In Field Friday: Jessica Mermer

If you’ve ever picked up a potted orchid at the grocery store as a gift, chances are it was grown at Green Circle Growers in Oberlin, Ohio. Green Circle grows more than 8 million orchids annually and supplies orchids to Home Depot, Sam’s Club, Giant Eagle, Trader Joe’s, Walmart and other major retailers, in Canada and across the United States. Jessica Mermer, who will be starting her second year in the greenhouse and nursery management program in August, is currently interning at Green Circle Growers.

With more than 100 acres of indoor growing space, Green Circle is one of the largest greenhouses in North America. In the course of her internship, Jessica rotated through several of Green Circle’s operations, including poinsettia production (yep, it’s summer, but poinsettia production is already in high gear for December), mums—one of Jessica’s duties was to program the robots that plant them—annual bedding plants, and, of course, orchids.

In the 30-acre orchid range, where employees use bicycles inside the greenhouses to zip from one area to another, Jessica collects data about all aspects of orchid growing conditions—air and soil temperature, humidity, and light are just a few of the data points she measures—as well as data about the plants themselves. “Our goal is to maximize our efficiency in orchid production so we can bring the best product possible to market,” Jessica says.

Data collection wasn’t the only thing skill she gained, however. As one of 700 employees in the orchid range, Jessica had lots of opportunities to see how people grow, too. “One of the best things was learning how people from all different backgrounds and skill sets work together as a team,” says Jessica.