During Irrigation Show 2014, Michael
V. Geary, CAE, president and CEO of
AmericanHort, presented a session
on the "State of the Green Industry."
(AmericanHort, formed in 2014, is a
consolidation of the American Nursery
& Landscape Association and OFA
— The Association of Horticultural
Professionals.) Geary provided insight into
the industry from all levels of the market
chain — from plant breeders, greenhouse
and nursery growers, garden retailers,
students, educators, manufacturers,
landscape professionals and more.
"We lost a lot of business during the
recession," Geary said. But he added that
confidence is high among growers and
statistics are pointing to positive trends
for the Green Industry. For example,
employment is on the rise (see Figure
1), housing starts are increasing (see
Figure 2), and sales of existing homes
are rising (see Figure 3).
Other positive trends that Geary
pointed to included a rise in the sale of
perennials, annuals, edibles and trees/
shrubs — which each increased in sales,
as reported by garden centers, by more
than 58 percent from spring of 2013
to spring of 2014 according to Nursery
Management Magazine. Greenhouse
production also increased during 2014.
According to Geary, 72 percent of
garden centers reported that overall sales
increased in 2014 as compared to 2013,
and landscape contractors reported a
profitable market.
The horticulture industry's production,
wholesale, retail and landscape service
components have annual sales of $163
billion, and sustain more than 1.15 million
full and part time jobs, said Geary.
According to Geary, a recent study
shows that U.S. demand for outdoor
products is expected to increase 4
percent in 2015 to almost $7 billion;
plants will play a key role; people are
looking for quick, easy solutions that
they can personalize; and people are
increasingly taking to the outdoors for
cooking, dining and entertaining.
The Garden Media Group Garden
Trends Report (referenced on page 10
of this issue) showed that 85 percent of
Millenials rated outdoor rooms as "very
important" or "important," compared to
8 January/February 2015 Landscape and Irrigation www.landscapeirrigation.com
State of the Industry
Industry Insights
Figure 1
Figure 2
The horticulture industry's
production, wholesale, retail
and landscape service
components have annual
sales of $163 billion, and
sustain more than 1.15
million full and part time jobs.
