Marketplace News

Wholesale value of floriculture crops down for 2009
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service released the 2009 Floriculture Crops Summary. The 2009 wholesale value of floriculture crops was down 7 percent 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 percent from the 2008 value. Florida, the next largest producer at $696 million, was down 9 percent from the prior year to in wholesale value. These 2 states account for 43 percent of the 15-state total value. The top five 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 percent 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 percent to 2,919 for 2009 from 3,019 in 2008.

Producers with sales of $100,000 or more reported a mixed-bag of results with particular crops:

• The wholesale value of bedding and garden plants, at $1.81 billion, is down 2 percent from the previous year.
• Potted bedding and garden plants, both annuals and perennials, are valued at $1.10 billion for 2009, down 4 percent from 2008.
• Potted herbaceous perennials, valued at $492 million for 2009, is down 10 percent from 2008.
• The value of annual bedding and garden flats is up 2 percent from a year earlier to $501 million.
• Flowering hanging baskets account for $209 million in wholesale value, up 7 percent from 2008.
• Potted flowering plants for indoor or patio uses are valued at $632 million, down 5 percent from 2008.
• The value of 2009 foliage plant production, at $401 million, is down 12 percent from the previous year at the 15-State level.

Demand for lawn and garden consumables to reach $9 billion in 2014
U.S. demand for packaged lawn and garden consumables, which include fertilizers, pesticides, growing media, seeds, mulch, is forecast to increase 2.4 percent per year to $9.0 billion in 2014. The weak economy and food safety concerns have renewed interest in home gardening, a trend that will likely continue going forward, according to “Lawn & Garden Consumables,” a study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based research firm.

Conard-Pyle changes company focus
The Conard-Pyle Co. will no longer grow finished stock and instead focus on creating and licensing genetics, and producing bare-root roses and liners of roses and other proprietary material, and broker rose and perennial liners. Going forward the company will still be known as The Conard-Pyle Company and will be headquartered at the West Grove, Pa., location. CEO Steve Hutton said the company will focus on two areas: 1. The creation, development, patenting, marketing and licensing of its proprietary genetics. 2. The production and sales of starter plants for growers, such as bare-root roses, sold by its Star Rose division, and nursery stock liners produced in its Pennsylvania facility. As part of the change, Hutton said the company’s Maryland facility will be sold and the Pennsylvania wholesale facility will be leased. “Although we always had a focus on introducing new plants, this specialty has become a more important part of the business,” Hutton said. “It will now become the center of the business.”

Who's News?

New Positions
Jeff Novak to vice president marketing and innovation, Agrium Advanced Technologies, Loveland, Colo.

Tommy Bowles to senior account executive, Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits, Edwardsville, Ill.

Boris B. Aust to CFO, Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Lowell, Ore.

Brad Blaes to sales development manager, The Pinery, Escondido, Calif.

Claudia West to ecological sales representative, North Creek Nurseries, Landenberg, Pa.

Tim Kroenke to head of North American Lawn & Garden division; Keelan Pulliam to head of Flowers Professional Business; Scott Reasons to head of Turn & Landscape/Consumer Business, Syngenta, Greensboro, N.C.

Business Changes
Calloway’s Nursery, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, has joined ECGC Distributors.

John Deere established John Deere Insurance Company to help strengthen its position in crop insurance. The newly formed company is still subject to federal regulatory approval.

Carol Huntington has left her position of 25 years as marketing manager, Pleasant View Gardens, Loudon, N.H.

Bonide Products, Oriskany, N.Y., announced preliminary plans for a 3-phase expansion of their manufacturing and distribution facility in Oriskany.

Honors
OFA Short Course, has been named one of the 200 largest trade shows by Tradeshow Week 200.

Monrovia, Visalia, Calif., was awarded a Fleet Safety Award for its outstanding safety record by the California Trucking Association.

Deaths
Theodore Cox, 82, Cedar Grove Garden Center, Cedar Grove, N.J., died April 23.

Jack D’Angelo, 81, Dumont Farms Nursery, Dumont, N.J., died May 2.

For a full list of industry events, visit http://www.gardencentermagazine.com/CalendarEvents.aspx