April Showers Bring May Flowers
A new report shows cut flowers, potted flowering plants, and bedding plants are still important components of the Oregon’s $744 million greenhouse and nursery industry, even though the numbers are down slightly.
Gary McAninch, supervisor of the Oregon Department of Ag’s Nursery and Christmas Tree Programs says.
McAninch: “Floriculture is very important to Oregon’s economy. Of course, it’s a smaller subsection of the nursery industry at large, but at $129 million in sales in Oregon it would still be one of the top ten agricultural commodities in the state.”
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has released its annual floriculture survey. Nationally, the 2012 wholesale value of floriculture crops increased one percent to an estimated $4.13 billion. California is ranked number one in floriculture production with about 24 percent of the nation's production -- however, the Pacific Northwest is included with Oregon ranking 11th and Washington 15th.
A significant slump in the nursery industry as a whole caused by the national recession the past few years has impacted floriculture as McAninch shares.
“The overall economy has been slow to recover and we’ve seen the results on Oregon’s nursery industry. I’m not surprised that it has affected floriculture as well.”
Still, the nursery industry is bouncing back and McAninch expects the same for floriculture.
Northwest FCS nursery market snapshot concurs with his assessment as the snapshot noted that sales for most nursery producers should improve in 2013.
