A Historical Overview of Consolidation in the Floriculture Market

The team at Silver Fern has compiled a new report outlining consolidation in the greenhouse floriculture industry over the years. The specific catalyst for this report was Greenhouse Grower’s annual Top 100 growers list.

“Reviewing those lists over the years, we watched more and more of the reported square footage collect at the top of the list, and we wanted to know what was behind it,” says Kevin Short, Chief Finance and Operating Officer at Silver Fern. “Concentration in the market affects your strategy, including pricing, sourcing, marketing, target clients, and product mix. Whether or not you ever do a deal, the trendline in these charts impacts your strategic plan.”

Among the highlights from the report:

• The 2020s are the busiest dealmaking era in this research: 253 deals since 2020, more than the 195 from the entire 2010s, and 2025 alone logged 54 deals, the most of any single year.
• Succession is the leading reason on the seller’s side. 140 deals were triggered by an owner retiring or handing over the business. Other reasons included strategic sales to a larger operator, distress, private capital, and estate breakups. For 376 of the 819 deals, no clear reason was publicly available.
• The top is pulling away: the largest grower’s share of reported Top 100 footprint rose from 6.8 to 16.9% since 2009, while the median ranked grower got 16% smaller.
• The buying is spread wide: 625 distinct buyers closed the 819 deals, and 568 of them bought exactly once.
• The same operations keep selling: 31 sold, in whole or in part, in two or more separate years, with a median of 10 years between sales of the same operation. Hines Horticulture is the most extreme example, sold in seven separate years.
• The headline prices are not typical of the market: of the 21 deals since 2010 with a public dollar price, the median was $8.6 million, and 12 came in under $10 million.

You can find the complete report here.