Brown's sales began to grow, to $6,000 in 1986 and $30,000 in 1987. In 1987 he secured a $25,000 line of credit from the Valley Bank of Kalispell, borrowing against the next year's crop -- as most farmers do -- and against the mobile home, the van, and the truck. In 1988 Brown left the Christmas-tree farm to devote himself full-time to his fledgling enterprise.
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Then came a potential disaster that Brown managed to turn to his advantage. It is said that about twice a century, killer cold from the Arctic -- known as a "50-year winter" -- blasts the northern Rockies. In 1988 the windchill hit 60 below, and plants perished all over northern Montana. But Brown had adapted his techniques to ensure his crop's survival. Although he lost 10% of his inventory, what survived was like gold, and the Grown in Montana tags that the state's department of commerce supplied to be attached to his plants became like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. The following spring, sales took off.
"It was amazing how many people started buying Brad's Grown in Montana stuff after that brutal winter," says Craig Sweet, manager of Caras Nursery & Landscaping, a $1-million outfit in Missoula. "We had no trouble selling everything we got from him."
Initially, Caras's orders from Brown were $3,000 or so. Now they are up to $30,000 and growing. "We buy about 25% of our trees from Brad," Sweet says. "His prices are competitive, and his stock is the best in the business. But most important for us, we can get his material when we want it. That allows me to manage my inventory more closely."
Brown provides an extensive range of products, offering trees balled and burlapped, bare root, or in containers, and shrubs either bare root or in containers. His catalog lists 40 kinds of specimen trees; close to 40 budded, shade, and flowering trees; and more than 80 types of shrubs. A careful tracking of sales trends enables him to supply more expensive varieties that are gaining popularity.
Plants move out of Glacier Nursery all summer and fall, but most activity is focused toward six frantic weeks in early spring when two-thirds of all sales occur. Over the winter Brown's full-time crew of 6 works in the warehouse, a 3,600-square-foot structure he built in 1989. They sort plants, grade them, and bundle and tag them. In early April orders booked the previous summer are ready for shipment to destinations as far-flung as Denver. Lacking trucks of his own, Brown relies on three local companies. His mainstay, A&A Trucking, is a Kalispell-based transporter that hauls Coors and Budweiser into the Flathead Valley area from breweries in Colorado. Like any trucking company, it looks for backhaul loads, and plants are a good fit for its refrigerated trailers.
Brown leases equipment to dig up his trees by the hour. A local farmer provides a Bobcat skid-steer loader, and Brown rigs it with a hydraulic tree spade, also leased. He'd love to have a Bobcat of his own, but with Glacier still struggling, he can't justify the expense. The only piece of heavy machinery he owns outright is a Kubota L2850 tractor.
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With a 60-company business base, Glacier Nursery had sales of $170,924 in 1989. Last year, when Brown sold 2,800 trees and 25,000 shrubs, sales reached $250,000. For 1991 he's anticipating $285,000. Half of the spring-delivered stock is already booked.
As Glacier has grown, Brown's line of credit has expanded along with it, from $25,000 to $75,000. That's no great gamble for the bank -- between Glacier's fixed assets and in-the-ground inventory, Brown figures the business is now worth $496,500 and growing all the time.
But his expenses have exploded along with his inventory. With 6 field hands and a bookkeeper, full-time labor costs $100,000 a year, including benefits. In the spring, when Brown's crew can shoot up to 18, the payroll rises. Other expenses -- crop maintenance, plant replenishment, sales, and overhead -- add to the burden. Then there's the cost of servicing a combined debt of $130,000 in mortgages and capital investments.
All told, 1990 expenses reached $260,000, of which only $10,000 is Brown's draw, against total sales of $250,000. Without Desi's administrative job at the rural electric co-op, where she earns less than $20,000 a year, the family would be hard pressed to make ends meet. As it is, they are just getting by.
Brown is still seeking new accounts -- but very carefully. The demand for his plants is far larger than he had imagined, placing him in a rather tenuous position. With sales potential exceeding production capacity, he is selling out every year -- and that's bad.
"Our typical balled-and-burlapped tree is going for about $70," he says. "That tells me that we are digging up plants that have been in the ground only two or three years. The real value is after four or five years, when the tree is worth $120 or $140. And the additional maintenance costs are not that great. I'd much rather keep them in the ground for three to five years -- I've got some reserved for that now -- but to meet expenses we have to sell too many when they're young."
