Floriculture in the United States: A Research Agenda
by Larry Etkin
Floriculture is a $10 billion component of the U.S. economy. It develops, produces and uses cut flowers, foliage, potted flowering and foliage plants and bedding plants. And the 28 major floriculture producing states report a farm gate value of domestic products of $2.15 billion. Despite intense competition from offshore imports of cut flowers and foliage and Canadian imports of potted and bedding plants, the industry has continued to grow.
Small family businesses characterize floriculture production and retailing. About 15,000 production farms serve 35,000 traditional retail florists and a rapidly growing market. In 1987, there were 8,440 acres of greenhouse structures worth a replacement value of $3 billion. There were also 6,662 acres of shade house and 24,616 acres of open ground in floricultural production.
The industry has both high value crops and high production costs. Gross return for greenhouse growing areas is about $10 per square foot, with costs of $5 to $7 per square foot. Floriculture is labor intensive, with about 12 people per acre the norm, according to the 1979 census of Horticultural Specialties. The industry employs more than 100,000 people.
Floriculture is the most intensive form of agriculture. It has the highest capital investment and labor input per acre, usually operates year-round, and uses the most advanced production technologies. Floriculture has traditionally been a model system for agricultural innovations and technologies improving efficiencies and marketing advantages.
Domestic and world wide floriculture production and general agriculture owe much to past decades of groundbreaking U.S. research by scientists at Land Grant universities, the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Cooperative State Research Service.
Floriculture was the first to use automatic irrigation and fertilization, now standard for agricultural commodities including field crops such as corn and cotton. Soil pasteurization to minimize crop loss from diseases was first developed in the greenhouse. Tissue culture propagation was first commercialized with floricultural plants. Floricultural scientists have also developed methods to conserve energy and water, prevent nutrient and pesticide ground water pollution and reduce air pollution. Their methods are models for all agriculture.
The use of the greenhouse itself, has been adapted by agricultural researchers in the plant sciences. Technological results of research in environmental controls of temperature, humidity, light, air movement and carbon dioxide enrichment of the air, used in floriculture production, have been adopted by other areas of agriculture. Even scientists developing animal production techniques use environmental control techniques originated by floricultural researchers.
Floriculture is an important agricultural bridge between biotechnology and economically usable products for the consumer. In vitro propagation (commercialized by floriculture research) provides better quality (fewer virus and disease infested plants) and more economical products (efficient increase of propagules, storage of germ plasm) for all plant industries.
Most of the breeding done today uses tissue culture techniques in producing or propagating new cultivars. Some foliage species are completely derived from tissue culture plants. The orchid industry is totally dependent on tissue cultured plants.
Trickle irrigation, derived from greenhouse watering systems, has revolutionized arid climate agriculture in places like Israel, opening up desert and water short areas for productive agriculture. Mist propagation, first used in floriculture, is used the world over for propagating all types of plants. Supplemental greenhouse High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting to increase photosynthesis was also in wide floriculture use before expanding generally into northern latitude commercial greenhouses.
Despite many basic and applied research successes and contributions to agriculture, support for floricultural research and facilities has failed to keep up with inflation. In Fiscal Year 1987, only 227.5 Scientist Years, with $38.4 million in resources were administered by the Agricultural Research Service, the Cooperative State Research Service, and the State Agricultural Experiment Stations for ornamentals research (floriculture, woody shrubs, herbaceous ornamentals, lawns and turf, arboreta and botanical gardens, etc.). This compared with other commodities such as corn (347 Scientist Years, $62.6 million), cotton (269.6 Scientist Years, $48.2 million), and beef cattle (631.7 Scientist Years, $141.9 million).
A 1988 survey of land grant universities reveals the average age of research greenhouses is 31 years. These old greenhouses affect the applicability of research. They are simply obsolete. Faculty responses to the survey indicate $31 million is needed for new and upgraded facilities. The responses also note that a lack of financial support for graduate students is a major detriment to research. Needed are 120 graduate fellowships and an equal number of technical assistants.
The floricultural industry has developed unevenly over the past decade. Flowering potted plants, bedding plants and interior landscaping have grown. But the cut flower industry has been shocked by massive competition from offshore.
High value perishables, cut flowers can be easily air shipped to every major U.S. city from almost anywhere in the world. Potted and bedding plants cannot be transported as easily and "Quarantine 37" (a federal regulation prohibiting soil from being transported to the U.S.) has inhibited foreign entry into these U.S. markets. The U.S. produces only about 20 percent of the chrysanthemum and carnation cut flowers consumed; imports represent a lost market opportunity of over $300 million a year.
And while the U.S. led the world in innovative floriculture technology 20 years ago (trickle irrigation, HID lighting and mist propagation), most new technology today has been coming from northern Europe.
Floriculture still has great growth potential. U.S. per capita flower consumption is well below many Europeans. Our competitors (especially Holland, Colombia and other Latin American countries) recognize this potential. They are gearing up to expand their U.S. market share.
For a number of years some of these countries subsidized the establishment of floriculture operations. Though subsidies have generally ceased, those businesses still have the advantage of cheap labor and ideal environmental conditions. The U.S. industry has responded, first by changing the crops they grow (i.e., going out of carnation and chrysanthemum cut flowers). Second, U.S. producers are becoming more competitive and efficient (i.e., rose growers use supplementary lighting to improve the growing environmental, and have made their greenhouses energy efficient). Third, U.S. producers are producing better quality flowers (i.e., rose growers have trained workers to handle the flowers with care to improve the lasting quality).
Competition from offshore will continue to intensify. Domestic grower will have to be more efficient to remain competitive. Research and development will be needed to provide the tools. It is the only way the U.S. will succeed in floriculture.
The floricultural market has become a global one. The European market, 330 million people, has a great potential for U.S. floricultural products – already being developed is the market for cut and potted foliage plants from Florida. We have good environmental conditions in the U.S., and efficient production systems. We can compete with any country, but research is needed to further develop these systems.
Research is needed on labor and space efficiencies, cultivar selection, integrated pest management, and post harvest physiology. With aggressive research and development we can recapture our own U.S. market, and begin to look further at expanding exports.
––––––––––
[SIDEBAR #1]
The Chrysanthemum Story
The pompom chrysanthemum it one of the staple cut flowers for retail florists. More than 90 million mostly imported bunches will be sold in the U.S. in 1990. The first offshore crop of pompoms arrived from Colombia in the late 1960s. By 1980 half of the total bunches consumed were produced offshore. By 1990 only 20 percent will be U.S. produced.
Research in the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s made it possible to flower this crop year round. Because the plant is photoperiodic, the flowers had been available only during the fall. Control of the photoperiod made flowering possible every day of the year. At first production was local, in greenhouses, then expanded to outdoor fields during the summer and then to Florida where the plants were grown during winter months. In the early 1970s, Florida had a few thousand acres in pompom chrysanthemums, now almost completely replaced by offshore production.
Commercial production of propagating cuttings began in the 1940s. The U.S. company that developed the process has produced hundreds of millions of disease and virus free cuttings for the world market, That company also has major breeding programs for new cultivars.
The U.S. can regain the pompom market, or at least increase its present share. But to compete with offshore production we need to develop efficient production systems, new cultivars and pest control programs. This can be done with an aggressive research program.
––––––––––
[SIDEBAR #2]
The Carnation Story
The perishable carnation originally needed to be at market within two days of harvest. The advent of jet transportation in the 1950s eliminated distance from market as a production factor, and new varieties and processing techniques have enabled markets and production areas to remain separated.
Carnation sales have increased every year since statistics were started in 1949. By 1990, annual U.S. consumption will be about one billion stems, worth $150 million.
But production locations have changed over the past 40 years. Jet transportation displaced a long standing New England industry, shifting it to the region around Denver, Colorado. The industry then expanded into California.
During the 1960s, inexpensive polyethylene covered structures allowed for a very rapid expansion of greenhouses.
Carnations grow best in environmental conditions with high light and cool nights year round. This condition wars found ideally in the Andes mountains of South America, where a very large Colombian carnation growing industry started about 1970.
Domestic production peaked in the early 1970s, with over 600 million stems produced annually. Today 80 percent of the carnations consumed in the U.S. are Colombian. They have both supplied the increased U.S. demand and displaced existing U.S. production. In 1987 only about 260 million blooms were grown in the U.S.
Innovations in technology, cultivar development, pest control, etc. are still primarily derived from U.S. sources. And while the Colombian government no longer subsidizes the development of very large installations, as they did in the past, the large operations are now well established. Colombians now also ship flowers to Europe and have expanded into other flower crops like chrysanthemums and roses, with equally devastating results to U.S. growers.
––––––––––
[SIDEBAR #3]
The Rose Story
Rose production is a U.S. industry just holding its own against imports, in a growing market. It's doing so despite cheaper offshore products.
Domestic consumption of cut roses will exceed 800 million flowers in 1990. Representing an increase of 300 million roses since 1980, it will be an annual market worth about $270 million. Because U.S. production has been flat (500 million stems per year) for the past decade, the entire increase will have been met by offshore production.
U.S. production remains competitive only because our growers adopt research results quickly. U.S. growers have learned to process roses carefully and use the proper water and materials to achieve a longer vase life. Research on supplemental lighting has increased winter production.
Our growers have also invested heavily in energy conserving greenhouse covers. While energy unit costs have risen, many rose growers spend less for energy today than before the energy crisis.
The past decade has seen offshore producers expanding their operations to meet U.S. demand. To compete and capture the future market, our growers must increase per plant production and become more efficient. And they must do this while complying with government health, safety and environmental regulations.