Photo: Young’s Plant Farm
Young’s Plant Farm is one of the nation’s largest greenhouse operations. With farms in Alabama and North Carolina, it encompasses more than 2.4 million square feet of greenhouse production, along with 40 acres of outdoor growing space. The main crops grown at Young’s Plant Farm today are annuals, perennials, mums, and holiday crops.
At the center of it all is Tom Costamagna, the Director of Horticulture at Young’s Plant Farm. Tom works with the company’s owners and directors to make decisions for operational activities and set strategic goals. He is responsible for impacting and monitoring the day-to-day running of Young’s cultivation practices. He also helps identify growth opportunities to expand the business through new plant categories and strategic partnerships, all while providing expertise regarding plant health and establishing metrics to deliver the highest quality products.
Sounds like the ideal job description for a head grower, right? Perhaps, but it takes a special person to meet and exceed expectations. And that’s what makes Tom Costamagna stand out. As Greenhouse Grower’s 2024 Head Grower of the Year, Tom’s mind is always focused on making things better — not just for himself, but for the plants, his team, and the industry.
Past Experience Breeds Success Today
Tom’s interest in greenhouse production began when he attended the University of California (UC), Davis and perhaps even before that.
“Growing up, my father had an affinity for roses and often competed in rosarian shows, so I learned firsthand about diseases, pests, and chemical control,” Tom says. “California at that time still produced cut roses, and the greenhouse position I applied for at UC Davis was conducting research in pest control, including thrips and spider mites.”
He credits Dr. Micheal Parrella as being instrumental early on in his career.
“Dr. Parrella provided me the opportunity and a strong foundation of applied science. Much of the research we did at that time had an applied aspect in the field that exposed me to a lot of great people and companies,” Tom says. “This exposure, coupled with observing the passion and dedication of the people within the industry, was the appeal that got me hooked.”
Tom also notes the key influence of Dr. Royal Heins.
“He is my dear friend, mentor, advocate, and educator who has been monumental in my life since we first met in 2011,” Tom says. “Royal’s ability to challenge growers to think outside the box, share our experiences with one another, and look for new opportunities or ways to improve has benefited me, but maybe more importantly, the greater interest of the industry.”
Transitioning into the commercial production side of the business as the Director of Plant Quality at Mid-American Growers in Granville, IL, Tom led the growing department and used his knowledge and experience to identify inefficiencies and develop corrective actions through quality assurance and quality control.
“At that time, commercial greenhouses were becoming plant factories, producing consistent, high-quality plants year-round,” he says. “This required much different cultivation techniques, and crop recipes had to be created to produce plants at this scale economically.”
In a quest to further his knowledge of the industry, Tom then served as the National Production Manager at Dümmen Orange in Columbus, OH, where he was responsible for the brand management team, production planning division, technical services, rooting stations, and stock farms for North America during an accelerated period of growth for the company.
“My tenure at Dümmen Orange exposed me to developing strategies, giving marketing presentations, culture clinics, and expanding my industry network by interfacing with key account managers and customers,” Tom says.
It’s also when he became connected to the team at Young’s Plant Farm.
“I first met Drew Young on a trip to California Spring Trials and, likewise, I first met Bryan Young on trips to stock farms in Guatemala and El Salvador,” Tom says. “It is not lost on me that through trips like these, key people became acquaintances, and eventually friendships were formed.”
An Open Mind Brings Innovation
Today, Tom Costamagna’s process for keeping himself educated and keeping up with trends extends beyond the horticulture industry.
“In my view, ‘industry’ encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and fisheries and forestry for both food and non-food products,” Tom says. “Often what I identify for use in floriculture related to pest control, biostimulants, and water treatment comes directly from agriculture.”
One area that is especially intriguing to Tom is Variable-Rate Technology (VRT) and Variable-Rate Application (VRA).
“Field agriculture is measured by yield, while this industry is measured by aesthetics. Dr. Bruce Bugbee and Dr. Royal Heins refer to these differences as analog crops versus digital crops,” Tom says. “Farm gate value increases as analog crops increase in yield, while digital crops need to meet a minimum quality with open bloom before they can be shipped and sold. Digital crops do not get a higher price, for example, if a calibrachoa basket has 10% more flowers.”
The question, Tom says, is how we can adapt VRT or VRA into horticulture.
“Ultimately, this technology would be used to optimize returns on inputs while preserving resources,” he says. “Today, most plant production in the commercial greenhouse is by way of a traditional blanket approach, where the same number of inputs is applied, whether it be fertilizer, plants per pot, pots per acre, pesticides, etc. The greenhouse of the future can utilize these technologies through a combination of cameras, autonomous machinery, and artificial intelligence so that data aids in a more informed decision.”
Tinkering With Technology
Tom Costamagna also looks out of the box when it comes to technology for the greenhouse. Here are a few tools he’s tried:
- “The University of Guelph developed a Diagnostic Multiscan DNA Scan for plant, water, or soil. It’s been a great tool to determine what is present in a sample. For example, I can overnight a sample on Monday and typically have results no later than Friday morning. Taking the guesswork out ensures we can address the appropriate problem.”
- “Anresco Laboratories in San Francisco offers multi-residue analyses and has been testing pesticide residues for more than 40 years in the food industry. When phytotoxicity is identified on a crop and we want to learn what compound it might be, this analysis tests for several hundred compounds.”
- “The Apogee Guardian SM-500 is a user-friendly datalogger with multiple integrated sensors to measure PAR, air temperature, humidity, vapor pressure deficit and dewpoint, CO2 concentration, barometric pressure, and daily light integral and photoperiod. It has been an integral tool to track the various environments at Young’s.”
What’s the common theme of Tom experimenting with these tools? “You can be the best grower out there, and you’re still going to have problems at one time or another. New technologies like these may not be inexpensive, but if they can help you solve a problem that’s becoming costly, they will pay for themselves.”
A Team-First Approach
Beyond the plants and the technology, Tom Costamagna knows the success of any company ultimately depends on its people. When it comes to working with the ownership at Young’s Plant Farm, and the growers that Tom leads, his main focus is on challenging the team and himself to do better.
“Our owners are receptive to the needs of the plants we grow and will make the commitment to help them grow better,” Tom says. “In recent years, we have added 10 acres of Cravo greenhouses for the growth of our perennial business, which required LED lighting to be able to force flowering in the early part of the season. We also expanded 20 acres of outdoor growing that required water reclamation, including water treatment, water filtration, aeration, ozone, and fertigation. Ownership recognized this was a nominal cost, since the water we use for irrigation is too critical to cut corners and potentially compromise plant health.”
Regarding his growing team, Tom says whether they are entry-level employees or managers, the key to helping them improve is education.
“Continually asking who, what, where, and why we do what we do is the backbone to successfully and consistently producing quality plants,” Tom says. “Whether it is the decision makers or personnel doing the work, everyone needs to know what to look for and has to be willing to ask questions for clarity or express their concerns. People on our team learn differently, so I try to identify if they are visual, auditory, read/write, or kinesthetic learners, and facilitate their growth accordingly.”
Looking ahead to where the future lies for Young’s Plant Farm, the horticulture industry, and himself, Tom Costamagna reflects on the words spoken by Dr. Allan Armitage during Greenhouse Grower’s Evening of Excellence when Tom received his award: “We are all essential.”
“How do we continue to be essential? By continuing to improve, and by doing things that were once thought to be impossible,” Tom says. “What are the possibilities for tomorrow? I don’t know, but I love thinking about it.”
