Yellow Pages
It wasn’t a good year for Skagit County farmers, even before the bottom fell out of the economy this fall.
But there is an exception to the prevailing economic trend, and it happens to be one of the county’s largest growers.
For agriculture in general, profits were sapped by skyrocketing fuel prices. A cold spring and a wet summer put a dent in the berry, corn, potato and wheat crops, to name just a few.
In some cases, crops that were successfully harvested aren’t selling due to a flagging economy in this country and abroad.
“There’s a lot of grass seed and wheat that are just sitting in warehouses,” said Don McMoran, agriculture educator with the Washington State University extension office in Mount Vernon.
Much of the county’s wheat is exported to make pastries — a luxury foreigners appear to be foregoing, McMoran said.
If you ask the president and CEO of Skagit Gardens, however, recessions have an upside.
“In a recessionary period our business does well,” CEO Chris Colasono said. “It’s not recession-proof, but it will show a growth during these times.”
Most farmers in the county don’t know what to expect in 2009. Fuel prices are down, which could help, but the typical farmer isn’t buying much fuel in December.
“There’s no crops in the ground right now. It’s too hard to tell” what kind of year 2009 will be, said Allen Rozema, executive director of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland. “With oil prices going down ... that obviously will help, but without knowing what the ’09 crop prices will be, no one that I’ve talked to is hedging a bet yet.”
Colasono is not in wait-and-see mode. His wholesale nursery business is already tending to thousands if not millions of annuals, perennials and vegetable starts in its Mount Vernon greenhouses. One of the buildings will be filled with hanging flower baskets in time for Mother’s Day.
Skagit Gardens has surveyed some of its top customers, which include independent garden centers from Alaska to Wisconsin. Among them, 66 percent said their orders would go up this season. Only 7 percent said they would be cutting back. Colasono projects nearly 10 percent growth in 2009 compared to 2008.
Colasono started a major expansion in August or September. Retrofitting an old greenhouse has enabled him to squeeze 43 percent more plants inside a 3/4-acre greenhouse in south Mount Vernon.
Shortly after the expansion project started, the credit crisis hit. It’s been blamed for halting business growth, making it harder to get a loan and dragging down the stock market.
But the credit crunch didn’t touch Skagit Gardens. The company had secured funding for the expansion before banks became skittish about loaning money. In any case, some of the work was being paid for with cash, Colasono said.
Two days before Christmas, Colasono’s demeanor was sunny. Wearing a Hawaiian shirt, he walked through the balmy greenhouses greeting his employees with a cheerful “buenas dias” or “Feliz Navidad.”
“Around here we’re upbeat. We’re encouraged,” Colasono said.
As unemployment surges upward in Skagit County and almost everywhere else in the country, Skagit Gardens is adding workers. The company increased its work force this year and will do so again in 2009, Colasono said. Employment will peak at about 280 in the spring, including some 100 seasonal workers.
Colasono has 32 years of experience in the nursery business, and he has seen at least four big recessions now. During that time he’s observed some things about consumer behavior.
“Historically what happens during recessionary periods is people travel less,” Colasono said. “They’re more homebodied. ... They typically will invest in sprucing up their home.”
“The cost to bring some color into your life is very minimal,” Colasono said.
When the news on television is so consistently negative, Colasono figures people would rather be outside tending to their gardens or yards. He calls his inventory “a burst of feel-good.”
“You have a great opportunity to enjoy your home, landscape, do things together, make yourself feel good with color,” Colasono said.
“That’s what we do.”
• Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .
