State Grant Boosts Propagation At Planters’ Choice

By Kendra Bobowick

Making business sense has earned Planters’ Choice of Newtown $40,000 of grant funds from the state Department of Agriculture.

Nursery owner Charles “Chuck” Newman said, “I was pleasantly surprised.” The wholesale nursery that sits on a quiet bend of Hattertown Road will soon be home to a new four-bay, gutter-connected greenhouse. The grant applications that Mr Newman and Business Manager Barbara O’Conner noticed in January, and General Manager Dave Goodwin helped complete and submit in the following months, drew the state’s attention to the nursery’s business model.

“We liked their business plan,” said agricultural department marketing representative Ronald Owen. “Greenhouse production is a big business and [Planters’ Choice] had a good business plan.”

The local nursery is one of roughly 18 recipients of $710,000 in Farm Reinvestment Grants that were recently distributed to winning applicants. Mr Olsen said funds are meant to boost business initiatives. “Hopefully, it will increase production on the farm,” he said. According to the release, “The program is designed to strengthen…Connecticut’s agricultural producers.”

Both Mr Newman and Mr Goodwin agree that the additional greenhouse space will improve their perennial and ornamental tree and shrub production. “We’re looking to increase the amount of propagation done in-house,” said Mr Goodwin, explaining that the use of greenhouses also reduces the number of plants they need to purchase from outside vendors.

“We’re more in charge of our own destiny,” said Mr Newman. “It will increase our flow and we’ll get to produce more of what we sell.” The nursery is a wholesale landscape supplier for the Fairfield, Litchfield and Hartford Counties, and also extends into New York and occasionally Boston. The company’s chief propagator, Geordie Elkins, helped assess the boost in-house propagation would provide, Mr Newman said. Mr Goodwin couldn’t argue with the resulting cash analysis.

Expanding on the production is a direction that Mr Newman has been considering. “We brought in new people and we’re going in a direction of more production.” He also sees benefits for clients. “By producing in-house I feel we could offer plants for less to our customers. It’s streamlining.”

Possibly by the fall of 2008 the greenhouse will be in operation. Currently the Planters’ Choice personnel are enjoying renovated and expanded office space and also now sell (wholesale) tools for the trade.

According to a recent release, Governor M. Jodi Rell had said, “Agriculture is an essential component of Connecticut’s economy…this grant provides funds to establish agricultural businesses having sound, long-range plans, helping to ensure that they will continue to fuel our state’s economy in the future.”

According to Planterschoice.com, Planters’ Choice, LLC, a full service wholesale nursery, was founded in March 1970 by Charles Newman. The original nursery consisted of one propagation house and two, 50-foot hoop houses.

Planters’ Choice, LLC has grown to seven propagation greenhouses, 190 hoop houses in ornamental container production, five acres of perennial production, 90 acres of field-grown nursery stock, and 20 acres of sales yards. The Newtown location has a 15-acre sales yard that offers a complete line of nursery stock, as well as a diverse line of hard goods. Approximately 32 acres of container nursery stock are raised on two farms.

The field production operations are located in Woodbury and Watertown on three separate farms. The perennials are propagated and grown in Watertown. There is a five-acre full service sales yard at this site.

Gutter-connected greenhouses will have improved ventilation, higher efficiency, and provide easier temperature control over a larger area, said Mr Goodwin.