Highlights

The environmental horticulture industry has suffered a significant downturn over the past three years. Unfortunately, that trend is continuing. The green industry is made up of four primary industry sectors: Container Nursery (30%), Field Nursery (13%), Turf grass (21%) and Greenhouse (35%). This past year, 2008, was a bad year with greatly reduced demand for plants and grasses and all the jobs associated with them.

The latest figures from UGA indicate that growth in Georgia’s ornamental horticulture industry nearly halted in 2007. Production increased by 0.6% from $828 million in 2006 to $895 million 2007. Compared to the 9.4% increase in production from $699 million in 2005 to $765 million in 2006, this represents a significant reduction.

Several factors impacted the industry in a negative fashion, and will continue into 2009.

First are ongoing drought conditions, the real culprit responsible for the 35,000 green-industry jobs lost, mostly around metro Atlanta last year. The causes varied from homeowners who could not buy plants due to watering restrictions, to landscapers who could not plant, to the nurseries themselves who could not water.

While Georgia has had some respite from drought, water availability and management is still a major issue, especially north of Macon. Through innovative thinking and a commercial/university research alliance Georgia is working to improve this sector of the agribusiness industry.

The Governor’s Ag Liaison, Georgia EPD and others are working to identify exceptions to state statues to allow watering using water saving technologies like micro irrigation and low volume irrigation. Dr. Carol Couch with Georgia EPD is optimistic that this will be possible.

We are also seeing an increase in landscaping that requires minimal water, as well as more drought tolerant species.

In 2009, the industry is also marketing the idea that plants and flowers provide “feel good,” “stress relief” and “mental health enhancing” benefits in the floriculture and ornamental horticulture areas.

Other innovations that will benefit the industry include more use of e-commerce technologies, attention to efficiencies in logistics and distribution and incentives from incorporating green energy into horticulture production. (Summarized from UGA 2009 Ag Forecast, “Green Industry,” Dr Forrest Stegelin.)

At the Center of Innovation for Agribusiness, we are working with state project manager Andrew Neumann to help a technology start-up company apply their medical water attracting technology to specialized potting soils, sod applications and green roofs that could greatly reduce watering requirements.

We have also had projects within the last year using European underground matting irrigation technology for urban and golf course watering applications.

Finally, one of UGA’s highest research priorities is developing drought resistant species across the plant spectrum.