Floriculture Crops: 2024 Summary

Dr. Marvin Miller

Even though both surveys cover producers in all 50 states, in contrast to the data, the Floriculture Crops: 2024 Summary limits respondents to those who have $10,000 or more in total sales of only floriculture crops, i.e., cut flowers, potted flowering plants, foliage plants, bedding/garden plants (both annuals and perennials), cut cultivated greens and propagative floriculture materials (including prefinished plants). Hence, this universe is smaller than those included in the Census of Horticultural Specialties because the Census might include some firms that produce both floriculture and other horticultural specialty products in the counts of participating firms for any category, as well as their sales.

For the Floriculture Crops: 2024 Summary, sales totaled $6.710 billion (1.3% less than the Census total for floriculture sales of $6.795 billion). This was scarcely 0.3% higher than the 2023 sales of $6.691 billion. These sales were reported by 11,262 producers in 2024, compared to 10,216 in 2023—an increase of 10.2% in grower numbers reporting. Of these firms, only 3,987 of the 2024 producers had sales of $100,000 or more (35.4% of the total grower numbers), yet these “larger” firms accounted for 95.9% of the sales in the survey. These numbers compare to 3,261 firms in 2023 with sales of $100,000 or more (31.9% of total grower numbers), which accounted for 95.6% of total 2023 sales. It’s only these firms with sales of $100,000 or more who complete all of the crop-by-crop reporting in the Floriculture Crops Summary.

For bedding/garden plants, the Floriculture Crops Summary reported 2024 sales of $3.446 billion in sales. In comparison, in 2023, there were $3.514 billion in bedding/garden plant sales, about 2% more than in 2024. In 2024, a total of 2,630 firms reported sales of annuals totaling $2.55 billion. This compared with 2,257 firms in 2023 reporting sales of annuals, totaling $2.48 billion. Thus, sales of annuals accounted for 74% of the bedding/garden plant sales total in 2024, compared to 70.5% in 2023. Perennial sales were $896.091 million in 2024 reported by 2,121 firms, compared to $1.038 billion in 2023 sales reported by 1,846 producers. Thus, perennial sales declined by 13.7% in 2024, even though 14.9% more firms contributed to the total sales.

There were $1.255 billion in sales of potted flowering plants in 2024 reported by 1,652 firms. This compared to 1,457 firms reporting sales of $1.002 billion in 2023. Thus, sales in 2024 increased by 25.2% over the 2023 level.

In 2024, foliage plant sales of $928.436 million were reported by 1,162 firms. This compares with $918.852 million in foliage plant sales reported by 1,043 firms in 2023. Thus, foliage plant sales increased 1.04% in 2024, though 11.4% more firms contributed to the 2024 sales.

Cut flowers were produced by 541 producers in this survey in 2024, netting sales of $414.044 million. In contrast, 423 firms reported cut flower sales in 2023. These firms reported sales of $349.978 million. Thus, 27.9% more firms reported cut flower sales in 2024 and the sales dollars increased 18.3%.

A total of $75.572 million in sales of cut cultivated greens were reported by 145 producers in 2024. This compared to $97.781 million in 2023 sales reported by 140 firms. Total sales were off 22.7% in 2024, though only five fewer growers participated in the category.

The Floriculture Crops Summary reported a total of $316.40 million of plant propagative materials and prefinished plant sales in 2024, down 38.4% from the $513.82 million reported for 2023.

When comparing the Floriculture Crops Summaries for 2023 and 2024, we see that the bedding/garden plant category yielded some of its share of the finished floriculture sales pie to cut flowers and to potted flowering plants. This was largely the result of the significant decline in perennial sales. This was also the result of the significant increases in both cut flower sales and sales of potted flowering plants.

Note: USDA has released both the Census of Horticultural Specialties and the Floriculture Crops simultaneously for the last few Censuses to be sure data was consistent between the two reports. These reports were both due to be released last December, but were delayed due to the government shutdown. GT