Floriculture Profile
By Malinda Geisler, content specialist, AgMRC, Iowa State University, malindag@iastate.edu.
Profile updated December 2011.
Overview
Based on farm cash receipts, greenhouse and nursery crops are the fourth largest crop group. Leading floriculture states in value are California, Florida, Michigan, Texas and New York. Floriculture includes crops such as cut flowers, cut cultivated greens, potted flowering plants and potted foliage plants, as well as bedding and garden plants.
Total crop value at wholesale for growers with $10,000 or more in sales was estimated at $4.13 billion in 2010 for the 15 major states. USDA now surveys the top 15 states, down from 36 states in 2005. The 15 states--California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington--accounted for 75 percent of cash receipts received by U.S. greenhouse and nursery growers in 2008.
Supply
Top states with the most acreage under greenhouse cover include California, Florida, Michigan, Texas and New Jersey. Glass is the traditional greenhouse cover. Other products used include fiberglass and plastic film. Greenhouses are still expensive to build and maintain. States with the most acres of open ground include California, Florida, New Jersey and Illinois.
Demand
Floriculture item sales at all retail outlets was $35.2 billion in 2010, according to the Society of American Florists. Consumer trends indicate 46 percent of U.S. consumers purchasing outdoor bedding and garden plants, 34 percent buying fresh flowers and 20 percent of consumers buying flowering/green houseplants.
The 2009 Census of Horticultural Specialties, a survey conducted every 10 years, indicated an increase in food crop production. According to the USDA, the sale of food crops grown under protection, including fruits and vegetables in hothouses and transplants for commercial vegetable production, increased 149 percent since the last census in 1998. Overall sales of horticultural crops increased by 10 percent between 1998 and 2009. That increase lags behind the 60 percent increase seen for all agricultural crop commodities during the same time period. A downturn in horticultural sales was documented in cut flowers, foliage plants and Christmas trees.
The Census of Horticultural Specialties breaks down where the U.S. horticultural crop is marketed. The primary outlets were retail garden centers and nurseries, 19 percent; other mass marketers, 17 percent; direct consumer sales, 16 percent; landscape contractors, 14 percent; and supermarkets, 7 percent.
Sector Profiles
Cut Flowers
Fresh cut flower production, based on USDA's survey of the top 15 states, shows a continued shift from the highly imported flowers to those with less competition. The wholesale value of domestically grown cut flowers was $375 million in 2010.
Potted Flowering and Foliage Plants
Flowering plants in pots totaled $669 million in 2010. Of that, poinsettias accounted for $146 million in 2010. Sales of orchids totaled $170 million. Sales of potted foliage plants were $498 million.
Bedding and Garden Plants
The wholesale value of bedding and garden plants was $1.91 billion in 2010. Of that, potted herbaceous perennial plants accounted for $553 million in 2010.
Exports
The United States is a net importer of floricultural products. Exports are roughly one fourth of the value of imports.
Imports
Cut flower imports in 2010 were $507 million. Nursery products except for cut flowers were valued at $973.6 million in 2010. Of the cut flower total, imported cut roses were valued at $324.7 million and accounted for about 64 percent of the total cut flower imports.
Roses lead U.S. cut flower imports, mainly from Colombia and followed by Ecuador. Because of restrictions on the shipment of plants with soil attached to their roots from other countries, Canada is the biggest importer of live plants and trees. Orchid plants are supplied by Taiwan, the Netherlands and Thailand. Flower bulbs, such as tulips and lilies, are supplied by the Netherlands.
Sources
Census of Horticultural Specialties 2009, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), USDA - This census, conducted every 10 years, provides the only comprehensive, detailed data on floriculture, nursery and specialty crop production in the United States.
Floriculture Crops, NASS, USDA.
Global Agricultural Trade System, Foreign Ag Service , USDA.
