Roseville Farms in Apopka Look to the Future with Hemp

 

For more than 20 years, Roseville Farms has been associated with clematis liners and flowering clematis ready for retail, but the 30-acre nursery is moving with the times. President and CEO David Raab told Growing Produce that the company recently added boutique hemp to its crops to combat changing market dynamics and to bolster the growth of the business, making it another well-known Apopka agricultural business to take a fresh approach.

 

Raab founded the company in 1996, and in 2000 the team developed a way to force clematis to bloom on demand. Prior to this innovation, the plant was sold in the spring only, and then it usually was as a dormant twig. The company’s success has seen it placed on the Greenhouse Grower’s Top 100 Growers list almost every year since then. However, Roseville Farms’ success with clematis wasn’t enough to prepare it for future successes.

 

According to Raab, working directly with retailers became more difficult as time went on. This forced the company to establish new relationships with large nurseries, which meant it could only grow programs those nurseries were willing to accept. As a result, the business shrunk. Faced with the question of future viability, Raab had to find another product to grow and sell, and it had to be compatible with the company’s current facilities.

If there’s one agricultural industry that is expected to see phenomenal growth over the next few years, it’s hemp. According to CNN, Marijuana Business Daily data indicated that hemp sales in the U.S. reached $20 billion in 2020. Sales were expected to increase to more than $26 billion last year, and they look set to grow to an incredible $45.9 billion by 2025.

 

Raab said that Roseville Farms and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Science received a license for a pilot program to develop hemp-growing knowledge and varietal certification. So far, the company has certified more than 30 varieties for growers in Florida. Raab later signed a contract with Colorado-based HM Health to grow exclusive varieties. This led to the ongoing development of a growing protocol for greenhouse and indoors under lights.

 

This new direction has not been without considerable investments to increase the farm’s ability to produce hemp. Just as some agricultural businesses in Apopka are investing in good quality skid steer tracks to ensure they can use their machines to do a proper job, Roseville Farms invested in additional equipment to get the job done right – first time.

 

According to Raab, the company installed backup generators to increase the power supply to each greenhouse, as well as air circulation and LED grow lights. They also retrofitted a 5,000 square-foot building for a drying system that offers temperature and humidity control that they designed with their refrigeration company.

Despite Roseville Farms’ embracing of hemp, Raab said the company is still dedicated to clematis, which grows at a different time of the year to hemp. He explained that this approach is necessary to ensure the company survives for another 25 years, as the ornamental plant business has faced serious challenges over the last two decades.

 

In addition to serious consolidation, the business has faced costs that have risen faster than wholesale prices, leading to smaller margins. According to Greenhouse Grower, greenhouse film prices increased by 28% from last year, while plastics prices rose by 10%. According to Raab, innovation and investment is what’s needed for family businesses to survive in the current climate. They’re doing a great job of it.