Growing media supply and demand challenges

Once upon a time, growers could call their growing media supplier(s) and have product ordered, shipped and delivered within days. It is no mystery to anyone today that "those days" are gone, at least for the foreseeable future.

The global growing media industry, like so many others in horticulture, has experienced unprecedented product demand, which has led to product shortages, long delivery times, or in many instances the inability to take or fill product orders from new, low volume or sporadic customers.

The impact that the pandemic has had on horticulture is pretty well documented, experienced and understood as we near the end of 2021. Increased sales, increased crop production, increased profits (to most), increased everything. Everything, including fuel, plastics, fertilizers, labels, labor and growing media! In addition to the recent demand for soilless growing media, there are a couple of other underlying factors that have contributed to what we are now experiencing in the supply chain of the growing media industry.

First is the projected future demand of all types of soilless growing media between now and 2050. This demand, expected to increase at least four-fold, is driven by many factors. The accelerated increase in soilless growing systems (and acreage) in China alone can account for huge volumes of growing media being diverted to that emerging market.

Secondly, here in North America, as well as Europe and South America, the ever-increasing adoption of many soft fruit crops to soilless growing systems (which need soilless substrates), the continued success and expansion of the cannabis industry, record-breaking development and construction of vertical farming systems and other controlled environment spaces … all of which grow crops on/with some type of organic or inorganic soilless substrate material.

RAW MATERIAL ACQUISITION

Throughout most of the pandemic, most growing media suppliers were working to fulfill customer orders using the existing raw material resources that had met demand successfully prior to 2020. The sourcing of new or larger volumes of raw materials was challenging for many (most) suppliers due to competition of raw materials from other markets, transport issues of materials, or the need of capital investments to scale up processing, harvesting, or transport of materials.

In the 18 months since demand drastically spiked, most suppliers have initiated the needed investments to increase raw material acquisition, raw material processing and handling processes, mix formulation, and overall production output.

INTERNATIONAL VERSUS DOMESTIC AVAILABILITY

Peat producers in Canada have progressively sought to properly license and open new peat bogs (from Alberta to New Brunswick) to enhance raw material access and harvested volumes, while also employing all possible practices to keep their processing (mix manufacturing) facilities fully staffed and operational around the clock despite the pandemic. Manufacturers of engineered wood fiber, most of whom are some of the largest peat producers in Europe, have installed over a dozen new refining facilities (disc refers and screw extruders) across Europe in the last two years to help cope with product demand.

Wood fiber manufacturing in North America has not kept up as well or been as progressive; thus the opportunity for wood product development and commercialization grows greater by the day. While some increase in production has occurred, the need for more products, higher volume, and more suppliers remains high.

The use of bark (fresh, aged or composted) remains exceptionally high in North America and thanks to aggressive timber harvesting to keep up with the construction boom at home and abroad, raw bark from the timber/ lumber industry remains abundant, which is good for bark processors and suppliers to the horticultural market. Other organic materials including rice hulls, recycled organics (i.e., PittMoss), composts, anaerobically digested materials, and other forestry or agronomic-based fiber have also greatly enhanced production capacities and product offerings.

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Photo by Joshua Lanzarini on Unsplash

Source: HortiBiz