Current and Future Issues Confronting Florida Turfgrass Producers

Abstract

10 The turfgrass industry contributes substantially to the economy of Florida. In 1974, a survey showed that grass maintained on all user classes of property covered 370,000 ha (Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 1976). In that calendar year, $450 million was spent for turf maintenance. This sum represented 24% of Florida farm receipts for all agricultural commodities. Today, if one accounts for a near doubling in the state’s population and adjusts to current dollars, maintenance expenditures would likely reach several billion dollars. The turfgrass sod industry consists of at least five distinct economic stages: a) input suppliers; b) turfgrass (sod) producers; c) distributors; d) wholesale/retail firms, brokers, and landscape contractors, and e) landscape maintenance. This industry can be conceptualized as pyramid-shaped (with input suppliers at the top and the maintenance sector at the bottom), where the number of firms and economic value of the industry increases significantly with each succeeding economic stage. As suppliers of the grasses purchased by various user groups, sod growers play a major role in this industry. First, in terms of product, consumers depend on them for an adequate and reliable supply. of quality grasses. Few alternatives are readily available because of the commodity’s extreme perishability once harvested and the prohibitive costs ofshipping sod over long distances. A related factor involves the legal restrictions limiting interstate shipping of certain grasses for fear of concurrent importation of harmful organisms. Publicor private-sector researchers who import new cultivars must first submit the cultivar to an extensive screening process to guard against St. Augustinegrass decline virus (Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 1981). Second, in terms of economic impact, the quantity and value of turfgrass sales have roughly doubled since the 1974 survey, from 9500 ha at $46 million (inflation-adjusted dollars) to 14,405 ha at $103 million [estimates obtained and amended from