Current Mechanization Practices Among Greenhouse Operations

In 2008, the estimated annual economic impact of the Green Industry in the Gulf South amounted to $5.182 billion, employing 71,978 workers.  As horticulture production in the region increases in value, it is expected that pressure for nursery and greenhouse growers to increase production capability and efficiency will rise.   A socioeconomic survey of nursery automation was conducted in the Gulf South as part of a research program undertaken by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the U.S. Department of Labor entitled ‘Enhancing Labor Performance in the Green Industry’. The project examined the major tasks performed among greenhouse operations without mechanization/automation.  A total of 215 nursery automation surveys were completed through personal interviews with wholesale nurseries (88), greenhouses (52), and mixed nursery and greenhouse operations (75) in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.  Only the greenhouse operations and mixed nursery and greenhouse operations were considered for the purposes of this project. The ten nursery tasks included in the survey were media preparation, pot/tray filling, cutting/seed collection, cutting/seed preparation, sticking cuttings/planting seed, environmental control, harvesting and grading production, greenhouse fertilizer application, greenhouse pesticide application, and irrigation management. Little automation was reported for the tasks of harvesting, cutting/seed collection and preparation, sticking cuttings/planting seeds, and media preparation.  Pot and tray filling as well as fertilizer and pesticide application were also reported as being done primarily by manual means. Two of the major tasks were performed by workers with substantial mechanization.  Environmental control and irrigation management both were indicated by only 39% of growers as having no mechanization in these areas.  The mechanization systems used in environmental control included: boilers and heaters, computerized greenhouse controls, fans, and roll-up sides.  Irrigation management included mechanization systems such as:  drip, misters, injectors, timers, sprinklers, overhead, hoses and nozzles, or some combination of these. These survey results indicate that there is a great deal of room for mechanization implementation among the participating greenhouse and mixed operations, particularly in the areas of harvesting and grading production, cutting/seed collection, cutting/seed preparation, sticking cuttings/planting seed, and media preparation.  Results of this analysis will provide guidance for horticulture research scientists to make recommendations as to which automation/mechanization systems could be most beneficial to the growers.  In addition, growers can use this information to make more informed financial and personnel decisions.