US (MA): Business and marketing sessions at NGCE

The biennial Northeast Greenhouse Conference & Expo is co-sponsored by New England Floriculture, Inc. - a group of grower representatives from the Northeast, augmented by University and Cooperative Extension staff in each state who specialize in greenhouse crops and management. This year's edition features several business and marketing sessions.

Dustyn Nelson is the operations manager for a landscape construction company and serving as a board member for the Connecticut Nursery and Landscaping Association. Formerly, he was employed as the business development coordinator at The Garden Barn Nursery. During his time at each establishment, Dustyn developed locally-grown branding programs and marketing plans that utilized new ways to connect with the upcoming generation of consumers.

 

Maggie Bridge has been working with plants at her family's garden center since childhood. In 2007, she graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.S. in Business Administration and a dual emphasis in Marketing and Human Resource Management. For the past decade, she has been the Manager of Sales and Marketing at Sam Bridge Nursery & Greenhouses, and is a current Board Member of the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association.

 

Sue Adams is vice-president of Adams Greenhouses, a five- acre operation in Poughkeepsie, NY. Their largest account is the family's four garden centers for which they supply with over four million plants. Sue works closely with Adams' marketing department, creating special promotions, brochures and website information. She is an award winning container designer, graduate of Cornell University, serves on the New England Floriculture Board and is president of New York State Flower Industries.

 

Dr. Ariana Torres is currently an assistant professor in the departments of Agricultural Economics and Horticulture & Landscape Architecture at Purdue University. Dr. Torres' primary responsibility is to develop and deliver marketing and economics educational programs to the specialty crop industry. Dr. Torres has over 9 years of experience working on the intersection of economics and the specialty crops industry. She works closely with a range of specialty crop growers including vertical farms and ornamental growers. Her expertise include the economic modeling of adoption of new technologies, the development of decision making tools for specialty crop growers, and the economic impact of growers decision-making processes. More information at: hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness

 

Erin Pirro is a farm business consultant for Farm Credit East. She has been helping farmers and agriculturists, large and small, make their businesses run better since 2001. With a background in agricultural economics, her focus has been on benchmarking and profitability improvement because sustainability means economics, too! Erin leads the Farm Credit East's Agricultural Retail Benchmarks program working with a group of 50 progressive agriculturists to analyze financial and operational metrics to set industry standards, and use that information to focus clients' strategic business planning. Her family raises and markets Connecticut grown lamb and wool products. Each spring, we provide shearing services for sheep, llamas, and alpacas.

 

Rebecca Adams grew up in the greenhouse industry, working at Mark Adams Greenhouses until she left to pursue a career in Human Resources. She currently works in Human Resources at Adams Fairacre Farms in Poughkeepsie, NY, and teaches a course in Human Resource Management at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Rebecca has her Master’s degree from Penn State in Human Resource Management and specializes in benefits and workplace safety.