ART ELEMENTS © ICO MAKER; VECTORPOUCH MACROVECTOR; FULL VECTOR AND NANUVISION

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

What it is: RFID uses radio frequencies to take inventory tracking to new levels of ease and accuracy. RFID tags, applied with the same types of tags you use now, store product information electronically. With RFID readers, you can scan the tags without ever seeing them.

Why it matters: Imagine scanning carts with a single pass or knowing up-to-date inventory without counting. With RFID tags and readers, you could accurately track product flow from receiving to storage to retail and out the door, in real time. We’re not there quite yet, but it’s getting closer.

Tom Fernandez, Michigan State University horticulture professor, oversees extensive RFID research, including a 2019 Horticultural Research Institute project. Fernandez has tested RFID in both retail and nursery and greenhouse production with different tag types, product categories and shopping cart densities.

To date, slip-on keyhole tags have yielded the best RFID results, with accuracy in retail and production settings comparable to human crews. One significant limitation has been that moisture and metal impede RFID signals. However, tags smeared with dirt scan just fine.

For stake-style and adhesive tags nestled near moist media, Fernandez believes redesigning RFID placement on tags will improve results. In addition, a major mainstream label producer is collaborating on upcoming research to develop workable RFID tags for the horticulture industry.

Artificial intelligence and intelligence automation

What they are: Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of machines to simulate human intelligence and — through data — learn, understand, reason and adapt. Intelligent automation (IA) goes a step further as AI-powered machines automatically take appropriate action as a result of that reasoning process.

Why they matter: AI is everywhere, from your Weather Channel app to the product suggestions on your favorite shopping site to the virtual assistant on your phone or in your home. Ask Google Assistant if she’s AI and she’ll tell you that it’s true. AI-powered experiences have become the norm.

At January’s NRF 2019: Retail’s Big Show, the National Retail Federation and IBM shared findings from a joint study: “The coming AI revolution in retail and consumer products.” Among the retail participants, 29% currently use intelligent automation for in-store services and 85% plan to use IA for supply chain planning and demand forecasting within the next three years.

Envision automatic adjustments of orders or purchasing plans based on real-time buying behavior. Chris Wong, vice president of strategy, offerings and alliances for IBM’s Global Consumer Industry, says artificial intelligence isn’t reserved for large businesses with in-house IT departments. “For smaller retailers, these capabilities will surface in things they don’t own, but subscribe to,” he says.

Cloud-based e-commerce solutions — what you may call “online” services — can use AI to personalize your customers’ shopping experiences. Cloud-based labor scheduling tools can help improve your scheduling decisions with the help of AI.

“The cloud democratizes artificial intelligence without you having to build it,” Wong says. “If you’re a relatively small business but you’re a pretty leading-edge thinker, you can probably already consume those capabilities just by subscription.”

Blockchain technology

What it is: Blockchain is a data-sharing technology that stores time-stamped transactions in a digital ledger shared by all parties involved. Each new transaction forms a block of the chain, which can never be revised or deleted. The result is an immutable record of every transaction in the chain.

Why it matters: Blockchain is often linked with bitcoin transactions, but these ledgers record non-financial records too. As consumers demand greater transparency about product origins and handling, blockchain provides a way to track products and confirm their provenance.

Blockchain use is growing among retailers and agribusinesses. After last fall’s romaine-related E. coli outbreak, Walmart started requiring blockchain from leafy greens producers, lowering the retailer’s tracking time from seven days to 2.2 seconds.

Some commercial cannabis producers are piloting blockchain programs to document cultivar origins and pesticide-free production. Several European floriculturists are trialing blockchain as well.

PHOTO © MACROVECTOR | ADOBE STOCK

In a recent article for Hort Journal Australia, horticulturist and marketing technologist David Thompson, web and memberships manager for the Australian Institute of Horticulture, overviewed blockchain’s potential for establishing transparent, fixed records of plant heritage, propagation and production practices, and plant breeders’ rights.

Thompson says that potential carries over to end retailers: “Garden center retailers have a responsibility as well as an opportunity to be able to ensure that what they are selling is true to type, adheres to plant breeders’ rights and is safe and free from pests that may otherwise cause damage to their customers … Blockchain’s role in demonstrating the validity of every link in a supply chain could be another tool that clearly records and validates the claims being made by each member in the supply chain.”

He also suggests that there’s marketing potential when customers can scan a plant’s product code, see its journey from seed to retail and confirm how it was produced.

Whether it’s blockchain or virtual reality, follow the advice of Wong and his IBM associates: Think big, start small and rethink the way you do business in the digital age.

The author is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to GIE Media publications. You can reach her at jolene@lovesgarden.com

Photo courtesy of Lauren Linden

If a neighbor hadn’t spotted Lauren Linden planting marigolds with her mother, it’s possible she wouldn’t be studying plant science at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio.

Linden says that in high school, she didn’t realize she could combine her love of art with her passion for working outdoors. Even after the neighbor, who worked at a nearby greenhouse, helped Linden line up a job there, Linden couldn’t see a potential horticulture career.

After spending three semesters at the Columbus College of Art and Design — where she felt like she was getting the “art being beaten out of” her — Linden finally landed at Cuyahoga Community College, where she has emerged as one of the school’s most esteemed students.

But Linden hasn’t forgotten the lessons she learned in the greenhouse, where she took on a new sense of pride in the plants she helped grow.

“From there, I learned that you can actually make money off of working with plants,” Linden says. “In high school and stuff, that’s never advertised. They’re like, ‘Be a lawyer; be a doctor.’ They never said anything about the green industry at all.”

Now Linden uses her artistic talents in hand-sketching designs or using software. She says her art background has helped her get an idea of what she’s going to create before she even officially designs it. This renewed focus is working out well for her: She won the National Collegiate Landscape Competition’s CAD competition out of 34 competitors in 2018 and won it again in 2019.

While Linden says she’s unsure what she’s going to do long-term after graduation, she’s become fond of working with flowers, far more than she ever thought she would be. She locked down a seasonal job with the public gardens at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo this summer.

Last year, she worked at a residential company and wants to diversify her experience with the commercial jobs. While there, she created an urban garden for a resident. She designed it, ordered the flowers for it and maintained it all summer.

“It was a learning curve for sure, but once I got an idea of what they were expecting of me and what materials I was allowed to use, it came easier,” Linden says.

She’ll join the industry next summer when she receives two associate degrees — one in plant science and landscape technology and one in fine arts — and yet Linden worries about what it may be like to work in a profession that varies so much seasonally. That said, she also knows there are ways to work around it. She’s largely excited to graduate and says she can’t wait to see where she can take her passions next.

“It does seem like the industry is getting bigger and bigger every day and there’s more opportunities, which seems to be more exciting for me,” Linden says. “Because ultimately what I want to do is be happy, and make money being happy.”

What words come to mind when you hear the term Millennial? Is your list full of words like lazy, entitled, job-hopper, easily distracted and want a trophy for showing up? If so, you’re like many individuals, including Millennials, who believe the predominately negative stereotypes about this maligned and underestimated generation.

Yes, there are job-hopping Millennials who are lazy, entitled and believe they deserve a trophy for showing up. There are also lazy, entitled Boomers and Gen Xers who think all they have to do to get a paycheck and a raise is to show up.

Human tendency is to see ourselves as individuals while viewing others as part of a group. This goes awry when the stereotypes we hold are primarily negative and lead to pigeon-holing people.

As Millennials close in on being half of the workforce and are poised to comprise up to 75% of workers by 2025, it’s time to get serious about knowing who they are and what they really need.

Millennials are first and foremost individuals with vast differences, experiences and expectations. Instead of assuming you know them, take the time to talk to your Millennial employees individually. Learn what motivates them, their career aspirations, what they need to perform at the highest level, the skills they need and want to learn, the best way to reward them, how they best receive constructive feedback and what they need to feel their work life balance is respected. Then act on the valuable information and road map they provide.

I can hear some of you thinking, “No one ever asked me those questions. I had to come in and prove myself. They should do the same.” Perhaps you’re right. At the same time, rock star leaders know that understanding and motivating the individuals they lead is critical to success.

My first semester as a professor, I remember thinking, “We’ve got a lot of work to do, let’s get going!” When course evaluations came out, I received comments like: “Doesn’t care about students.” Ouch!

I spent Christmas break pondering how I could be so misperceived. I concluded that in my haste to accomplish course objectives, I failed to build relationships or learn anything of significance about my students as individuals. So, I made one change the following semester. The first night of class, I asked my students about their career aspirations and the most helpful way I could give them feedback. My evaluations sky rocketed. Once they knew I understood and cared about them, they were much more willing to accept my leadership and high standards.

Unlike academia, few bosses in the garden industry get anonymous evaluations every four months. Unless you solicit feedback and refrain from getting defensive when it is offered, you are missing a key component of enhancing and refining your leadership skills.

Millennials need and desire mentoring and supervision. Effective leadership entails far more than telling someone what to do. It requires ensuring they understand the task, that their performance is up to par and that their job is challenging. The clearer the path to success is, the greater the likelihood of Millennials thriving, producing and staying with your organization.

Millennials desire to utilize their skills, engage in professional development and be compensated fairly. When you provide these things, Millennials are far less likely to jump ship to another company or a more promising job.

If you want to increase Millennial engagement and loyalty, see and treat your Millennials as individuals, invest in their growth and increase your leadership interaction. Who would want to underperform or leave such an incredible boss or company?

Dr. Sherene McHenry, The People IQ Expert, works with organizations who want to improve their people skills so they can increase engagement, productivity and profitability. Learn more at sherenemchenry.com.

Culinary herbs are a popular crop for recirculating hydroponic production in greenhouses and other controlled environments. Unlike the vining, fruiting and high-wire crops, culinary herbs are produced for their flavorful foliage. This aspect, combined with their short crop time, put them right next to lettuce and other leafy greens. However, the specific light requirements of culinary herbs are not well understood. Recent research we have conducted at Iowa State University has aimed at better understanding how common culinary herbs respond to the daily light integral (DLI) during finishing in the greenhouse.

We took eight of the most common herbs grown in hydroponic systems, including basil (Ocimum basilicum), sage (Salvia officinalis), mint (Mentha spp.), dill (Anethum graveolens), parsley (Petroselinum crispum), cilantro (Coriandrum sativum), oregano (Origanum vulgare) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris). These represent many of the commonly grown species in commercial controlled environments. Seedlings were grown in nutrient-film technique (NFT) systems. The nutrient solution pH (6.0) and electrical conductivity (1.5 mS·cm^–1) were maintained the same across all systems and were adjusted daily.

The NFT systems were covered with shade cloth that reduced light by 33% or 69%, or no shade was used. High-pressure sodium light operated from in the morning and the evening, and shade cloth was only drawn to prevent leaf scorch as needed. This experiment was repeated numerous times from the fall through into the next summer, resulting in a range of DLI values from 2 to 20 mol·m^–2·d^–1 for all eight species. Three (basil, cilantro, dill, oregano, sage and thyme) or four (mint and parsley) weeks after transplanting into systems plants were harvested, at which time fresh were recorded.

We saw a similar response in fresh mass to DLI that we found with height. The fresh mass of parsley, mint and sage increased as DLI increased up to ~15 to 16 mol·m^–2·d^–1, after which weight started to decrease. Alternatively, fresh weight increased linearly with DLI up to 20 mol·m^–2·d^–1 for basil, cilantro, dill, thyme and oregano, with no decrease at high DLI values.

Classifying crops by light requirements can help simplify production. Using fresh weight as the most important factor and grouping crops by as having low (5 to 10 mol·m^–2·d^–1), medium (10 to 20 mol·m^–2·d^–1), high (20 to 30 mol·m^–2·d^–1) and very high light (>30 mol·m^–2·d^–1) DLI requirements, we found parsley, mint and sage are medium-light crops. Alternatively, basil, cilantro, dill, thyme and oregano have high or very high DLI requirements, as the optimal DLI was not identified with the range of DLI values in our study.

Given the response to light, it is clear that supplemental lighting can boost the productivity of culinary herbs under light-limiting conditions. However, while all species increase growth with increasing light, the weight produced in response to increasing light varies with species. For example, given the same amount of supplemental light, dill may produce 25 times the amount of additional growth that oregano would. This variation affects the economics of supplemental light management. Assuming the same costs for providing the same amount of supplemental light, your return improves on lighting those crops with greater productivity.

If supplemental light is not available, there are ways to improve yield under light-limited conditions. For example, you can increase the planting density by using closer spacing in the finishing area or increase the number of seeds sown for each transplant. While the individual plant weight is still low under diminished light, the yield per square foot increases with the greater planting density.

If you are trying to increase productivity of your hydroponic herbs, evaluate the light in your facility. Supplemental light is going to be useful for most crops in many locations and should be evaluated as another yield-boosting production strategy.

Currey (ccurrey@iastate.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University. Litvin (alitvin@iastate.edu) is a graduate student at Iowa State.