Business
Pete has interviewed a diverse variety of subject matter experts in healthcare, higher education, horticulture, and science for stories highlighting current business news and trends.
Innovation in Action
Nike chemists create athletic wear to defy physics
It is not humanly possible to run a marathon in less than two hours — or is it? The members of Nike’s elite Innovation team think it is. They create the innovative materials for shoes and athletic wear that allow runners to run faster than ever before.
Growing Plastics
New tactics are needed for recycling the ever-growing pile of horticultural plastic containers
Plastics are everywhere, used to make everything—from automobiles, trucks, and tractors, to straws, utensils, and to-go containers used in the food and beverage industry. Doctors and nurses rely on sanitary, disposable medical instruments. And plastics are ubiquitous in the greenhouse and nursery industry—from drip-tube irrigation systems to injection-molded pots, plant trays, growing flats, poly film, and durable polyethylene silage bags. Even though many of these containers bear a recycling logo, the vast majority of these plastics wind up as waste. Why? It’s a question that cannot go unanswered.
Rising Costs of Compensation
Legislative mandates and worker shortages compel business to consider new wage structures
Many growers offer above-average wages and salaries, yet the horticulture industry has a reputation of only offering low-wage jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average wage of a horticultural worker is $10.26 per hour — well above the national minimum wage of $7.25. Now, with a $15 minimum wage mandated, many growers are looking at labor in a whole new light.
Delivering the Goods
Transporting plant material takes trucks, trains, railroad cars, dry and refrigerated vans — and lots of them
If there’s one thing plants are not, it’s easy to ship. Oregon can grow the best plant goods possible, but if the greenery doesn’t get to market in all its finery, all that work will be for nothing. To ship plants across the state and to faraway places across the continent and globe, growers must employ a variety of transportation companies that specialize in navigating the complex maze of shippers on one end, carriers in the middle, and consignees on the receiving end.