Vol. XV No. 1
January / February 2021
b
u
20 21
y er is s’ su g e uid
e
www.SoilandMulchProducerNews.com
More Time at Home Boosts Mulch and Soil Sales
I
n a year of on-and-off-again stayat-home orders, businesses forced to shutter and employees having to work from home, it’s little wonder that millions of people have turned to gardening to soothe their psyche. “With many of us spending more time at home, and more time outside, gardening opened the door for positive activities and good feelings in a time where things were looking pretty bleak,” said Kathleen Hennessy in a gardening survey by Axiom Marketing, Gardening in a Covid-19 World. Having a green thumb is widely seen as an antidote for what has been dubbed “coronaphobia” — anxiety and fear about catching the virus. “Not only does working in a garden provide you with a general sense of calm but also has a long term effect on alleviating anxiety, depression and even attention deficit disorders,” noted Psychreg, an online psychology site. “Gardening is a unique activity which offers both the feelings of serenity and productivity in your own backyard.” The emphasis on gardening also provided a bright spot for the mulch and soil industry, which reported an average 25 percent sales increase in 2020 over the previous year, according to a survey of members of the Mulch & Soil Council. In some cases, the sales increase was as high as 40 percent. That sales increase occurred during the early months of the pandemic, which corresponded to the height of the soil and mulch selling season which runs from about March to June and accounts for about 60 percent of overall sales. A normal selling season averages about 5 to 8 percent growth.
By P.J. Heller “We saw a significant increase in sales in 2020 due to the pandemic,” reported Robert LaGasse, executive director of the Mulch & Soil Council. “Most everybody was locked down in their home, particularly early on in the spring when the food supply chain was being interrupted. People hadn’t adjusted to pandemic conditions, so there was a tremendous surge in gardening, particularly vegetable gardening in most states.” Wh i l e s o m e s t at e s, i n c l u d i n g Pennsylvania and Michigan, initially did not include home centers and outdoor garden and nursery facilities in their list of essential businesses that could remain open, that changed by mid-season, LaGasse said. Some people referred to the early planting efforts, assuming they could find seeds which were in short supply in many areas, as “panic gardens.” As the pandemic stretched on, that eventually morphed into what some called “pandemic gardens.” LaGasse said the tremendous increase in sales during the pandemic was similar to what the industry saw after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., when the public became concerned about disruptions and safety of the food supply chain.
Prior to 9/11, vegetable gardening was just in single digits, about 8 or 9 percent, of household participation. By end of 2004, it had grown to about 62 percent, LaGasse said. “Looking at that model and looking at the current demand, we expect we’re going to see a similar increase,” he said. For 2021, he predicted a 5 percent to 10 percent increase in sales over 2020. Those sales numbers could also continue into 2022, much as the increases did in the years after the 9/11 attacks. “All indications look like it’s going to continue, absent our worst enemy, which is weather which nobody can predict,” he said. Other surveys support LaGasse’s sales predictions. “Our newest survey shows gardeners of all ages will be back digging in the dirt in 2021,” Minneapolis-based Axiom Marketing reported. Axiom said 86 percent of homeowners surveyed in October planned to continue gardening this year, with 47 percent saying they will be planting more and expanding their garden spaces. Another 40 percent said they expected to plant the same amount as
in 2020.
Continued on page 3