05/21/07 The Idaho Green Industry

They call themselves the Idaho Green Industry and they are the folks that produce, maintain, use or sell plants in urban and rural communities. Just drive around any area of Idaho where there's growth, you'll see them. The Idaho Nursery and Landscape Association took a survey after the 2005 season and estimated its total sales to the state's economy for one year at more than 834 million dollars. 43 percent of that came from retail garden centers and wholesale nurseries, growers and suppliers. Another 41 percent of the sales are in the landscape, irrigation and application business. INLA's executive director Ann Bates says the industry grows hand in hand with Idaho's ever expanding population. BATES "We're usually about two years behind the curve so to speak because it kind of takes homeowners that long to decide what they want to do or it takes a business that long they don't want to maintain their lawn themselves or I mean, you know whatever it might be." Bates says that's especially true in the service and maintenance sectors. During the peak season 14 thousand 500 Idahoans worked in the Green Industry and earned an estimated 335 million dollars. Bates says that growers of plant material in Idaho are also selling their products out of state in addition to serving the growing in-state needs. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott