On the heels of a dry April planting season, there is one
bright spot in the economic picture for agriculture: the “green
industry.”
The greenhouse, nursery and turf growers who produce
plants for landscapes don’t face the same problems as farmers
who labor with cows and plows. Comprising the fastest growing
segment of Georgia’s agricultural economy, they can survive more
than drought.
“It’s one of the few industries that does well in
recession and in drought,” said Paul Thomas, an Extension
Service horticulturist with the University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Retail Sales Increase
Sales have increased about 4 percent per year
nationally. However, Georgia sales have grown 9 percent to 13
percent in these past few dry years.
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| Even during a drought, Georgia garden retailers have seen higher-than-average sales increases. |
Thomas explained that people want to keep their homes
and businesses beautiful. “When homeowners have something die in
their landscape, they seem to immediately go buy something else
to replace it,” he said.
As drought gripped the state over the past two years,
ornamental sales rose. This year’s mild spring created a longer
growing season, too, and a longer time for retailers to sell
plants.
“Georgia plant sales in March and April increased 25 to
35 percent over last year’s figures,” Thomas said. “And last
year was a good year. That’s a very large increase in sales for
any kind of business.”
The only complaints about the longer season and higher
sales come from greenhouse workers. “They are hot,” Thomas
said.
Greenhouse temperatures have been as high as 120 degrees
in May and June for the past few years. “Most growers now shut
the greenhouses down in July and August,” he said. “It’s just
too hot.”
Water? No Problem
The lack of water that plagues row-crop farmers isn’t a
big problem for greenhouse growers.
“In the greenhouse trade, the drought hasn’t been a
problem at all, because greenhouses are very water-efficient,”
Thomas said. “Greenhouses use fewer gallons of water per dollar
of crop grown than any other area of agriculture.”
Most owners use water from their own deep wells. “It’s
controlled, precise watering, and some use high-tech systems,”
Thomas said. “But it’s water-intensive agriculture.”
No Crying in Nurseries
Like their greenhouse counterparts, nursery growers
haven’t suffered much.
“The container growers have been hardly affected,” said
UGA Extension horticulturist Jim Midcap. “Field nurseries have
been dry, but almost all have irrigation.”
Most nurseries are in the midst of planting now.
“In the field tree nurseries, they decide what to grow
three or four years in advance, and they just have to live with
them,” Midcap said. “They hope they make the right decisions.
The trees they’re planting now will be for sale three years down
the road.”
The demand for nursery products has been at record highs
for the past few years. Many nurseries have expanded. Sales were
good in the fall and spring, and supplies are short. That
usually equals better prices for the growers.
“I was visiting with a grower yesterday who was having
to go to Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama to buy plants,”
Midcap said. “The ones that are suffering are those who are
planting in the ground and sure could use some rain to get the
plants established.”
Right now, Georgia growers are selling all they can
grow. However, the drought does have landscapers more interested
in planting drought-tolerant plants.
No Sad Sod Yet
Sod and turf producers aren’t benefitting as much. But
they aren’t suffering yet, either.
“Sales have been good and about normal for this time of
year,” said Gil Landry, a UGA Extension turf specialist.
“Growers are concerned about water restrictions impacting sales,
and irrigation is critical now in their production systems
because of low rainfall, thus increasing this cost.”
The drought hasn’t cost sod producers any sizeable crop
losses. But the season isn’t over.
“Low rainfall in the winter has caused some late-season
installation problems if people didn’t water,” Landry said.
