A Younger Future for the Green Industry
The Green Industry is making the generational change and it promises a bright and young future. For any industry, but especially for the Green Industry, it has been crucial for us to attract younger generations of workers so they can obtain the experience needed to grow into a position of leadership. In line with that focus, we at Wolf Creek continue to support education and keep a watchful eye on the ebb and flow of growth and leadership in the industry.
The Irrigation and Green Industry magazine (IGIN) conducts an annual survey and last fall over 1,000 Green Industry contractors responded. While 1,000 cannot speak for the many thousands of contractors across our nation, the survey does offer insights into the development of age and leadership in our industry.
Survey Respondents
Most respondents of the survey are owners or managers, totaling 82%. This is to be expected since they understand their business, they subscribe to magazines and newsletters, and feel comfortable participating in a survey.
Knowledge & Experience
Knowledge continues to be a determining factor to entry or to success in the Green Industry. This is knowledge not only on how to do Green Industry work, but also on how to run a successful business. Those who own and operate contracting firms have lived through that education process. This fact shows clearly in the years of experience of respondents: most of the respondents (64%) have at least 21 years of industry experience.
- Less than 5 years 7%
- 6 to 10 years 10%
- 11 to 20 years 19%
- 21 to 30 years 27%
- More than 31 years 37%
Owners and Managers Age
“The industry continues to tend to be driven by older experts who have been at the lead of their companies long enough to work past some obstacles.” Since it takes practical experience over several years, it follows that owners and managers are in the older ranges (54% are over 50):
- Under 20 0%
- 20 to 29 5%
- 30 to 39 16%
- 40 to 49 24%
- 50 to 59 28%
- Over 60 27%
Company Size
However, what has changed is the total number of contractors in any given market. The demand for Green Industry services has increased drastically over the decades, which supports many more contractors. Demand for our services is still increasing even with the recessionary pressure from 2008 and 2020. I predict that the day will come when slower market growth, or saturation, may become a barrier to entry. However, unless demand significantly reduces, there will always be openings for newer contractors to replace those who are ageing out.
Green Industry Younger Generation
We are witnessing a changing of the guard as the owners that pass the age of 60 are retiring. Today that is a smaller percentage than a few years ago. This trend will continue but fortunately, our industry has a good crop of younger operators moving forward. Note that 45% of the respondents are under 50 years of age. I expect that number to pass 50% soon, and result in making 40-year-old and younger the dominate leadership force.
This change reminds me of the go-go days of the 1990s which reinforces my view that our industry, just like others, experiences the circle of life. Our Green Industry can continue stronger with younger generations at the helm.
