Texas Nursery/Landscape Industry Economic Impact Study Released

Previous reports, which TNLA has called the Scope Report, dealt only with sales. However, the 2000 report includes the full economic impact, including employment and "value-added" agricultural commodity information.

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE GREEN INDUSTRY IN TEXAS. The green industry in Texas consists of allied input suppliers, wholesale growers, retail garden centers and landscape firms. Home centers and mass merchants also represent a significant portion of retail green industry sales. Total sales of these green industry participants amount to $7.98 billion. Another $1.78 billion of economic impact is generated in other sectors related to the green industry. Thus, the total green industry economic impact for the state exceeds $9.76 billion dollars. A little more than $373 million (4.7 percent) of green industry sales stem from the export of products and services outside Texas to other states and countries.

BREAKDOWN OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC IMPACTS. Economic impact of the green industry in the top five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) totals $4.87 billion. This is approximately 50 percent of the economic impact for the entire state. Other important MSA regions include Lubbock, El Paso and the lower Rio Grande Valley.

NUMBER OF JOBS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GREEN INDUSTRY IN TEXAS. The green industry in Texas is an important employer within the state, representing in excess of 222,000 jobs. Nursery growers, retailers and landscape firms average 19, 23 and 42 employees per firm, respectively. The majority of these employees are in the general labor category. Lawn and garden departments of home centers, such as Home Depot and Lowes, and mass merchants, such as Wal-Mart and Target, employ about one-third of the green industry employees. Firms in all categories expect an increase in their labor force by as much as 30 percent over the next five years.

VALUE ADDED GENERATED BY THE GREEN INDUSTRY IN TEXAS. Economic value added is one of the single most important measures of an industry's contribution to the economy. It represents the difference between sales revenues and the cost of purchased inputs and includes the value of employee wages and benefits, owner's compensation, dividends, capital outlays and business taxes paid. Economic value added by the green industry in Texas totaled $6.46 billion, including $437 million in impacts of exports.

BREAKDOWN OF NURSERY/GREENHOUSE INDUSTRY SALES. Containerized trees and shrubs, along with bedding plants, represent the most commonly produced plant type by growers in Texas. These plant categories represent 55 percent of the nursery/greenhouse sales. Potted flowering plants and perennials are other important components of the industry.

TYPES OF SERVICES PERFORMED BY LANDSCAPE FIRMS. The landscape industry offers a plethora of diversified services to lawn and garden consumers. While landscape contracting (installation) and maintenance represent the most common services offered, other services such as irrigation contracting, hardscaping (walls, fences, etc.) and design are becoming more prevalent. Almost the same numbers of firms provide services to residential and commercial accounts, with government accounts being a distant third.

RETAIL SQUARE FOOTAGE DEVOTED TO GREEN INDUSTRY PRODUCTS. Retail firms selling green industry products averaged a total of 52,182 square feet of total display space per firm, with an average of 23 percent devoted to hardline products (plant care, gifts, etc.) and 77 percent devoted to green goods (plants). Two-thirds of green industry retailers expect to increase their retail square footage by as much as 79 percent - a healthy outlook for the retail portion of the green industry.

NUMBER OF FIRMS IN EACH GREEN INDUSTRY SECTOR. While consolidation continues to occur at all levels of the green industry, the number of firms in the grower and landscape sectors has grown. Market share at the retail level has steadied, with home centers, mass merchandisers and retail garden centers commanding a 38, 30 and 32 percent market share, respectively.

For more information visit TNLA’s web site at www.txnla.org.