Big Grower July 2021 - 6

COVER STORY
AN ALL-AMERICAN TRIALING
PROGRAM
" I'm good with people, marketing and vision
and Dewey's really good at finance, planning
and strategizing. So, between the two of us,
we each have a skill set that will really help
continue to drive the company, " she adds.
" We have figured out how to work as a family
that likes and respects each other, " so the
business and the relationships always remain
healthy. While there will always be minor
disagreements, " We have a very workable family
relationship and we all get along most days of
the week, " she jokes.
" Our biggest goal with the transition from
generation to generation is we wanted our parents
to be here overlapping for continuity, " Jennifer
says. " We want to make sure the company doesn't
suffer as well as the employees. They are a part of
the Moss family. "
To take care of these family members, 15 years
ago, Kevin and Dana started an Employee Stock
Ownership Program (ESOP) so today the company
is 35% employee owned, while the Mosses own the
remaining 65%. Jennifer says the ESOP provides
a really good retirement plan for employees who
stay with the company for a while.
Jennifer and Dewey will take over the 65% as
Kevin and Dana exit the company in the next
few years.
BETTER NOT ALWAYS BIGGER
When asked what does the company attribute
its success to, Jennifer responds, " Our biggest
strength is we produce the best quality plants in
our market. Our selections have really been fine
tuned for our market.
" We want to make sure we offer the best
quality at all times. It is very important for us
that better is more important than bigger. "
Jerome's growing climate has its benefits and
challenges. At an elevation of nearly 3,800 feet,
Moss Greenhouse has very high light levels but
it also has weather extremes - oftentimes in the
same week.
" We trial and test everything for our climate.
We have got to have plants that can handle a bit
of diversity when it comes to our temperatures, "
Jennifer says.
One way they do that is by cold toning the
plants. " It was 82 degrees here yesterday and it's
supposed to snow later in the week. " Cold toning
the plants helps the home gardener be more
successful in spite of what Mother Nature might
throw at them in a given week.
" We are always trying to get better at what we
do before we grow. We want to make sure that
we are always doing the best for our customers.
" Our rule with our wholesale customers is, if
you don't like it, if that plant is not up to your
standards, you put it right back on the truck and
don't pay for it. " Something that rarely happens.
A CHALLENGE BECOMES AN
OPPORTUNITY
Labor is a major challenge for all growers -
large and small - and the pandemic made it
even more challenging. Moss Greenhouses
competes with many other agriculturalbased
companies in the region for labor as
well as with many large corporations that are
moving to Idaho and offering much larger
6 JULY 2021
Last year, Jennifer Moss and Ryan
Doughty at Moss Greenhouses
signed on as judges for the
All-America Selections trialing
program.
Diane Blazek, executive director
at AAS, approached Jennifer
after seeing her in a Women in
Horticulture webinar.
AAS judges determine the AAS
Winners by judging and scoring
how varieties perform in their
region. Judges look for qualities
such as earliness to bloom/harvest,
disease/pest tolerance, yield and
overall performance.
" It's a small trial for us to start with.
For the first year, we selected two
categories and there aren't a lot
[of varieties] in those categories. "
One of All-America Selections'
mottos is " Tested Nationally &
Proven Locally, " so the team at
Moss Greenhouses will be able
provide other growers with great
insight on how varieties perform in
their region.
For nearly 70 years, Moss Greenhouses has been providing high quality plants to retailers in Idaho,
Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Montana.
compensation packages and benefits to
potential employees.
Last year's stimulus checks along with
increased unemployment benefits for potential
employees in an agricultural-based state like
Idaho really hurt their hiring. " We weren't able
to get bodies through the door. We're not in a
large metropolitan area where you had a lot of
people [looking for jobs]. "
So, during the off-season they took that
challenge and turned it into an opportunity
to simplify what they do and how they do it.
By streamlining their product offerings and
eliminating approximately 30% of the items,
they were able to operate more proficiently. " We
had a lot of redundancy ... so we streamlined
the whole selection process and, in turn, that
meant the production runs were faster, they
were more efficient " in the greenhouse as well
as in the office.
" Going forward, we know we are going to have
to do more with less ... so in our next off-season
we are going to really fine tune our processes
even more, " Jennifer remarks.
She anticipates they will have to pay more for
labor in the future, but she knows they will be
able to maximize their productivity by crosstraining
employees to work in multiple areas of
the company. This also allows the team at Moss
to plan ahead, order inputs earlier and work
further in advance.
Wherever they can, they look for ways to
automate any processes they can. Both her
father and grandfather received engineering
degrees and " processes and technology are
something we really believe in. We have
automation in every house in some capacity
or another. "
They are always looking for new technology.
" We try to stay as current as possible within our
budget and what the needs of the company are
at any time. With the labor market as it is, you
really have to be looking ahead on any piece of
equipment or building. "
RETAIL HAS A LIFE OF ITS OWN
According to Jennifer, the retail operation
at Moss Greenhouses has a personality of
" her " own. " She's one of our best [wholesale]
customers. She gets the benefit of getting
whatever she needs, but she has to order just
like any other wholesale customer, " Jennifer
says. " But she's also kind of the perfect trial
ground for any new programs. I can test things
with her to see how retail customers react. "
But, Jennifer adds, the Moss wholesale
pricing strategy does not provide any " family
discounts " for the retail operation. " We never

Big Grower July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Grower July 2021