Florida’s Nursery and Greenhouse Industry Has a Huge Effect on the State’s Economy
July 18, 2017 
In the last five years, Florida’s nursery and landscape industry has generated more than $21 billion in total sales and more than 230,000 jobs, according to an economic impact study conducted by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) on behalf of the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association (FNGLA).
Those numbers represent a 37% increase in total output since the last economic study five years ago. The $21.08 billion in total output sales is comprised of: $4.55 billion for nursery and greenhouse crop production; $10.11 billion for landscape design, installation, and maintenance; and $6.42 billion for retail/garden centers. Allied supplies are reflected in the above numbers, accounting independently for $2.426 billion.
Florida’s nursery and landscape industry created 28,000 jobs between 2010 and 2015 and directly employs a statewide workforce of 232,650 people.
Additional study highlights include:
• Industry sales to markets outside Florida bring nearly $1.6 billion in new net revenue into Florida.
• Florida wages, benefits, and income are an estimated $8.7 billion.
• 31% of Florida landscape sales are to builders and developers, while suppliers sold $170 million in irrigation equipment.
“FNGLA has long exclaimed this is a small business industry with a big business impact on Florida’s economy,” says Ben Bolusky, FNGLA’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the Great Recession in our rear view window, the study’s numbers reflect what FNGLA intrinsically knew — the nursery and landscape industry has cemented its prominence as one of Florida’s economic engines.”
The authors of the University of Florida/IFAS study are Alan W. Hodges, PhD; Hayk Khachatryan, PhD; Mohammad Rahmani, PhD; and Christa D. Court, PhD.
More information on the economic report, including an executive summary, is available on the FNGLA website.
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