PURPOSE
The Commercial Floriculture survey provides the number of
growers, area of production, quantity sold, percent of sales
at wholesale, wholesale prices, wholesale value of production
for floriculture commodities, and average number of agricultural
workers per farm or ranch.
COVERAGE
The Commercial Floriculture survey is a census of over 10,000
commercial floriculture operations that produce and sell at
least $10,000 of fresh cut flowers, potted flowering plants,
foliage plants, annual bedding and garden plants, herbaceous
perennials, cut cultivated florist greens or propagative floriculture
material and unfinished plants in a year. “Sales” include
retail and wholesale sales of items surveyed. A data series
for five cut flowers began in 1956 in five states and has
since expanded to cover 36 States and over 77 separate items.
CONTENT
The Commercial Floriculture survey data include cut flowers,
flowering potted plants, foliage plants, bedding/garden plants,
herbaceous perennials, cut cultivated greens and special Hawaiian
crops; data includes area in production, and price and value
of wholesale sales for 36 selected states and growers having
$100,000 or more in sales; also number of growers and growing
area for growers with $10,000 or more in sales.
FREQUENCY
The Commercial Floriculture survey is conducted annually
during the winter.
METHODS
List building is a significant requirement for a census project.
All state offices in the program conduct significant list
building efforts to identify all floriculture operations.
Once list building is complete, all potential operations (about
15,000) are screened for eligibility with about a third dropping
out because they do not have the items of interest (nurseries
with no floriculture) or do not having sufficient sales. Data
collection begins the first week of January and concludes
the end of February. The reference period is the preceding
year. The floriculture industry is widely varied from large
corporate operations to small local greenhouses. All are contacted
and considerable work is done to tailor the mode of data collection
to the type of operation. Data collection methods include
mail (35 percent), phone (45 percent), and personal interview
(20 percent).
PRODUCTS
The Commercial Floriculture Summary is released in late April.
USES
Commercial floriculture estimates are used by all segments
of the industry to plan for the future. Technology has changed
production practices and tissue culture propagation has accelerated
production. New products are being developed every year. To
keep abreast of the rapidly changing industry, growers and
suppliers need data. Individual growers can compare their
own operation to other operations to help identify state and
national trends as they plan the future of their business.
These estimates are also used to support industry claims in
cases involving unfair trade practices and in trade negotiations.
Government uses the data collected by this survey to measure
the economic impact of the industry. The value of sales of
floriculture crops exceeds $5 billion annually, a significant
contribution to farm income and the Gross Domestic Product.
SPECIAL FEATURES
This project garners significant industry support from many
different organizations. Each year, nine association and organization
leaders co-sign a letter of support which is sent to all prospective
respondents urging them to cooperate.
RELATED PROGRAMS
Census of Horticultural Specialties
Nursery and Christmas Tree Production
Nursery and Floriculture Chemical Use
|
