Students Grow Success Through Annual FFA Plant Sale
The Sutherlin greenhouse in bloom before the plant sale.
Every spring, a line of cars wind around the Sutherlin High School campus toward the greenhouses. Community members and FFA supporters arrive to pick up their vegetables, flowers and hanging baskets from the annual Sutherlin FFA plant sale. For the next week, these Oregon FFA members show customers around the two greenhouses, help them find plants, check out and carry the purchases to their vehicles.
While the annual plant sale only takes place for a short time, the preparation takes several months. During those several months, students learn how to work together, run a website and build a successful business.
It Takes a Team
Beginning in late fall, students enrolled in the Advanced Plant Science class choose what hanging baskets, flower varieties and plant quantities will be used for the upcoming sale. Once the new year rolls around, plants are delivered and greenhouse production ramps up.
Throughout the process, FFA members develop important business skills. They apply and are placed into teams, such as marketing, human resources or the plant team. Each group is responsible for a part of the sale, such as keeping track of inventory, recruiting other students to help fill pots or creating social media posts about the greenhouses.
“One of the most valuable real-life skills I have learned is the importance of having a high-quality relationship with your team,” says Akela Hunt, CEO of the Sutherlin greenhouse business. “Having good team morale is so important because it enhances good communication and efficiency, which leads to everyone being on the same page!”
Building a Business
While all students gain experience planting, pinching and treating baskets for pests, some of the most important work happens outside the greenhouse.
In 2020, Sutherlin FFA members created a website for the plant sale to combat the challenge of having no in-person shopping. The website turned out to be a massive success, and it has been used every year since. Students are in charge of updating and monitoring the entire system. They also must communicate with customers and coordinate in-person shopping dates.
FFA members learn how to effectively market their product and build a strong business model. The plant sale involves thousands of plants, as well as products built by the Sutherlin FFA wood shop and welding classes.
Social media marketing image for the plant sale.
Learning to Grow
FFA members grow from each plant sale and analyze areas where they can improve. After the sale closes, students update the greenhouse spreadsheet. They record plant results and the recommended quantity for each variety next year, as well as the marketing strategies that were most effective.
The information creates a foundational blueprint for the next year’s class to build upon as they prepare the greenhouses. Students are able to use the business, communication and adaptability skills they have learned during the plant sale and apply them to life outside of high school.
“I will take these skills with me wherever I go!” Hunt says.
