Last time I told you how I was long overdue for a new column post but was torn between two topics of interest, remember? Well, after Green Walls and Winter Interest, here's the second one - my take on the latest profitable service for landscape contractors, roof garden and green wall professionals and garden lovers alike.
The agriculture industry has evolved to create one of the most diverse and competitive industries for contractors, architects, landscape architects and designers. The economic downward spiral over the years has placed more pressure on companies to sharpen budgets and to offer additional diverse, one of a kind type products and services. As a business, you have to truly think about the services you offer that will make you stand out, focus on the ones that are profitable, create acceptable profit margins, and attract clients that warrant a professional.
If you recall the boom in pond installations starting in the 90's, everyone wanted this exclusive water feature and, of course, at one time only a handful of companies offered such a “specialty” service. Yet eventually, after someone does something so successful and spectacular it tends to evolve into something more mainstream. These specialty services are also often new to a company, and success rates, knowhow, and the unknown can be initial hurdles.
Tomato & basil on an A-frame.
After some needed training and experience, we know themodern development of green roofs and vertical walls provided add-on opportunities for landscape/construction, design/build, design, product manufacturing, nursery growers, irrigation and long term residual maintenance professionals.
So what is the next great service, you ask?
Small scale backyard farms of edible landscapes are the new “pond building” boom, and edible walls and roofs are the new landscape.
Although we are not seeing the green roof residential market competing with the commercial, education or government sector in terms of economic scale, there is a continuous growing trend towards residential and small commercial scale urban farms.
Currently, there are a handful of companies in the U.S. who have added edible landscapes as part of the service package they provide. On a larger scale, commercial urban farms are far and few but gaining popularity. And these urban farms can include everything from design services, installation, and maintenance to harvesting.
Urban farms are an amazing add-on feature for the green roof and wall market with great potential, and now commercially available vertical agriculture beyond conceptual stages are taking the industry to higher than average profits, showing a return on the investment of around one to two years.
Each year after operating expenses, returns on the initial capital investment can be 50% - 75% of the initial investment. Unlike ponds or water gardens, food is not an option and the public awareness and desire to have high quality, fresh produce close to home is a market virtually untapped with an unprecedented promise of success.
Opportunities now exist for the new corner store to become the state-of-the-art vertical farm backed by organic and food safety certifications that can grow everything from tomatoes, greens and specialty crops year round, indoors, in almost any building.
From small scale residential raised beds to simple but sophisticated larger vertical farms, fresh produce has evolved as the next service for the landscape industry. And, the burgeoning trend in rooftop agriculture is providing an as yet untapped boom for the green roof industry.
Rooftop farms are beginning to bring some fame, and if not yet fortune, certainly lots of media attention due to the newness factor.
See the not-so-small 40,000 sf Eagle Street Rooftop Farm below:
In recent years there has been a clear increase of public awareness and educational programs around urban farming and produce, from professional organizations like Green Roofs for Healthy Cities to non-profit organizations such as Urban Farming to private companies like many of our own collaborations here at Green Living Technologies. The consumer market is reaching out and craving for these products - restaurants, school lunch programs, classroom education, etc., and I believe the public “urban-you pick-it” is the next franchise model.
Different kinds of lettuce in one green wall module.
Recently, I had the chance to host a training at one of the largest hydroponic tomato growers in the U.S. northeast at an incredible 12-acre facility heated with methane gas costing very little to heat after the initial investment. The potential for large scale food production is great, yet we recognize the need to diversify hydroponic technologies to include new and improved techniques. By advancing this successful model with incorporating additional vertical technologies, we’ll have the capability to produce crops beyond just tomatoes.
Rows and rows of hydroponically grown tomatoes.
Although this large scale commercial facility services large clients such as grocery stores, it is the smaller, more personal one-on-one customer relationships that will provide the greatest potential for truly local produce, plus possibly provide the highest margins for the edible landscape. Of course, both the large and small scale urban ag growing facilities have their place in the market for food production, but the point is we need to diversify our crops to reap the greatest rewards.
For hundreds and thousands of years, people, communities, and cultures have always come together over food and a meal. Not only would these future urban ag centers provide healthy local food but they could also be the catalyst for bringing communities back together, wouldn't you agree?
George Irwin, The Green Wall Editor
George Irwin is the President and CEO of Green Living™ Technologies, LLC (GLT) based in NY. Green Living™ Technologies is the only U.S. manufacturer of growing media based green wall and three types of green roof systems. Mr. Irwin is a former trainer for Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Green Walls 101.
The opinions expressed by our Guest Feature writers and editors may not necessarily reflect the beliefs of Greenroofs.com, and are offered to our readers to simply present individual views and experiences and open a dialogue of further discussion, debate and research. Enjoy, and if you have a particular comment, please contact the author or send us an email to: comments@greenroofs.com.
