An investigation conducted by the British Association of
Landscape Industries has revealed shortages of trees and shrubs are behind
significant price increases.
Last week one of BALI’s Board Directors contacted BALI regarding the current
availability of trees and shrubs. He advised stock of a wide range of planting
material both in UK and Europe has become limited.
Native trees and shrubs are most affected and, where they are available from
suppliers, prices have increased significantly in a matter of a few months.
Having now spoken to several nurseries and wholesalers in the UK and Europe,
BALI can confirm the issue and the potential to affect landscape contractors
and specifiers if it has not already done so.
There are several reasons for this shortfall, some of them obvious and
others less so. While COVID-19 and Brexit are contributory factors, they are
less important than a widespread increase in demand for planting material,
together with historic events to which the industry has little control.
The age of conspicuous concern for the environment has arrived. The negative
impact of human activity on the planet is now being recognised by the public
and, more importantly, forcing leaders around the globe to respond with
initiatives that seek to tackle the problem.
Caring for the environment and human activity are not mutually exclusive,
which means many projects now include extensive environmental elements. Whether
to offset the carbon used in manufacturing, to screen a new motorway junction
or mitigate habitats lost to the construction of the HS2 corridor, the
environment has become a bargaining tool and plants the very latest currency.
Tree planting is a particularly popular venture. From large infrastructure
projects to government or charitable initiatives and local authority schemes,
large scale tree planting is gaining traction. Due partly to the role trees can
play in offsetting carbon emissions, governments the world over have set high
targets for tree planting. In the UK alone, the government has set a target of
establishing 30,000 ha of new woodland in England by 2025 and planting 11
million trees by 2022. HS2 is responsible for planting up to 7 million trees
and even the BBC One Show aims to plant 750,000 trees during the next 12 months.
Predictably, global restrictions on movement during 2020 led to attention
being turned to domestic gardens and public open spaces. BALI’s own 2020 trade
survey revealed that, despite the financial and societal pressures of COVID,
domestic spending on gardens – either on mail order or overall garden projects
– increased significantly. In the case of mail ordered materials, most BALI
members recorded a record number of domestic sales.
If providing sufficient volumes of material for the burgeoning number of
tree planting projects isn’t hard enough, suppliers are faced with many other
issues which have been compounded in the last few years.
Increasing demands on material would put even the most robust supply chain
under pressure, but growers have had many other pressures to deal with.
Between 2008 and 2013 the world was plunged in a recession. This period of
fiscal austerity had an impact on growers in England and Europe, many of whom
scaled back propagation and growing because of reduced demand and lack of
capital. Fast-forward 10 years, and while growers have now invested in
propagation and growing ventures, the recession has created gaps in stocks of
planting material which is having repercussions for specifiers seeking the
largest specimens for their project.
More recently, COVID has had an impact on production of planting material.
From shortages of labour to physically lift material from fields, to missing
deadlines for potting and planting stock last year, the pandemic has hampered
most production operations to some extent. This has meant that lower numbers of
material has been presented to market during the past 12 months, and is likely
to be limited while the pandemic has a grip on the health of the global
population.
Last but by no means least, large numbers of plants were purchased towards
the end of 2020 and stockpiled to ensure any interruption in trade as a result
of a ‘no deal’ Brexit did not result in shortages of planting
material. This is believed to have caused a spike in demand towards the
end of 2020 which skewed availability of planting material in the early part of
2021. The last-minute Brexit deal has allowed trade to continue but delays
to inspection regimes mean the effect of new trading relationships are unlikely
to take effect until later this year.
Collectively, these events have resulted in a shortage of material and
higher costs. Conversations with nurseries suggest this situation is likely to
be more of an evolution rather than short-term event. While many of the factors
discussed are temporary, their impact is likely to be felt for several years.
While this evolution is likely to represent a challenge for landscape
professionals, who may see this development as a backward step, suppliers of
planting material are keen to stress that, while supply chains have evolved
over recent years, the time invested in plants to grow remains the same, as do
the challenges associated with a living thing.
To prevent disappointment, plant suppliers urge specifiers and contractors
of all sizes to engage with them as early as possible regarding all orders for
material. In contrast to the ‘next-day’ business models that are prevalent in
consumer products, a longer order period is seen as a likely development.
Forward procurement planning is common in many other industries where there
is a need to highlight upcoming purchases of goods or services and has recently
been successfully implemented by landscape contractors working on the HS2
scheme under contract growing initiatives with nurseries. Given the investment
in time and money required for planting material, this model may become more
common in the future, to ensure this costly investment by the grower is
protected.
The culture of next day delivery and immediate results has not escaped the
landscape and horticulture industries, who have embraced supply chain
developments and enabled specifiers and contractors to access a diverse range
of plants. But when the commodity being sold requires years of investment and
care at every stage, there is a limit to what is possible.
This document was made possible thanks to BALI’s contractor and affiliate
generously sharing their time and knowledge with BALI’s technical officer, Owen
Baker.
