EAST LANSING, Mich. — Ohio is ranked fifth in the nation in value of wholesale sales of floriculture products in 2020, behind California, Florida, Michigan and North Carolina, according to Cheryl Turner, State Statistician of the USDA, NASS, Ohio Field Office.

Reports from Ohio’s 439 commercial growers ($10K or more in gross sales) showed an estimated wholesale value of $237 million for all surveyed floriculture crops, up $20.2 million from 2019. This estimate includes summarized sales data as reported by growers with $100K or more in sales, plus a calculated wholesale value of sales for operations with sales from $10,000 to $99,999.

The ranking of crop category breakdowns for Ohio operations with more than $100K in sales were: 

• First: annual bedding/garden plants with $69.3 million in sales. 
• Second: herbaceous perennial plants with $68.9 million in sales. 
• Third: potted flowering plants with $62.6 million in sales. 
• Fourth: foliage plants for indoor use with $6.0 million in sales. 

More specifically, the top ten Ohio floriculture crops based on revenue categories were: 

1. Herbaceous Perennials Pots with 10.8 million pots sold, valued at $49.1 million. 
2. Other Potted Flowering and Foliar Plants-Annuals with 4.8 million pots sold, valued at $14.7 million. 
3. Other Potted Flowering and Foliar Plants-Indoor/Patio with 1.6 million pots sold, valued at $10.4 million. 
4. Other Flowering and Foliar Hanging Baskets-Annuals with 1.1 million baskets sold, valued at $9.5 million. 
5. Hardy/Garden Chrysanthemums with 2.3 million sold, valued at $8.7 
6. Potted Poinsettias with 1.39 million pots sold, valued at $7.8 million. 
7. Hostas with 1.3 million pots sold, valued at $5.6 million 
8. Other Flowering and Foliar Flats with 738,000 flats sold, valued at $5.61 million 
9. Petunias Flats with 414,000 flats sold, valued at $4.0 million 
10. Petunias Hanging Baskets with 567,000 baskets sold, valued at $4.5 million. 

Total covered area for all operations in the state was 26.6 million square feet. This includes both rigid and film plastic greenhouses, glass greenhouses, shade, and temporary cover. Seventy percent of the covered space was film, 23 percent was covered by glass, 6 percent was covered by fiberglass and other rigid materials, and 1 percent was covered by shade and temporary cover. 

Nationally, the 2020 wholesale value of floriculture crops is up 9 percent from the 2019 valuation. The total crop value at wholesale for all growers with $10,000 or more in sales is estimated at $4.80 billion for 2020, compared with $4.42 billion for 2019. Florida, the leading State with crops valued at $1.14 billion, up 7 percent from the 2019 value. California, the next largest producer, is down 5 percent from the prior year to $967 million in wholesale value. These two States account for 44 percent of the total value. For 2020, the top 5 States are Florida, California, Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio which account for $3.13 billion or 65 percent of the total value. 

Number of Producers: The number of producers for 2020, at 5,930, is up 14 percent from the 2019 count of 5,198. 

Area Used for Production: Total covered area for floriculture crop production was 748 million square feet in 2020, down slightly from the 2019 area of 749 million square feet. 

Peak Hired Workers: The average peak number of hired workers employed on operations in 2020 was 19. A total of 4,310 operations hired workers during 2020 compared with 4,007 a year earlier. Overall, 73 percent of operations used some hired labor during 2020, down 4 percentage point from 2019.

— USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

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