Oregon Nursery Sales Top $640 Million in 2000

By Thomas Weller, Capital Press Staff Writer, August 24, 2001

SALEM – Oregon nurserymen enjoyed another record year in 2OOO, generating $642 million in gross sales of nursery and greenhouse crops.

Nursery crops are once again Oregon's most valuable crop, well above second ranked cattle and calves valued at $419 million. All grass seeds ranked third at $349 million, and all hay came in fourth at $286 million.

"We're very happy," said John Aguirre, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, a trade group based in Milwaukee, Ore. "We continue to believe that nursery and greenhouse sales will remain a bright light for Oregon agriculture and play a strong role in the Willamette Valley economy."

During the past two years, sales of nursery crops have increased $110 million, or 21 percent. 1999 nursery sales were $584 million.

"I thought we'd surpass the $600 million level," Aguirre said. "I had thought a gain in the range of $20 (million) to $30 million would be where we came out. But $58 million, wow, that's big."

For the past 10 years, Oregon's nursery and greenhouse industries have participated

in a survey conducted by the Oregon Agricultural Statistics Service with help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nursery sales figures were obtained from this survey.

Nursery sales have grown each year of the survey, and Aguirre said the 2001 industry survey likely will show another jump.

Clackamas County, with sales of $148 million, was the leading county for sales for the second consecutive year. Marion County was a close second in sales with $143 million. Production appears to be shifting to Washington and Yamhill counties, where combined sales grew 20 percent from 1999. These four counties accounted for 82 percent of all production in Oregon.

In the year 2000, there were 2,102 firms growing nursery and greenhouse crops, 83 fewer than a year earlier.

All types of plant material - bare root, balled and burlapped, container, greenhouse and other - showed increases in sales. Over the 10 years of the survey, container crops have seen some of the healthiest gains, and it remains the largest sales category at $226.3 million. Aguirre attributed that to the proliferation of large retailers, such as WalMart, that prefer to sell these products. However, in 2000, the container category grew by just 1 percent.

The largest sales gains came in the balled and burlapped and bare root category. Fifty-two percent of the $58 million increase in sales came from balled and burlapped plant material and 35 percent of the increase was from bare root material. Aguirre said he was surprised in the growth of these two categories and that he could only speculate about the reasons for the increase.

Looking down the road, Aguirre said Oregon's nursery industry should continue to flourish as long as home sales and housing starts remain healthy. Two areas of concern are a potential glut in production of nursery crops, which would work to lower prices, and too few trucks to ship products to major markets in the Midwest and East.

The transportation issue is perhaps the thorniest for nurserymen. Aguirre said it could reach a point where it harms sales and profits unless a solution is found. Thousands of independent truckers across the United States have simply left the trucking business as insurance and fuel costs have risen.

Consequently, there are fewer trucks on the road. During this year's spring shipping season, many Oregon nurserymen reported having a tough time finding enough trucks to ship their plant material, and when they did find trucks, they often had to pay more than in past years.