scholarly journals 574 Capital Investment Analysis of Adopting Zero Runoff Subirrigation Systems in Greenhouse Operations

HortScience ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 545D-545
Author(s):  
Wen-fei L. Uva ◽  
Thomas C. Weiler ◽  
Robert A. Milligan ◽  
Wen-fei L. Uva
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Hourly Wage ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Adoption Of Technology ◽  
Potted Plants ◽  
Potted Plant ◽  
Zero Runoff

Adoption of technology to achieve environmental stewardship and remain competitive is a high priority for greenhouse businesses. Zero runoff subirrigation (ZRS) technology offers great promise to manage fertilizer inputs while improving production efficiency. This study applied economic engineering methodology to quantify costs and returns associated with adopting ZRS systems and compare profitability of producing crops using alternative ZRS systems for greenhouse operations in the northeastern and north central United States. The production models showed that using ZRS systems to grow greenhouse crops can be profitable if growers select a system best suitable for their crop choices. Among the four ZRS systems studied (ebb-and-flow rolling benches, Dutch movable trays, flood floors and trough benches), the Dutch movable tray system returned the highest profit per square foot week (SFW) greenhouse area for small potted plant production ($0.244/SFW), and the flood floor system returned the highest profit when producing large potted plants ($0.002/SFW) and bedding crop flats ($0.086/SFW). The trough bench system was least profitable had the lowest profit for the two applicable crop categories—small potted plants ($0.183/SFW) and large potted plants (–$0.006/SFW). Sensitivity analysis showed that changes of cost variables generally did not affect the profitability rankings for alternative ZRS systems. Except for labor costs, as the hourly wage increased, the Dutch movable tray system gained advantages for small potted plant and large potted plant production. Among selected costs variables, changes in labor costs and tax rate had the highest impact on the profitability of small potted plant production, and changes in labor costs and initial investment costs had the highest impact on the profitability of large potted plant and bedding crop flat production.

scholarly journals 206 Risk Analysis of Adopting Zero Runoff Subirrigation Systems in Greenhouses Using Monte Carlo Simulation

HortScience ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 477D-477
Author(s):  
Wen-fei L. Uva ◽  
Thomas C. Weiler ◽  
Louis D. Albright ◽  
Douglas A. Haith
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Potted Plant ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Floor System ◽  
Zero Runoff

Although zero runoff subirrigation (ZRS) technology has great promise to manage fertilizer inputs while improving production efficiency in greenhouse operations, high initial investment costs and inadequate technical background are major impediments for initiating the change. In a world of uncertainty, greenhouse operators face the challenge of making an optimal investment decision to satisfy environmental compliance expectations and meet the companies' financial goals. Using Monte Carlo simulation, cost risk was analyzed to compare the relative risks of investing in alternative ZRS systems for greenhouse crop production. An investment model was defined for greenhouse production with alternative ZRS systems. Each cost variable was allowed to vary based on a probability distribution. Random numbers were generated to determine parameters for the probability distributions for the uncertain variables. The simulation process was repeated 300 times for each production model. Simulation results showed that among the four ZRS systems studied (ebb-and-flow benches, Dutch movable trays, flood floors, and trough benches), the Dutch movable tray system returned the highest average profit for small potted plant production and the flood floor system returned the highest average profit for large potted plant and bedding crop flat production. Risk of the production models were compared by the variability of simulation results. The Dutch movable tray system is the least risky for small potted plant production, and the flood floor system is the least risky for large potted plant and bedding crop flat production. Despite its low initial costs of adoption, the trough bench system was least competitive as a ZRS technology for a greenhouse operation because of the relative low profitability and high risk of production due to volatile profitability.

scholarly journals Economic Analysis of Adopting Zero Runoff Subirrigation Systems in Greenhouse Operations in the Northeast and North Central United States

HortScience ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-fei L. Uva ◽  
Thomas C. Weiler ◽  
Robert A. Milligan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Product Price ◽  
North Central ◽  
Potted Plant ◽  
Central United States ◽  
Floor System ◽  
Zero Runoff

Zero runoff subirrigation (ZRS) technology is a promising method of managing fertilizer and pesticide inputs while improving production efficiency. However, high capital investment costs and inadequate technical information available to growers are major impediments to initiating the change. This study quantifies costs and returns associated with adopting ZRS systems and compares the profitability of four alternative ZRS systems (ebb-and-flow benches, Dutch movable trays, flood floors, and trough benches) for greenhouse operations in the northeastern and north central United States. The capital investment analysis showed that the Dutch movable tray system was most profitable for small potted plant production, and the flood floor system was most profitable for large potted plant and bedding crop flat production. Sensitivity analysis showed that changes in cost variables generally did not affect the profitability rankings of the alternative ZRS investment projects. Nonetheless, the flood floor system gained slight advantages when the product price increased, and the Dutch movable tray system gained advantages as the hourly labor cost increased.

scholarly journals Business Profile of Australian Nurseries

HortScience ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 456E-456
Author(s):  
Robin G. Brumfield ◽  
Peter F. McSweeney
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Production Management ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Increase Production Efficiency ◽  
Chain Stores ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The U.S

We surveyed 22 Australian nurseries in 1995 to: 1) develop a profile of Australian nurseries from a production, management, and profitability perspective; 2) compare the data to relevant U.S. benchmarks; and 3) identify trends and potential areas of improvement in the management of Australian nursery enterprises. The study confirmed that Australian nurseries incur high labor costs (38.8% of sales) that are comparable to United States nurseries, while costs of materials and supplies were lower than their U.S. counterparts. Overall, the costs of the surveyed nurseries appeared lower than their U.S. counterparts. Concerns of managers were directed towards recruiting and keeping labor and marketing rather than increasing capital investment to increase production efficiency. Capital expenditures tended to be funded from internal cash flows rather than external borrowings. Many of the nursery managers used relatively simple performance indicators and most business objectives were stated in general terms. Australian nurseries carried more diverse product ranges than the U.S. nurseries. Many of the nurseries adopted quite vigorous marketing strategies with a stronger emphasis on marketing than in those in the U.S. Concerns about the viability of the industry included oversupply, the growth in chain stores business, factors eroding the demand for nursery products and greater regulation.

scholarly journals (65) Evaluation of Curcuma as Potted Plant and Cut Flower

HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1012E-1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Roh ◽  
Roger Lawson ◽  
Jong Suk Lee ◽  
Jeung Keun Suh ◽  
Richard A. Criley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Stem Length ◽  
Cut Flower ◽  
Cut Flowers ◽  
Chiang Mai ◽  
Potted Plants ◽  
Leaf Emergence ◽  
Potted Plant ◽  
Storage Temperatures

Sixteen accessions of Curcuma germplasm and several selected accessions of Curcuma were evaluated for use as potted plants or as cut flowers. Curcuma alismatifolia Gagnep. and C. thorelii Gagnep. `Chiang Mai Snow' met standards for cut flower and pot plant use, respectively. Furthermore, C. parviflora Will. `White Angel' proved to be a good selection for potted plant production. Optimum storage temperatures of rhizomes were studied in relation to greenhouse forcing and carbohydrate changes. It is recommended to store rhizomes at 25 to 30 °C after harvest for 2 to 3 months to break dormancy. Plants of C. parviflora `White Angel' flowered in 50 to 89 days and C. `CMU Pride' flowered in 104 days after potting, and were acceptable as potted plants. Plants of C. alismatifolia flowered 96 to 133 days after potting with floral stem length suitable for use as a cut flower. A high level of boron or manganese may cause the burn at the margin of the leaves (marginal leaf burn) observed on old leaves of `CMU Pride' at flowering. The level of ethanol-soluble fructose, glucose, and sucrose in elongated rhizomes with emerged short shoots of Curcuma was higher than the level in rhizomes and increased as storage temperatures increased. Accelerated leaf emergence may be associated with the increase in the glucose and fructose content. Based on the similar morphological characters between C. thorelli `Chiang Mai Snow' and C. parviflora `White Angel', identification of Curcuma accessions is required in future studies.

scholarly journals Risk Analysis of Adopting Zero Runoff Subirrigation Systems in Greenhouse Operations: A Monte Carlo Simulation Approach

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-fei L. Uva ◽  
Thomas C. Weiler ◽  
Robert A. Milligan ◽  
Louis D. Albright ◽  
Douglas A. Haith
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
Greenhouse Production ◽  
North Central ◽  
Central United States ◽  
Floor System ◽  
Zero Runoff

Zero runoff subirrigation (ZRS) technology can effectively manage fertilizer input while improving greenhouse production efficiency. However, high capital investment costs and inadequate technical information to growers are impediments for adoption. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to compare the profitability and risks of alternative ZRS system investments for greenhouse operations in the northeastern and north central United States. Results showed that the Dutch movable tray system and the flood floor system were most profitable and least risky for small potted plant and bedding crop flat production, respectively. The trough bench system was least favorable because its profitability was low and highly volatile.

scholarly journals A Business Profile of Australian Nurseries

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-229
Author(s):  
Robin G. Brumfield ◽  
Peter F. McSweeney
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Production Management ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
The United States ◽  
External Financing ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Chain Stores ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Internal Cash Flow

A 1995 study of 22 Australian nurseries 1) developed a profile of production, management, and profitability; 2) compared their performance to relevant U.S. benchmarks; and 3) identified trends and potential areas of improvement in the management of Australian nursery enterprises. The study confirmed that Australian nurseries incur high labor costs (38.8% of sales) comparable to United States nurseries, while costs of materials and supplies were lower than in the United States. Australian managers were concerned with marketing and recruiting and keeping labor rather than increasing capital investment to enhance production efficiency. Capital expenditures were funded from internal cash flow rather than external financing. Many of the nursery managers used relatively simple performance indicators, and most business objectives were stated in general terms. Concerns about the viability of the industry included oversupply, the growth in chain stores' business, factors eroding the demand for nursery products, and greater regulation.

scholarly journals The Floratech Dilemma: A Case Study for Potted Plant Production Specialists

2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-481
Author(s):  
Neil O. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
Potted Plants ◽  
Potted Plant ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Course Material ◽  
The University

This paper presents a case study for use as an active learning tool with students in a floriculture potted plant production class. Students work together in small groups (three to four) to pose answers to a dilemma. With this case study, students quickly learn the names of their colleagues and work together outside-of-class to solve the assignment. Each student role-plays being hired on as a new potted plant production specialist. A memorandum from the Board of Directors is delivered on their first day of work at Floratech, a company specializing in potted plants. Floratech is a finisher company, purchasing plugs (vegetative or seed-propagated crops) from plug producers and rooting stations, and selling their final products to both wholesale and retail markets. Objectives of this case study are to determine 1) the students' fluency in terminology for potted plant production, 2) ideal production time/labor inputs for the Floratech potted crops, and 3) limiting factor(s) preventing each crop from reaching this goal. As the students progress through the course material, they refer to the memorandum for clarification of unknown terms. Unresolved questions are raised during the semester (in the classroom and during laboratory tours) to other players interacting in the memorandum, i.e., Floratech staff (growers, sales people, management), its suppliers (rooting stations, plug producers, distributors, breeders, producers, operations, quality control), and customers (wholesale, retail). This case study was tested with undergraduate students enrolled in HORT 4051, Floriculture Production and Management I (Potted Plants) at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, during Fall Semester 1999.

scholarly journals Effects of a Gibberellin Inhibitor on Flowering, Vegetative Propagation, and Production of Rapid Generation Cycling Gladiolus for Potted Plant Production

HortScience ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Jaser A. Aljaser ◽  
Neil O. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Plant Production ◽  
Production Cycle ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
Cut Flowers ◽  
Flower Stalk ◽  
Potted Plants ◽  
Potted Plant ◽  
Negative Side Effects ◽  
Rapid Generation ◽  
High Concentrations

Gladiolus (Gladiolus ×hybridus) is an asexually propagated, herbaceous perennial and an economically important cut flower crop. In commercial production, gladioli have tall flower stalks, which limit their use to cut flowers and annual garden plants. The gladiolus breeding program at the University of Minnesota has bred and selected rapid generation cycling (RGC) cycle 1 gladiolus, which can flower in <1 year from seed instead of the norm of 3 to 5 years (which are vegetatively propagated as corms). Gibberellin inhibitors, such as ancymidol, are used as plant growth retardants to control height in potted plants. Higher concentrations can inhibit flowering along with other negative side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the growth, flowering, and corm/cormel production response of cycle 1 gladiolus to the gibberellin inhibitor, ancymidol (0, 100, and 400 mg·L−1 soak) in comparison with noncycle 1 genotypes and commercial cultivars for potted gladiolus production. Cycle 1 genotypes flowered with all ancymidol concentrations while noncycle 1 genotypes had significantly fewer flowers or were completely nonflowering under higher concentrations. All tested genotypes had increased leaf width as ancymidol concentration increased. Conversely, flower stalk heights were shorter as the ancymidol concentration increased while the number of stalks was nonsignificant. Corms, cormel number, and fresh weights decreased in all genotypes except for one cycle 1 genotype, which had an increase in both corm number and fresh weight when treated with 100 mg·L−1 ancymidol. Cycle 1 gladiolus are more resilient to this gibberellin inhibitor even at high concentrations and can potentially be used for gladiolus potted plant production.

Pneumatic Transport of Fine Granular Material

1969 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-322
Author(s):  
G. Broersma
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Vertical Plane ◽  
Pneumatic Transport ◽  
Sand Transport ◽  
Actual Case ◽  
Moulding Sand ◽  
Stationary Laminar ◽  
Fine Granular Material

Investigations show that production efficiency of foundries is influenced strongly by the nature and the use of means of transport. An important aspect of foundry transport is that of moulding sand. Impressive gains in space, as well as a decrease in capital investment may be had by applying pneumatic transport of moulding sand. The paper presents a basic approach to the nature of pneumatic transport of sand in a horizontal and circular tube, and indicates an approach to the calculation of the pressure gradient to be overcome. Although the analysis of the transport in a stationary laminar flow is interesting, it appears that sand is carried through a narrow sector of the tube, symmetrical to the vertical plane, and below the horizontal plane [1]. In the actual case of sand transport in a turbulent air current through a tube with a rough inner wall, sand is carried through the boundary layer at the complete circumference of the tube. It is easily seen how to generalize the approach for sand transport in a turbulent air current through a tube at an inclination to the horizontal, up to the vertical, and how to increase sand transport by injecting air which increases the turbulence of the boundary layer carrying the sand. After the various parameters for the stationary transport have been deduced, it appears to be possible to analyze the introduction of the sand grains into the air current as well as their acceleration to stationary motion [1].

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