Agricultural producers who have 50 percent or more in gross income generated from agriculture – and are located in or near metropolitan areas – are eligible for the REAP. Programs like REAP provide funding for energy audits, case studies, energy efficiency improvements, installation of renewable energy systems, cleaner technologies and use of solar panels and bio refineries.

Grants are available for up to 25 percent of project costs. In other words, a $200K project could receive a $50K grant. The maximum amount receivable for energy efficiency is $250K and $500K for renewable energy.

At the core of receiving – or even applying for an energy grant – is understanding what it is that you are doing as a greenhouse grower to manage and build your business. In addition to tracking your expenses and your products, keeping a close eye on your energy use as it will give you a better idea of the peaks and valleys associated with your energy usage patterns. Keep in mind if you apply for an energy grant, you will need to provide an energy “profile” of the area in which you would like to modify.

THE GRANT APPLICATION PROCESS AND WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU RECEIVE ONE

Make sure you do not start any projects before applying for the grant. The application process does involve some heavy-duty paperwork, however, it’s less daunting than it may seem. In many cases, it can be completed in 30 days.

If you are a lucky grant recipient, your business will have to report to the USDA for three years on how the project is performing. Your “report” should include details on energy savings and energy generated. There are several smaller details that come with the territory of operating on a grant, which the USDA office explains in depth as you move forward in the process.

Improving energy consumption through modification of greenhouses might also have the effect of lowering insurance rates. Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits – a horticultural business insurance and greenhouse insurance provider – will continue to support the green industry and its sustainability efforts. While we are in the business of providing horticultural insurance coverage, we feel it is our duty to provide industry news, insights and ideas to benefit the businesses that sustain nature’s beauty. For more information on greenhouses and your opportunities as a business owner, check back with our blog!

Before thinking that it’s a good idea to just partially insure your business or purchase a minimal amount of horticultural business insurance, consider some of the other ways you can reduce your monthly expenses. For example, greenhouses can effectively reduce production costs to make better use of space and save extra money. But, how?

Every square foot of your greenhouse occupied by plants means more income for your business. If you utilize peninsula benches in lieu of conventional (lengthwise) ones, you can increase growing space by at least 10 percent. Leaving only one narrow aisle down the center of the greenhouse optimizes the amount of spaced used. Heated flooring and boom watering with this low-cost setup is also a big money-saver. In addition, an A-frame rack system can double your growing space, especially in taller greenhouses where you can have two or even three tiers of baskets suspended.

These are just a few of many practical ways to increase production space in your greenhouse – all in an effort to supply more for your demand and benefit your bottom line. These small savings can make a world of difference and leave extra room to make sure you can afford all of the greenhouse insurance you need.

Our experienced insurance agents at Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits can sit down with you to discuss the financial details from start to finish. Our customized insurance solutions are flexible in nature so they fit the needs and the budget of your horticultural business. To ensure that you have the protection your business needs for the future, contact us today to get started on an insurance plan. For more insights on your industry and ours, continue following our blog and connect with us on social media – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

It is important as an insured individual to know you are in good care with your agent. There is significant value in knowing your garden center insurance, greenhouse insurance or other coverages are provided to you by someone experienced in the industry.

Just as the CPA title is critical to an accountant and the M.D. designation is to a doctor, insurance designations hold their own value. As a smart consumer, it is a wise idea – when shopping for insurance agents – to confirm they are appropriately licensed. You can be certain your horticultural business insurance agents at Hortica are not only certified, but also very dedicated.

Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits strongly supports its agents in the pursuit of continuing education and opportunities to enhance their skills in the industry. The CPCU Program specifically educates agents with in-depth, broad-based knowledge in risk management and insurance. They will gain practical and decision-making skills that encompass the financial, legal, operational and technical segments of the industry.

Do you have any questions about the CPCU or any other horticultural industry designations? Ask us on Facebook or Twitter!

If you have the opportunity to “wow” your customers, there is a chance they will spread the word about you and your service. At the very least, they won’t forget you. So how is it that you can pleasantly surprise the next customer that walks in your business’s door? Simple: hire the right people.

While you can teach virtually anyone the ins and outs of the landscaping business, floral arrangement or to maintain greenhouse crops, you can’t teach personality. When you hire new employees, communication skills are the most important to pay attention to as they are the key to superior customer service.

Sometimes, your customers may be incredibly impressed by your employees and services, but you may never know it. Creating a way to receive feedback (e.g. via social media or a comment box) will help your business to identify when your customers are pleased with your work. This will allow you to replicate those “wow” moments to improve your customer service overall.

Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits is in the business of providing greenhouse insurance and garden center insurance among other horticultural business insurance coverage and we believe that “wowing” our customers is key to our success. Find out why on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn—and of course, your feedback is always welcome!

If a floral business hires temporary delivery drivers, what steps are necessary to protect the business from any accidents or mishaps?

Maria: Be sure to request a copy of the individual’s driving report (three years is recommended), which can be obtained from the DMV for a minimal fee. If Hortica is your business insurance provider, fax this information to your insurance agent immediately so it can be reviewed and processed, or we can order it for you.

What if a temporarily hired driver will be using their own vehicle to make floral deliveries?

Maria: Confirm with the driver that they have insurance coverage for their vehicle. You can verify this information by obtaining a copy of their policy declaration page or a certificate of insurance. Pay close attention to the dates on the policy to make sure the coverage is still valid. Suggested limits of insurance for seasonal drivers should be at a minimum of $100,000 per person (bodily injury), $300,000 per accident/$100,000 for property damage.

How should floral businesses pay temporary delivery drivers?

Maria: Before making the payment decision, it is wise to check with your accountant, attorney or with the state’s labor department as labor laws vary by state. Most holiday drivers are paid per delivery, with varying averages for a standard (local) delivery if operating their own vehicles. If using a commercial vehicle provided by the floral business, it is appropriate to lower the rate.

While needing to hire holiday help is a sign that business is doing well, neglecting to take the necessary precautions when hiring can harm your business. Make sure you contact your agent, whether you use Hortica for your florists’ insurance or another company. Reporting any changes to your business operations and staffing is an important component to your coverage. Our experienced insurance agents will help to adjust your policy so it fits the situation.

If you are currently in search of a florists’ insurance policy for your shop, look no further than Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits. You know your flower business better than anyone else and we know your industry better than any other insurance company. Contact us today to get started!

This highly anticipated project is set for construction on top of Federal Building #2, renamed Liberty View Industrial Plaza, an eight-story 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse building. Salmar Properties has redeveloped the building and BrightFarms has created a visionary rooftop design, both becoming part of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to revitalize Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront.

Pending the city’s approval, the greenhouse’s construction is slated to begin in the latter half of 2012 with a goal of completion in early 2013. BrightFarms CEO Paul Lightfoot said this project will revolutionize local produce and revitalize the economy. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated that 13 jobs are supported for every $1 million of local foods sold. Lightfoot expressed hope of taking jobs that have gone to other parts of the country or the world and bringing them back to Brooklyn. New York City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, also supports this greenhouse project, as it will significantly increase local food production in addition to influencing public health, the environment and the city’s economy.

Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits is a proud supporter of the green industry and it’s growth initiatives. We are in the business of providing greenhouse insurance alongside other horticultural business insurance policies that will help to keep your company up and running. For more horticultural news and insights, be sure to check back with our blog and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube!

Photo courtesy of Plantscape Inc.

As consumers accept plants as part of their indoor environment and place greater value on the presence of plants in their homes, interior plantscaping has grown as an industry. Below is a history of the industry from its inception to present day.

THE 1700s

Indoor gardening – or what we now refer to as “interior plantscaping” – began in the 1700s in England with over 5,000 exotic plant species housed in temperature-controlled greenhouses. In this era, gardening was big business – and an even bigger hobby. At the time, it was considered a worthy and respectable pursuit of the aristocrats. In fact, it was during this time period that the classification of plants began.

THE 1800s

In the 1800s, books on indoor houseplant care began to appear. Terrariums were of the first popular home decorations. Other popular indoor plants of the time include azaleas, begonias, ficus trees, geraniums, philodendrons and camellias. Although indoor gardening was a blooming trend in the Victorian age, the indoor environment was not ideal for housing nature’s beauty. The rooms of most homes and buildings were dusty and filled with pollutants from the use of coal for heat. Lighting was minimal and ventilation was severely inadequate – components that did not benefit indoor plant growth.

20^TH CENTURY

By the 20^th century, the electric light provided significantly more illumination, and central heating lowered indoor humidity. Unfortunately, this made it more difficult to maintain plants indoors. However – during the 1930s and the Great Depression – houseplants experienced a revival, this time in the form of dish gardens – an arrangement of plants in an actual kitchen dish item that were easy to maintain.

THE 1970s AND BEYOND

The interior plantscaping industry took a giant leap forward as indoor plants became a growing trend. The Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) published the results of a study that examined the effects of office landscaping on professionals. The study showed 600 government workers experienced greater job satisfaction, more effective communication and greater productivity in a plantscaped office. It was believed through numerous studies that plants are “the lungs of the earth” and work as effective air purifiers. Therefore, it was determined that indoor landscaping was necessary in many environments.

By 1986, there were nearly 8,000 interior landscaping companies across the U.S. and this also marked the time period when irrigation technology gained acceptance. The ‘90s unfortunately took the industry a few steps backward and smaller companies merged or were bought out by larger corporations. Despite the setback, this resilient industry bounced back at the start of the 21^st century with a new approach to interior plantscaping due to consumers widely accepting the role of plants in the indoor environment.

Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits is a strong supporter of the growth of the interior plantscaping industry. We are in the business of providing interior plantscaping insurance along with other horticultural business insurance policies so you can continue to bring nature’s beauty indoors. Contact us today for more information to ensure your plantscaping business stays up and running!

• The first half of the year tends to generate spring fever for most people. While garden centers, greenhouse growers and florists are busy blooming nature’s beauty, this is the time to act against the dangerous floods of spring by reviewing your flood insurance policy.  Flood insurance typically has a 30-day waiting period before coverage takes effect. Sit down with your insurance professional before the flood months quickly approach!
• If you operate a landscaping business, keep a close eye on the weather and prepare to adjust your mowing schedule. Springtime can bring torrential rainfall, which is anything but helpful when it comes time to mowing lawns since wet grass can clog mowers and create unwanted bacteria and fungi.
• Each season is a great time to review best practices, worker protection standards and safety procedures with employees, including general environment public safety, personal protective equipment, hazardous chemical handling, decontamination site usage, accident reporting, heavy equipment operation and hand/power tool operation.
• Spring and summer can be the busiest time of year for garden centers, landscapers and greenhouse growers. Making sure all of your equipment is receiving proper maintenance and care is important. Lawnmowers, water hoses and even commercial vehicles are constantly in use, so this may be the season to hire a few extra hands to help take care of your business’s greatest assets.
• The blazing summer heat can wear down your products and your employees. Keeping fans for air circulation provides more benefit than you may realize. In fact, a complimentary water cooler will keep both your customers and employees extra happy!

For more seasonal tips or information on how to get started with a horticultural business insurance package through Hortica, contact us today!

Each month, we will feature Maria Shepherd in a blog where she will provide firsthand insights, news and ideas pertaining to the floral industry. While her current territory is specific to the retail floral businesses in southern California, her knowledge and experience of the industry is much broader.

For our series debut this month, we have Maria on camera! Be the first to watch “In the Bloom with Maria” and find out what she has to say about how the floral industry has changed within recent years.

Maria has dedicated herself to the retail florist market since 1994. Prior to joining Hortica, she was an FTD Field Business Consultant for four years in Southern California. Maria worked 10 years for Hortica before a brief hiatus to venture into retail markets outside the floral industry. In 2009, she returned to Hortica. Maria graduated in 1990 from California State University Fullerton earning a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with an emphasis on Advertising and Marketing.

If you like the information you hear on our video, tune back in with us every month for more one-on-one talk with Maria. Do you have any questions you would like answered by an expert? Feel free to ask Maria your questions anytime via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or on our blog. We hope to hear from you!

Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits is in the business of providing customized, comprehensive insurance solutions for garden centers, nurseries, retail/wholesale florists, greenhouse growers, landscape contractors and interior plantscapers. A large part of our business comes from retail florists and wholesale floral distributors across the U.S. In addition to providing effective insurance solutions, Hortica also provides informational resources via our website and our blog to educate current and potential clients in the horticultural industry.

Many insurance professionals – like Hortica’s National Director-Independent Agents Ken Von Forell – find it interesting when an insurance buyer feels their property is worth one amount when initially purchasing insurance but worth an entirely different amount when it burns to the ground. So we ask ourselves and we ask business owners: what is the value of your property and the horticultural business insurance that supports it?

It is difficult to see the value of something until you lose it. A perfect example is the Oakland Hills fire in October of 1991, which burned 3,354 single-family homes and 437 apartment and condominium units in the suburbs of Oakland, CA. The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150. What really made the headlines was the fact that the homes destroyed in the fire were insured for less than the cost to replace them. When these types of catastrophic losses occur, horticultural businesses often run into the dilemma of being underinsured.

Insurance companies develop rates on the basis of insuring buildings to at least 80-90% of full replacement value. Insurance below this level has the potential to lead to a co-insurance penalty at the time of a loss. For example, if you have a building worth $1 million and you insure it for $900K, a total loss would require the insured to pay the difference ($100K). If you only insure your million-dollar property for $700K, you could experience a co-insurance penalty in the event of a partial loss.

At Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits, we work one-on-one with our clients and make sure we take our time in valuing our insured’s property correctly. Once we determine property value, we can customize an effective and comprehensive garden center insurance, florists’ insurance or other horticultural business insurance package. For more information on insuring your business, contact us today! For additional horticultural articles, best practices and risk management tools, follow us on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube channel!