Conscious choice

Photos © Adobestock and Taylor Feuerborn, Loma Vista Nursery

Our industry does a lot of good — growing plants and then sending them on their way, out into the marketplace to end-user destinations unknown. Research confirms that our plants provide health, wellness, physiological and socioeconomic benefits to people and ecological benefits to animals, pollinators and the environment.

Plants keep homes, hospitals and workplaces looking warm and inviting. They clean the air and provide shelter for birds and wildlife. They are soil superheroes, standing stoically in the path of stormwater runoff. We have a rightful claim to leadership on all of that.

Collectively, our industry is very good at growing plants with benefits. But are we truly good at growing plants with benefits sustainably?

When we think about our environmental impact as companies and as an industry, the question gets real: Where do we stand on a symbiotic relationship with the environment? The answer, I believe, lies in conscious choice.

The general idea is to plan, then act in a way that benefits the environment — not in a way that is detrimental to its future. Single-use and difficult-to-recycle plastics are blemishes on the face of our industry. And there are others. I can see eyes rolling as I add plant protection products with ecosystem consequences, invasive plants and fertilizer runoff to the list.

Perception versus reality

The reality is that our industry has solutions that benefit human health and ecosystems. The consumer perception is that we use business practices that are a threat to human health and ecosystems.

Some end-users will not accept a small amount of insect leaf chew, for example, but want plants produced with no insecticide. The options for reducing perception versus reality may not be viable for all growers, depending on their environment and setup. But the “perception versus reality” dilemma stands in the way of providing impactful environmental solutions — or maybe it’s a guidepost.

Our industry will never be perfect because there is no perfect solution. But every decision and indecision has an impact on the natural environment. Achieving incremental improvements over time is important. The first step to incremental change is collectively acknowledging our industry’s issues. The second step is acting on them as individual companies.

At our nursery, we say, “We know what we do and how we do it matters now and for future generations.” When business strategy and decision-making settles on sustainability as a core value, we can begin to address long-term changes that benefit the natural environment. When sustainability is an industry core value, environmental consciousness is the wave that will lift all boats.

Symbiotic sustainability

Making deliberate decisions to infuse sustainability into every aspect of day-to-day operations and growing practices is key to producing healthy plants that deliver benefits — and key to our industry’s relationship of symbiotic sustainability with the environment.

An operation that prioritizes sustainability uses renewable resources. Leadership considers how its resources impact the environment and weighs its use against the ability to achieve profitable growth.

Resource consciousness is one of our core values at Loma Vista Nursery. We know what materials we use, and we are intentional about business practices that mitigate negative effects. We lessen our dependence on resources that have a negative impact on the environment.

For example, we use a no-peat, soilless media substrate for planting containerized trees and shrubs. We source this renewable option from partners that are geographically close.

We are reducing our reliance on plastics as part of our plant health practices and SANC compliance. The root pouch grow bags we use in tree production are made from recycled plastic water bottles. Because more bags fit on the pallets at distribution, we minimize the carbon footprint on their delivery.

After use, we bale and recycle nursery plastic so it’s not going into a dumpster and ultimately the landfill. We measure and track the tons of plastic waste we recycle and are working to reduce the amount of chemicals we spray.

We use electrostatic mist for this, which lessens the amount of plant protection products used in preventive or curative spraying. Through new technology, biological controls and improved cultural growing practices, we hope to be able to eventually measure and quantify this as well.

Communicate commitment

We had sustainability in mind when we built our Ottawa, Kansas, container production facility in 2003. Our nursery is built on an old rock quarry and has a 60-acre irrigation pond, which recaptures about 80% of irrigation water used on the nursery. At 55 feet deep, the pond can provide a two-year water supply.

Through the years, all our nursery’s expansion projects have been set up to maximize water recapture on-site. We also test water quality every month to understand the impact of our production practices.

As a green company, we believe in telling the story of our industry. We use available data-driven information in our external messaging. It is important to the survival of our business that our customers and end-users understand the value of our products in their daily life, as well as the products’ benefits to human and environmental health.

We communicate our commitment by putting it in writing. We train new staff on our nursery’s sustainability values. We talk about our values in team meetings and show good faith in practicing them, showing that the company is trying to “do it.”

Environmental impacts

Over time and as we have grown, new people on staff bring new ideas and expectations for how the company should operate. We get the team’s feedback on where sustainability fits rather than pushing leadership’s beliefs.

Team members create the plan they want to follow. Otherwise, it can be seen as more work for those involved. But if everyone is involved in deciding what the right things to do for the environment are, there will be more buy-in when documenting, creating, planning and executing sustainable strategies.

Our industry is made up of smart and well-meaning people who are genuinely concerned about the impact they have on the environment when running their businesses. But in talking with others, I suspect there are a lot of companies like Loma Vista Nursery. Although we are making strides, we don’t measure as much as we should.

But maybe it’s time to think about this a little differently. Maybe it’s time we rolled up our collective sleeves and committed to playing the numbers game with the goal of telling our industry’s sustainable story strategically. We are an industry of benefits. Showing we do good by growing — and practicing — green is a worthwhile stride to make.

Lyndsi Oestmann is president of Loma Vista Nursery, a family legacy business founded in 1991 by her father, Mark Clear. Oestmann has served as a member of the AmericanHort board of directors. She and her team are active participants in the horticulture industry.