Catering to Your Production Appetite

Jennifer Zurko

I only have to write 12 of these columns a year. You’d think it would be easy. Twelve isn’t a lot and they are spread out so they’re only due once a month. But you’d be surprised how difficult it can be to put pen to paper (actually, fingers to keyboard) and craft 500 words that will entice you to read the rest of this magazine.

It must feel this way for chefs. How do they come up with all of the delectable dishes they serve in their restaurants? One of the qualifications for a good chef has to be endless creativity, otherwise you’d get pretty sick of making the same stuff all the time. I know I do and I just cook for my little family most of the time.  

So because (luckily for you) this isn’t an opinion column and more of a “From the Editor” type of column, I have much more leeway to talk about the meat-and-potatoes of our little publication. The point of this column is to get a glimpse of what’s on the GrowerTalks reading menu for the month and maybe get a peek into what I’ve got going on in my life, personally and professionally. (Those little morsels are the dessert.)

So what do we have on the menu this month? You can start off with an appetizer of company culture, followed by cause marketing. Then you can dig into the main entrée of new product highlights from the two largest winter trade shows—MANTS and TPIE. Order some sides of research on growing media, Basewell liner production and using pesticide drones in nurseries. Then cap it all off with our wonderful columnists—Michael DeBerti, Bill Swanekamp and Chris Beytes. (Special shout-out to Dr. Brian Corr, who’s written his last GrowerTalks column this month.)

This issue may feel like a 10-course meal, but at least your pants won’t feel so tight after ingesting all of the info.

As for any juicy tidbit about what I got goin’ on, it’s been more like a handful of Skittles—pretty good and serves as dessert in a pinch, but doesn’t quite live up to a big ol’ piece of chocolate cake. Once spring breaks and I start traveling to see all of your smiling faces, life will feel much more like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. GT