 20 to
temporarily close certain
businesses didn’t mention
nurseries. However, even
essential businesses must
enforce physical distancing
in accordance with Oregon
Health Authority guidelines.
“We’re limiting shopping
to eight people at a time and
making sure they’re spread
out,” Borchert said.
Newbie gardeners are
looking for guidance. More
than 15,000 people regis-
tered for the Oregon State
University Extension Ser-
vice vegetable gardening
course the week after OSU
announced it would waive
the usual $45 fee.
“Currently, we have over
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Rossy Garcia plants Roma tomato starts into larger containers in preparation for their sale at
Kopacz Nursery & Florist in Hermiston on Tuesday morning.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
28,000 enrolled,” said horti-
culture professor Gail Lang-
ellotto, who coordinates the
state’s master gardener pro-
gram. “We normally get
about 20 people who sign
up for the course in a normal
year.”
Territorial Seed, of Cot-
tage Grove, experienced
such a surge in orders that
the CEO wrote an open let-
ter telling customers the
company would accept no
new orders for approxi-
mately two weeks.
“The COVID-19 pan-
demic has created an
unprecedented demand for
our seed products,” wrote
Tom Johns. “Many Ameri-
cans are cocooning at home
— understandably moti-
vated to be self-reliant for
as much of their own fresh
food as possible.”
The Cottage Grove store-
front closed and some of the
staff reassigned to help fi ll
existing orders.
“My wife, Julie, and I
have been in the seed busi-
ness for 35 years and have
never experienced anything
A shopper wearing a mask stops to check her plants while
shopping at Kopacz Nursery & Florist in Hermiston on Tuesday
morning.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Kopacz Nursery & Florist manager Tania Hoeft waters sprouts
in a greenhouse at the nursery in Hermiston on Tuesday
morning.
Rows of plants sit in the greenhouses at Kopacz Nursery &
Florist in Hermiston on Tuesday morning.
comparable to this,” Johns
wrote.
Not all parts of the nurs-
ery industry, the second big-
gest agricultural sector in
Oregon, are experiencing
the surge.
“It’s a mixed bag,” said
Jeff Stone, executive direc-
tor of the Oregon Associ-
ation of Nurseries. While
some nurseries are going
a roughly six-week period.
The Oregon nursery industry
ships about 75% of its stock
out of state. Some growers
who rely on geographically
distant customers are expe-
riencing curtailed orders just
before peak shipping time.
“There’s no good time
for a pandemic,” Stone said,
“but timing could not have
been worse. It is make-or-
gangbusters, he said, others
are struggling. Because of
economic uncertainty, retail-
ers are ordering fewer orna-
mentals and fl owers. In addi-
tion, the pandemic brought
a fl urry of canceled events,
such as weddings.
In the nursery business,
Stone said, timing is every-
thing. As much as 70% of
the year’s income comes in
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
break time.”
Borchert and other local
nursery owners are enjoying
a surge in gardening, but he
worries about Mother’s Day
and all those hanging bas-
kets he and his staff planted
for the yearly celebration.
“People are defi nitely
gardening,” he said, “but
I’m not sure how the gift
market will be.”
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