Wholesale value of floriculture crops down for 2009

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service has released the 2009 Floriculture Crops Summary. The 2009 wholesale value of floriculture crops was down 7% from the revised 2008 valuation. The total crop value at wholesale for the 15 state program for all growers with $10,000 or more in sales was estimated at $3.8 billion for 2009, compared with $4.1 billion for 2008.

California continues to be the leading state with crops valued at $935 million, but was down 12% from the 2008 value. Florida, the next largest producer, at $696 million was down 9% from the prior year to in wholesale value. These 2 states account for 43% of the 15-state total value. The top 5 states are California, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas, which account for $2.5 billion, or 66% of the 15 state total value.

The number of producers for 2009, at 6,457, was down 13% in the 15 states compared with the revised 2008 count of 7,362. The number of producers with sales of $100,000 or more dropped 3% to 2,919 for 2009 from 3,019 in 2008.

In the 15 state program, total covered area for floriculture production was 806 million sq. ft. However, these data are not comparable to the 2008 revised area of 756 million sq. ft. due to the combined data collection efforts of the Census of Horticulture and the Annual Floriculture Survey.

The total wholesale value of floriculture crops grown by operations with $100,000 or more of sales in the 15 state program was $3.7 billion for 2009, down 6% from the revised 2008 total. These largest operations account for 96% of the total value of floriculture crops, but comprise only 45% of all producers.

The wholesale value of bedding and garden plants, at $1.8 billion, was down 2% from the previous year. This crop category is the largest contributor to value of production and represents 49% of the wholesale value of all the reported crops. California, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and Ohio the top 5 states in this category, account for 79% of the total 15 state bedding and garden value. The number of growers producing annual bedding and garden plants was 1,317, up 1% from 2008.

The wholesale value for other major crop categories, including potted flowering plants, foliage plants, cut flowers and cultivated greens and propagated material, was down in 2009 compared to 2008.