No abstract

The United States environmental horticulture industry, also known as the Green Industry, is comprised of wholesale nursery and sod growers; landscape architects, designers/builders, contractors, and maintenance firms; retail garden centers, home centers, and mass merchandisers with lawn and garden departments; and marketing intermediaries such as brokers and horticultural distribution centers (re-wholesalers). Environmental horticulture is one of the fastest growing segments of the nation's agricultural economy. In spite of the magnitude and recent growth in the Green Industry, there is surprisingly little information regarding its economic impact. Thus, the objective of this study was to estimate the economic impacts of the Green Industry at the national level. Economic impacts for the U.S. Green Industry in 2002 were estimated at $147.8 billion in output, 1,964,339 jobs, $95.1 billion in value added, $64.3 billion in labor income, and $6.9 billion in indirect business taxes, with these values expressed in 2004 dollars. In addition, this study evaluated the value and role of urban forest trees (woody ornamental trees); the total output of tree production and care services was valued at $14.55 billion, which translated into $21.02 billion in total output impacts, 259,224 jobs, and $14.12 billion in value added.

The turfgrass and lawncare industry in the United States continues to grow rapidly due to strong demand for residential and commercial property development, rising affluence, and the environmental and aesthetic benefits of turfgrass in the urban landscape. Economic sectors of the industry include sod farms, lawncare services, lawn and garden retail stores, and lawn equipment manufacturing. Golf courses were also included in this study as a major industry that depends upon highly managed turfgrass for golf play. Numerous studies have been conducted on the economic impacts of the turfgrass and lawncare industry for individual states or regions; however, this research is the first to report results for the entire United States. This is EDIS document FE632, a publication of the Food and Resource Economics Department,  UF/IFAS Extension. Published April 2006. FE632/FE632: Economic Impacts of the Turfgrass and Lawncare Industry in the United States (ufl.edu)

Compared with more traditional sectors of U.S. agriculture, little economic information is available on the turfgrass industry, of which golf courses are an integral part. As a result, over the past 30 years individual states have conducted over 60 individual studies that describe in detail the economic importance of their industry. To date, no such information exists at the national level primarily due to the high cost of collecting primary data. To ameliorate this situation, the authors used secondary data from various sources and developed a composite of the turfgrass industry for the entire United States. This report focuses on the golf course industry in particular. Golf represents a very high value amenity use of horticultural products and services, is a major form of development, and uses large amounts of land and water. Results indicate the golf sector is the largest component of the turfgrass industry, accounting for a 44% share. The nearly 16,000 golf courses generated $33.2 billion (B) in (gross) output impacts, contributed $20.6 B in value added or net income, and generated 483,649 jobs nationwide. Economic impacts were also examined for each state, with “top 10” states highlighted. States falling in the top 10 category varied somewhat depending on the variables being examined. The exception were the top four states—Florida, California, Texas, and Illinois—that remained in the top four irrespective of variable type. In general, the top 10 states accounted for 55% to 60% of economic impacts for the entire United States while the top four alone contributed 40% of the total.

The U.S. nursery and landscape industry generates 1.9 million jobs and had an annual payroll of greater than $3 billion in 2002, yet little is known about nursery and landscape workers. This lack of information is even more pressing considering that labor generally accounts for greater than 40% of production costs and 31% of gross sales. Labor shortages, immigration reform, and legal status of employees are widely reported as the industry's most critical issues. We hypothesized that relevant data regarding the nursery industry workforce may raise an appreciation of the industry's diversity, increase political power and public awareness, and help stakeholders evaluate policy decisions and plan corrective strategies in a more informed manner. A total of 4466 self-administered questionnaires were sent in 2006, attempting to reach 30 nurseries in each of nine states with 1561 returned (35% response rate). Hispanics constituted 70% of the average nursery workforce, including general laborers (76%), crew leaders (61%), and sales/managers (others) (21%). Across firms, labor retention was less than 51% after 5 years and only 22% of employees understood English, raising questions regarding availability and access to training. Sixty percent of nursery employees had not received work-related training, although 81% of men and 72% of women were interested, and an association between training and employee retention existed. The highest rated training topic of interest was English/Spanish (respective of Spanish/English primary language respondents). There was a positive correlation between developing fluency and worker turnover, making the laborer attrition rate even more unfavorable for employers who not only lost employees with acquired experience, but also with acquired English skills.

No abstract

Four tree (Acer rubrum L., Ulmus alata Michx., Quercus virginiana Mill, and Lagerstroemia indica L.) and two landscape shrub species (Rhododendron indicum L. ‘Formosa’ and Elaeagnus pungens Thunb.) were grown in 10-liter (#3) polyethylene containers. Plants were irrigated with overhead impact sprinklers (control) or with individual low volume spray stakes. Microirrigated treatments consisted of same or double volume per day per container as controls applied as one to three cyclic subvolumes. Shrub growth was seldom influenced by irrigation treatment. Xeric tree species (U. alata and Q. virginiana) grew as well with single volumes applied in 2 cycles as double volumes applied in 3 cycles; both produced significantly larger trees than the control. Mesic species (A. rubrum and L. indica) irrigated with double volumes in 3 cycles produced the largest trees that were significantly larger than single volume microirrigated or control trees. Growth of single cycle, single volume trees (overhead and microirrigation) was equivalent; thus, growth effects were due to cycling, not microirrigation. With commercially representative container spacings used, superior trees were produced with cycled microirrigation using 25% (xeric) or 50% (mesic) of the water volume per area applied through the overhead sprinkler. Further aspects of irrigation requirements and water efficiency are discussed.

This study investigated farmers' incentive to forward purchase inputs. A model of farmer decision making was used to derive an optimal forward contracting rule. Explicit in the model was the tradeoff between the quantity of input to be purchased in advance, and the remaining portion to be purchased later on the spot market. Results indicated that the primary reasons farmers contract inputs are to reduce risk and to speculate on favorable price moves. A numerical example of fertilizer used in corn production indicated that the size of the price discount was the dominant factor in forward contracting decisions.