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| Krista Heeringa harvests buds that are ready at Far North Flowers. Photo by Nate Heeringa |
In the last decade, peony farms in Alaska have increased tenfold. According to the latest Census of Agriculture, there were 100 peony farms in the state.
The growth has been propelled by headlines like these: “Alaska’s peonies are the state’s new cash crop,” “‘The industry’s about to explode’: Peony market flourishes in Alaska,” “Alaskan peony farmers aim to grow industry,” “How Alaska became a center of peony cultivation,” and “For late-summer weddings, the peonies can only come from one place.”
Credit for the boom also goes to UAF Professor Pat Holloway who, 20 years ago, made it known that, because Alaska peonies bloomed at a time when they weren’t available anywhere else in the world — during the height of the wedding season — they could garner premium prices.
Notwithstanding the ebullient headlines, are Alaska’s peony farmers flourishing? Are they making money? That’s what I wanted to find out when I interviewed over a dozen farmers in Interior Alaska.
David Russell likens peony farming to a video game. The first level is growing marketable peonies, the second, chilling and post-harvest handling, and the third, marketing. Each level presents new challenges and unknowns. If you successfully reach the third level, you must continue juggling all of the challenges of the first and second levels as well.
Three farmers I interviewed did not make it past the first level — growing marketable peonies. Mike Quinn, a small peony grower (300 roots) ran into problems with the variety he planted. He explained that there are very strict parameters of what the industry will buy and sell. “I bought a variety that grew well but it didn't produce a thick enough stem, and it didn't grow the bomb flower. ... The only place I can sell them is the farmers market.”
Quinn said he would have continued to expand if he could have gotten $2 or $3 a stem. On the other hand, he said even if it was paying some money, he’s not sure it’s how he wants to spend his retirement. The peonies needed to be harvested at the same time he likes to fish for king salmon.
Kathy Frizzera (300 roots) had no delusions about how hard peony farming would be, owing to the fact that her grandparents were large farmers in Kansas. Her original goal was to plant 5,000 roots, but she is bowing out due to her age and health, family dynamics, insufficient capital and lack of fertile soil. She has enough energy to do her day job, but not to grow peonies on top of that.
After investing about $5,000 and six years of work, she sold one bucket of peonies. For Kathy, the silver lining was that she has met some truly wonderful people. “The cooperation has enabled the industry to get as far as it has today. Whether or not it fails or succeeds, I hope that cooperation will remain in spite of competitiveness." She said she would do it again if she was in her 40s but on a small piece of land detached from her house so that the herbicides and pesticides wouldn’t impact the health of her family, pets or future homeowners.
Another farmer who asked not to be identified, planted 900 roots and invested five years of work only to have to relocate due to a job change before selling any stems. She did not think the peony roots resulted in any additional revenue when she sold her house.
Three farmers I interviewed did not make it past the first level — growing marketable peonies. Mike Quinn, a small peony grower (300 roots) ran into problems with the variety he planted. He explained that there are very strict parameters of what the industry will buy and sell. “I bought a variety that grew well but it didn't produce a thick enough stem, and it didn't grow the bomb flower. ... The only place I can sell them is the farmers market.”
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| Heidi Rader plants peony roots at Far North Farm, with Nate Heeringa, who owns the farm with her sister, Krista. Krista Heeringa photo |
Kathy Frizzera (300 roots) had no delusions about how hard peony farming would be, owing to the fact that her grandparents were large farmers in Kansas. Her original goal was to plant 5,000 roots, but she is bowing out due to her age and health, family dynamics, insufficient capital and lack of fertile soil. She has enough energy to do her day job, but not to grow peonies on top of that.
After investing about $5,000 and six years of work, she sold one bucket of peonies. For Kathy, the silver lining was that she has met some truly wonderful people. “The cooperation has enabled the industry to get as far as it has today. Whether or not it fails or succeeds, I hope that cooperation will remain in spite of competitiveness." She said she would do it again if she was in her 40s but on a small piece of land detached from her house so that the herbicides and pesticides wouldn’t impact the health of her family, pets or future homeowners.
Another farmer who asked not to be identified, planted 900 roots and invested five years of work only to have to relocate due to a job change before selling any stems. She did not think the peony roots resulted in any additional revenue when she sold her house.
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| The Brodersen family plant peonies at Sunrise Farm. Naomi Brodersen photo |
Russell, with the help of extended family, has played all three levels of peony game, but not without some unpleasant surprises. He had been told to expect 10 marketable stems per plant after three to five years. Perhaps his soils were too cold or his pH is too acidic, but after six years he only harvested an average of seven stems per plant. This means a smaller and more delayed return on investment, which in his case is significant at 17,000 roots.
Even those who, due to a combination of luck and fastidiousness, create optimal growing conditions for the plants, still have no control over when the peonies bloom. Fairbanks growers are finding the late summer niche unreliable. In fact, in 2019, it disappeared.
Ron Illingworth (13,000 roots), one of the first peony farmers in the state and a champion for the industry, said farmers in Fairbanks finished harvesting by July 2 this year. This was before the upper Midwest stopped harvesting. It’s news to no one that the vagaries of weather make farming difficult, but in The Atlantic, UAF Assistant Professor Nancy Fresco explained that warming trends might make the niche a thing of the past (bit.ly/2tYggL1).
The second level of the metaphorical peony farming videogame is post-harvest handling and chilling. While the Dutch may not be harvesting peonies in mid- or late summer they’ve mastered the techniques of chilling them longer, allowing them to tap into Alaska’s so-called exclusive niche. Plus, their farms are paragons of efficiency (bit.ly/3aNa9K4) so they can sell their stems profitably at prices far below Alaska farmers.
Carolyn Chapin, one of the first peony farmers in Alaska, explained that originally the late summer niche was there. “We were selling to high-end markets to meet summer demands. When we first started shipping in 2004, the Dutch were done right after Mother’s Day. ... With a very strong summer demand, the Dutch are pushing further into it by storing their stems much longer than previously, and they are expanding peony production. Even though Alaska peonies are months fresher during summer, buyers are looking at a price point and are waiting until they can’t get the cheaper imported stems anymore. So now ours have stored to wait out the Dutch availability and so are also 4-6 weeks old, or older when sold. The niche markets are still there but they’re harder to come by.” Even though their flowers may not be as fresh, big, or even open if businesses or brides are looking at the bottom line, they often opt for the cheaper option.
The third level and, by most accounts, the least fun part of the difficult game of peony farming is selling the peonies. The farmers I talked to did not go into peony farming because they liked marketing and sales, but because they wanted to be outside growing flowers. Naomi Brodersen, who has farmed with her family since 2014 (1,400 roots), describes what’s involved. From January to May or June until they started harvesting, her sister and her boyfriend contacted 300-400 florists.
“It’s time-consuming," she said ... “They googled wedding destinations and picked a city and contacted florists. Then they had a template they’d send to florists, then people would come back with questions."
The Arctic Alaska Peony Cooperative in Fairbanks was supposed to relieve farmers of this chore, but this fall it disbanded. For a couple years, Chapin, marketed for 14 peony farms (this is called a packhouse) in Fairbanks but cut back to three farms because she wasn’t making enough money for the amount of work involved. If growers are lucky enough to have a packhouse or co-op to work with, they must fork over 20 to 60% of gross sales — more if they’re paying for cold storage and marketing, less if they’re just paying for marketing.
Working with a packhouse or co-op can add inconvenience to the process as well. Ideally, stems should be chilled right after they’re cut. For small growers like Quinn it was also inconvenient. Ideally, stems should be chilled right after being harvested, but since the nearest chiller was 30 miles, it was very time-consuming to transport the stems during the harvest—the busiest time of year for growers.
And it’s not just selling all of the stems, it’s selling them at a profitable price. There’s an often- repeated story about a buyer in London who wanted to buy 100,000 peonies every week of the summer from the UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden, which at the time, only produced a handful of stems. What isn’t always mentioned is that the buyer only wanted to pay 50 cents per stem. By conflating high, wholesale demand with high retail prices ($4, $5, $6 or more), it’s been easy to imagine making bank as a peony farmer!
Markets change quickly and vary with supply, bloom time and quality. One seller might get a better price than another seller due to their product quality, number of stems and varieties available, reliability, connections, marketing prowess and their hutzpah. An Interior peony grower and packhouse owner, who asked not to be identified, described prices, size and special requirements of various markets in 2019 (see the table below). Although anecdotal, it’s valuable because it is current.
Even those who, due to a combination of luck and fastidiousness, create optimal growing conditions for the plants, still have no control over when the peonies bloom. Fairbanks growers are finding the late summer niche unreliable. In fact, in 2019, it disappeared.
Ron Illingworth (13,000 roots), one of the first peony farmers in the state and a champion for the industry, said farmers in Fairbanks finished harvesting by July 2 this year. This was before the upper Midwest stopped harvesting. It’s news to no one that the vagaries of weather make farming difficult, but in The Atlantic, UAF Assistant Professor Nancy Fresco explained that warming trends might make the niche a thing of the past (bit.ly/2tYggL1).
The second level of the metaphorical peony farming videogame is post-harvest handling and chilling. While the Dutch may not be harvesting peonies in mid- or late summer they’ve mastered the techniques of chilling them longer, allowing them to tap into Alaska’s so-called exclusive niche. Plus, their farms are paragons of efficiency (bit.ly/3aNa9K4) so they can sell their stems profitably at prices far below Alaska farmers.
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| It can take a village to harvest peonies at just the right time. The 2019 harvest period was compressed due to the record heat. Maggi Rader photo |
The third level and, by most accounts, the least fun part of the difficult game of peony farming is selling the peonies. The farmers I talked to did not go into peony farming because they liked marketing and sales, but because they wanted to be outside growing flowers. Naomi Brodersen, who has farmed with her family since 2014 (1,400 roots), describes what’s involved. From January to May or June until they started harvesting, her sister and her boyfriend contacted 300-400 florists.
“It’s time-consuming," she said ... “They googled wedding destinations and picked a city and contacted florists. Then they had a template they’d send to florists, then people would come back with questions."
The Arctic Alaska Peony Cooperative in Fairbanks was supposed to relieve farmers of this chore, but this fall it disbanded. For a couple years, Chapin, marketed for 14 peony farms (this is called a packhouse) in Fairbanks but cut back to three farms because she wasn’t making enough money for the amount of work involved. If growers are lucky enough to have a packhouse or co-op to work with, they must fork over 20 to 60% of gross sales — more if they’re paying for cold storage and marketing, less if they’re just paying for marketing.
Working with a packhouse or co-op can add inconvenience to the process as well. Ideally, stems should be chilled right after they’re cut. For small growers like Quinn it was also inconvenient. Ideally, stems should be chilled right after being harvested, but since the nearest chiller was 30 miles, it was very time-consuming to transport the stems during the harvest—the busiest time of year for growers.
And it’s not just selling all of the stems, it’s selling them at a profitable price. There’s an often- repeated story about a buyer in London who wanted to buy 100,000 peonies every week of the summer from the UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden, which at the time, only produced a handful of stems. What isn’t always mentioned is that the buyer only wanted to pay 50 cents per stem. By conflating high, wholesale demand with high retail prices ($4, $5, $6 or more), it’s been easy to imagine making bank as a peony farmer!
Markets change quickly and vary with supply, bloom time and quality. One seller might get a better price than another seller due to their product quality, number of stems and varieties available, reliability, connections, marketing prowess and their hutzpah. An Interior peony grower and packhouse owner, who asked not to be identified, described prices, size and special requirements of various markets in 2019 (see the table below). Although anecdotal, it’s valuable because it is current.
Market
Type
|
Price
range per stem
|
Size
of Order (No. of stems)
|
Other
Notes
|
Direct sales to brides
|
$4-6
|
25-50
|
Highest prices but not repeat buyers and very time consuming
|
Direct sales to florists
|
$4-6
|
·
25-200
|
High
prices but small and inconsistent orders
|
Wholesalers
|
$3-$3.75
$2.60
- $3
|
500-1,000
1,000
– 3,000
|
Small weekly orders
Large
weekly orders
|
Bouquet makers
|
$2.60-$3.25
|
1,000-3,000
|
|
Mass market
|
$1.75
- $2
|
2,000-4,000
|
·
Grocery
stores. Large weekly orders. They often require bundles of 3 and bar-coded
sleeves. Most Alaskans are not set up for bar-coding. Not many Alaskans sell
in mass markets
|
Mass market – sub premium stems
|
$1
- $1.5
|
Small
buds and short stems
|
Older research papers described markets in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Current prices topped out at $6 a stem compared with a high of $10 in 2012. Wholesale prices dropped from $4-4.50 in 2012 to $2.60-$3.75 in 2019, depending on the size of the order.
With an unreliable niche and no co-op, can Fairbanks peony growers make money? None of the farmers I talked to were, even those who’d been at it more than a decade. Most were covering their annual costs (including hired labor but not their own time). Quinn weighed in, "I think a good percentage of people are continuing to get into this business thinking there is money to be made. It's possible, but the question is, is it likely? If you'd gotten into this business 10 years ago it might have been likely, but I don't think it is today. The whole area has stuck their neck out, the big buyers know that everybody here is over a barrel. And they've either got to deal with a low price [at the coop] or do their own marketing.”
Chapin, who used to teach the growers school for the Annual Alaska Peony Conference said, “Jan and I have always said plan on $2 a stem. Some people are planning around $5 a stem. Some don’t care so they’re selling for $2.10. Once wholesalers get it at that price, then they won’t pay more.”
That’s where the coop came in. They were supposed to ensure everyone got a fair, high price, while maintaining quality and accessing some of the larger export markets. The final payout from the Arctic Alaska Peony Cooperative was less than a dollar a stem.
Kim Herning (5,000 roots), helped market for the Arctic Alaska Peony Cooperative and also served on its board. She said, “I've always felt my hands were tied because I was associated with AAPC and coming down from the president, everything had to be positive. But that's not realistic. That's not really a good gauge of how the industry is doing. If you are putting everything in a positive light, that's not really fair to people jumping into it.” Herning said, “Had we known those things, we would have done things differently or maybe we wouldn't have done it at all. It's not fair to new farmers. If someone is really seriously thinking about starting a farm. They need as much information as they can get.”
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| Peony trials began in Alaska at Georgeson Botanical Garden. The flowers continue to delight visitors. Photo by Heidi Rader |
Although the peony industry has grown and continues to grow thanks to the efforts of passionate, hard-working individuals and state and federal money, it does not portend to the success of individual growers. In the absence of a cooperative marketing or selling entity, the growth could be its detriment. A larger industry means more competition, especially at a local level. Those dabbling in peony growing pose a risk to the reputation of Alaska-grown peonies if they sell substandard buds or undercut other growers. As an aside, the support industry (suppliers, service providers, researchers, and educators) has benefited from the growth of the industry, particularly through grant funding.
I wish it wasn’t so, but as with any type of farming, it’s hard for small-farmers to compete with agriculture juggernauts. Lacking a solid niche, that’s what small Alaska peony farmers are doing. More discussion and research should be done on what kind of peony farm is most likely to be profitable in Alaska—including size, location, and marketing strategy. The come one, come all mentality has afforded the industry a welcoming and cooperative vibe, but it may be time to acknowledge that growing peonies in Alaska is a serious undertaking which may not be profitable on a small or even medium scale.
Pros and cons of a larger industry aside, potential growers should not be seduced into starting a peony farm for the good of the whole by sugarcoating the risk-reward ratio. As Kim Herning puts it, they should have full access to the “good, bad, and the ugly.”
In a follow-up article, I’ll talk about important considerations for those who are considering starting a peony farm.
Heidi Rader is a tribes Extension educator for the UAF Cooperative Extension Service and the Tanana Chiefs Conference. She also directs the vegetable variety trials at the Georgeson Botanical Garden.
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