Originally helping out his father, Walter, with his farm operation, Ed Sobkowich Sr. has seen a full transition of the family’s Maple Avenue farm in Grimsby, from fruit trees to 160,000 sq. ft. of greenhouses.

Ed Sobkowich Greenhouses Ltd. is now part of what is Niagara’s largest agricultural commodity, the greenhouse sector — accounting for $217.6 million of $511.4 million in farm gate receipts for Niagara according to the Niagara Regional Agricultural Economic Impact Study.

For the Sobkowich family, the road to success has been making gradual changes over the years, said Sobkowich Sr. The first step was to build the greenhouses.

He said in 1960 he and his father were taking their fruit to the food terminal in St. Catharines. They noticed an increase in plants being sold and decided to diversify.

“We were busy through the summer, but had nothing to do during the winter time,” said Sobkowich Sr.

They constructed 8,000 sq. ft. of greenhouses and started to grow tomatoes in the offseason.

Four years later his father died, but Sobkowich Sr. said he just kept at it and carried on, continuing to diversify the greenhouses aspects, eventually growing bedding plants in spring and expanding with more greenhouses space.

“It was really just hit or miss,” he said. “We seemed to make the right decision, though.”

Before long, they were growing holiday crops such as poinsettias, Easter lilies, pot mums and more.

Gradually the Sobkowich family continued to transition out of fruit farming, even with the additional help of Sobkowich Sr.’s children – Ed Jr. and Debbie. In the early 1990s they decided to focus solely on the greenhouse industry.

“We couldn’t do both,” said Sobkowich Sr.

The family, said Sobkowich Jr., continued to adapt to change and eventually decided to expand on its flower production.

“We saw there was definitely more of a market in the flowers, so we switched to year-round flower production,” he said.

Now Sobkowich Greenhouses grows between 700 and 800 different varieties and colours, sold to garden centres and through broker programs and growing programs, such as the Proven Winners, where Sobkowich Greenhouses provides production for all of eastern Canada.

Sobkowich Jr. said growth has really happened just one step at a time.

“I think our success is really attributed to a lot of small refinements and changes to the market trends,” he said.

It takes hard work, too, said Sobkowich Sr.

“We take a lot of personal pride in what we shop. We want to be proud of everything that goes out the door and our customers know that,” he said.

As much as there is success, however, there remain challenges that need to be overcome. One of the major issues, said Sobkowich Jr., is rising costs of utilities.

“Unfortunately we’re seeing the cost of production grow,” he said, noting gas and electricity prices continue to rise.

While summers can be more hospitable for gas charges, electricity can climb. In winter, the gas bill grows and it takes more energy to keep the greenhouses warm.

An experienced staff and up-to-date technology, however, help ensure efficiency, said Sobkowich Jr. Since the start of the business, the technology has grown in leaps and bounds and ultimately reduced much of the work that once had to be done, from mixing soil to hand-planting in pots.

“With the old technology we would have to have five times the people to keep up,” he said, adding machinery has been a huge coup to advancement.

While they don’t export products to the United States, the effect of a strong Canadian dollar does trickle its way into the business plan.

“Growers now shipping to U.S. markets are trying to find alternative markets in Ontario,” said Sobkowich Jr. A growing urban core of Grimsby and land-use policies have basically limited any potential to grow further for the Sobkowich family, but Sobkowich Sr. is confident “we can do quite well where we are”.

“Our increases have been up every year we’ve been in business,” he said.

The family’s philosophy is to keep up with any changes and continue to succeed through innovation and development.

“We’re very hands on and try to see what things are selling and what we need to change,” said Sobkowich Jr. “We’re keeping up on the trends and that’s gone a long way to helping us continue to grow.”