a friends son is very interested in the landscaping industry and wants to do a project on it. He asked me what type of problems there were to research and collect data about. COuld you all put up some of your personal ideas. You must be able to COLLECT DATA on the subject. Thanks for all your ideas. -Nick
One of the biggest challenges facing this industry is shortage of labor. Growers need labor to move and care for plant material. Landscape installation companies struggle to keep labor because of the tight job market. The work is often physically hard and the pay is rather low. Research is being done to mechanize the handling of plant material. This is already being done in Europe. So, the challenge is for this somewhat low-tech industry to find affordable, high-tech solutions to profitably grow and handle plant material. For research info on this topic, contact Abby P. Ruden, director of horticultural research @ American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA).
Not to do with landscape construction, but heres one of mine. Engineered plants. A lot of stuff going on these days with developing such things as 'dwarf' plants that never need pruning, low growing grass that doesn't need mowing, or even plants that are disease/pest free. Maybe a good topic. Another off my head would be new technologies. New equipment, new computers, new ways of communications. With all the new equipment out there, the way things use to be done in our industry are now obsolete. In order to stay competitive, a contractor has to be on top of these things anymore. For instance, internet and lawnsite! Look at how valuable of a tool this! Imagine if every contractor in the country new about this. A Masive amount of information would be shared then. Contractors who didn't come here would be missing the boat then, and wondering how 'xyz' contracting down the street all of a sudden took away all his business. The gross amount of information now available to contractors is just incredible. The problem is, finding it, understading it, and applying it to their business. May make a interesting topic. steveair
He might want to do some research on the TERMINATOR SEDDS by Monsanto and how they have a negative impact on environment. Especially because they were marketed for third world companies.
On the money side, why in one part of the country, you can make 30 to 50% profit in this business and like in my area,because of cost of living issues, the profits are not that high. John
