USDA floriculture survey shows trends, informs growers

OLYMPIA — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducted a survey of greenhouse floriculture across the Pacific Northwest in late 2021 and early 2022.

According to a USDA press release, the floriculture survey is a census of commercial flower and herb growing operations that produce at $10,000 worth of “fresh-cut flowers, potted flowering plants, foliage plants, annual bedding and gardening plants, herbaceous perennials, cut cultivated florist greens, propagative floriculture material and unfinished plants” annually.

The 2021 survey, sent out in December, also adds 24 crops to the census, including “peppers, herbs, lavender, cacti and succulents.”

“This information helps growers, buyers, government agencies and others who can use the data to identify state and national trends, make plans and determine the industry’s impact of farm income and the economy,” said Chris Mertz, director of the NASS Northwest Field Office, in the press release.

Mertz said participating in the survey allows floriculture growers to ensure that NASS can provide accurate data on floriculture production, “thereby enabling USDA and the industry to be more responsive to domestic and international markets.

Growers who do not return their surveys to USDA by Jan. 19 may receive a phone call from the agency to complete the census. USDA said all survey responses are kept confidential and only published as aggregated data “to ensure no individual producer or operations can be identified.”

In an email, NASS statistician Jessica Lemenager wrote that operations with annual sales greater than $100,000 will be asked for number of value of sales “for multiple plant varieties” in 2021 as well as “growing area, peak number of workers, and total value of sales.” Operations with less than $100,000 in annual sales will be asked for growing area, peak number of workers and total sales for 2021.

Survey results are scheduled to be published on May 25, 2022, Lemenager wrote. All NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications.