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May 18, 2007

Contact:
Lisa Taylor
Director of Communications
Kansas Department of Agriculture
(785) 296-2653
ltaylor@kda.state.ks.us

Economic impact of horticulture industry almost doubles

The recently published 2006 Kansas Horticulture Survey shows that the horticulture industry added more than $1 billion in sales and expenditures to the Kansas economy during 2006, nearly double the impact shown by the last survey done in 2000.
 
"Nearly every sector of the horticulture industry showed consistent growth between 2000 and 2006," said Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky.  "Clearly, horticulture plays a significant role in the Kansas economy and in our state's agricultural landscape."
 
More than 788,000 acres in Kansas are involved in horticulture activities, more than double the 354,000 acres reported in 2000.
 
Highlights from the report include:

  • Gross value of sales for horticulture enterprises involved in producing fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables, grapes,medicinal plants, Christmas trees and sod totaled $31 million in 2006 compared to $15.1 million in 2000.
  • Gross sales from vegetables/melons operations increased 236 percent since 2000.
  • Turf installation and maintenance expenditures at golf courses, airports, health care facilities, schools, parks, athletic fields, racetracks, households and roadsides was nearly $409 million in 2006.
  • Florists contributed $66.5 million to gross sales for the horticulture industry. 
  • The nursery and greenhouse industry totaled $156.7 million in gross sales in 2006.

A goal of the survey was to seek information from firms having horticultural production and sales in Kansas as their primary operation.  Therefore, the survey did not measure the volume of horticulture related gross sales through chain store retail outlets.
 
Funding for the survey was provided by the 2006 Legislature at the request of the Kansas horticulture industry.  It was conducted by Kansas Agricultural Statistics, a cooperative federal-state program involving the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
 
The survey is available online at http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Kansas/Publications/Economics_and_Misc/Horticulture/index.asp
 
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