CALIFORNIA BUSINESS MINUTE
Horticulture and Nurseries
08-10-10
Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.
The ‘Great Recession’ and all of its components specifically the collapse of the
housing industry coupled with the drought and other factors reduced sales of nursery
products by California nurseries by $688,000,000 to $3.3 billion compared to $4.0
billion in 2007-2008, down 17.5%, according to a report by the University of
California - Davis for the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers, CANGC.
The year-to-year decline broke a 15-year record of uninterrupted sales growth dating
back to 1993.
Additionally, retail sales of lawn and garden products, including nursery items,
also declined $1.6 billion (a 12% drop) to $11.7 billion, and nursery production
and retailing lost an estimated 25,492 jobs in 2008-2009, employing 192,065
Californians compared to 217,557 in 2008-2009 (off 11.7%). Landscapers, businesses,
municipalities, and homeowners all reduced their spending on nursery products in
response to cessation of new construction, sharply reduced home values, loss of
jobs, rising unemployment, and reduced incomes, according to Carman. Regulatory
actions and invasive pest quarantines were also factors in the declines for nurseries.
"California nurseries' share of agricultural output for California dropped from
12.5% to 9.1% of the total for all agricultural commodities as a result of a nearly
perfect storm of recessionary pressures, natural events, and adverse court decisions
that blocked water deliveries to growers and urban nursery customers alike,"
according to CANGC Executive VP Robert Dolezal. "Now we begin the long process of
rebuilding our lost production and sales as the economy starts to turn around and
the drought's impacts lessen," he said.
Nursery and greenhouse products typically rank within the top ten California crops.
Combined nursery and greenhouse products ranked fourth overall in 2008-2009.
I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.
For more information, visit www.cangc.org.
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