2016 State of the Industry Report

The overall feel of 2016 has been one of stability and consistency. While we’re not seeing the sales explosion that we did as the economy started to significantly rebound in 2013, the numbers tell us that the industry is in a relatively stable place. While, according to horticultural economist Dr. Charlie Hall, the next Great Recession isn’t likely to happen in the next two years, green industry businesses should still be preparing themselves so that when that next downturn occurs, their business will be able to weather it. It’s a good time to invest in the structural maintenance you’ve been putting off, making time for additional staff hiring and training, honing your marketing efforts and planning for future success.

In addition to the charts, graphs and analysis you’re used to seeing in the State of the Industry Report, this year we’re including commentary from growers across the U.S. and Canada. From Alaska to South Carolina and other places in between, these growers share their own take on the current state of the industry and weigh in on how their own businesses have changed. We also included links to articles by regular contributor Leslie Halleck that offer additional information on topics like premium plants, expanding into produce and others. Look for them at the end of the “Leslie’s Take” sections.

SURVEY SAYS…

The data on the following pages was collected by Readex Research via an online survey from August 3 to 15, 2016. The survey was closed for tabulation with 526 responses. To best represent the audience of interest, the results in the report were based on the 452 respondents who indicated that they own/work for a greenhouse.

The margin of error for percentages based on the 452 usable responses is ± 4.4% at the 95% confidence level. That is, 95% of the time, we can be confident that percentages in the actual population would not vary by more than this in either direction. The margin of error for percentages based on smaller sample sizes will be larger.

Responses that do not total 100 percent are due to rounding and/or no answers. – Greenhouse Management