Red Rock Nursery co-owners Steve Jans (left to right), Travis Nemeth, and Bob Nemeth stand in the greenhouse located just south of the city.
Seedling nursery finds home By TIM KALINOWSKI
When Bob and Jordi Nemeth decided to get out of the vegetable growing business and get into the forestry/ seedling business, it was a very practical decision to sell their three smaller greenhouses in Redcliff and build the larger Red Rock Nursery in Medicine Hat in 1992. Bob, who was once a journeyman carpenter, made the switchover to greenhouse operating after a work-place accident made it difficult for him to work at regular labour jobs. He feels it was the best decision he ever made both in terms of his independence and also for the lifestyle considerations that came with it.
“I was the one with the green thumb. Jordi couldn’t grow a houseplant,” jokes Nemeth. “I was always the big gardener on the block. My son Travis grew up in the greenhouse. He would be in a bassinet in the greenhouse while we would be picking and harvesting the product.”
Bob conveys visitors about the Red Rock Nursery greenhouse with a deep sense of pride at what they have been able to build. It’s a massive, open and
26 | 2013 REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA
well-lit space with an automated sprinkler system moving endlessly up and down the rows of young seedlings. Female workers brought in from various foreign locales sit amongst the boxes pulling weeds and ensuring there is one seedling growing in each cubed space within the boxes. Most of the current seasonal workers are from Trinidad and Tobago and each get through 300 boxes of seedlings a day. Movable conveyor belts interspersed throughout the facility transport boxes full of seedlings from one compartment to another as each new generation of the growing cycle begins.
Red Rock now produces 10 million spruce and pine seedlings a year for forest reclamation across the province, and all of its current operations were built in-house. This self-sufficiency allows Red Rock to keep its construction and maintenance costs low so it can stay competitive in what is, surprisingly, a rather ruthless industry. Bob explains the fallout from the long-running softwood lumber dispute and the housing downturn in the U.S. have been as devastating to tree nurseries across Alberta as they have been to the forest industry in general.
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