State of the Greenhouse Industry: Customers and Inside Jobs

Two of the main drivers of the greenhouse industry are the diversity of our customer base, and how business owners build their teams internally with diverse talent. Greenhouse Grower’s 2024 State of the Industry survey, conducted throughout the month of October, dove a bit deeper into each of these areas.

One of the questions in this year’s survey was about which customers you serve, with more than 50% of respondents selling direct to consumers through their own market or garden center. The only major change of note between surveys from 2024 and 2023 was the rise in landscape contractor customers from 37% to 42%, moving that customer segment up from #3 to #2 and passing independent garden centers. A more thorough breakdown is below.

This year’s survey also asked growers about which positions they employ. While the full breakdown is below, two things of note: 1) it was refreshing to see more diversity in the type of roles being filled, with nearly every job position in the chart below rising from 2023 to 2024. What was not so refreshing was the number of multitaskers, with one respondent going as far as to say “I do it all.” That’s a recipe for burnout.