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Abstract
Nursery, floriculture, and propagation production accounted for 79% ($13.3 Billion) of 2017 ornamental specialty crop production in the United States. Access to high quality water sources is increasingly limited for irrigating these economically significant crops. Given the production, environmental, and economic issues associated with the use of water—including recycled, reclaimed, surface, and ground water—it is critical to develop sustainable runoff, containment, and remediation technologies, and to identify alternative sources of water. To better understand current practices and future water-related needs as perceived by grower stakeholders, an online survey was distributed nationally and five in-depth round table discussion sessions were conducted at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, Gulf States Horticultural Expo, California Grown Show, AmericanHort’s Cultivate, and the Farwest Show with a total of 36 individual industry participants. A team of research and extension specialists facilitated by a Specialty Crops Research Initiative Planning Grant (NIFA Project # 2011-51181-30633) analyzed and concisely summarized the results from the survey and the round table discussions. Research priorities related to water management identified by stakeholders revolved around six themes: (1) recycled water infrastructure and management; (2) contaminants; (3) plant health and water quality; (4) water treatment technologies; (5) competing and complementary water uses; (6) societal perception of agricultural water use.
Highlights
Floriculture ($6.19 Billion), nursery ($5.91 B) and propagation ($1.19 B) sales were significant contributors to the USA economy in 2017 [1]
A subset of survey questions and responses, complementary to information gathered during the round table discussion, are included in this paper to ensure data presented represent a greater subset of the population of nursery and greenhouse plant growers across the USA
The survey collected anonymous information related to the production practices of wholesale and retail greenhouse, container, and field nurseries in the USA
Summary
Floriculture ($6.19 Billion), nursery ($5.91 B) and propagation ($1.19 B) sales were significant contributors to the USA economy in 2017 [1]. More than 17,000 producers (farms) grow floriculture and bedding crops, over 4300 producers grow nursery crops, and over 2000 producers grow propagative. 80,000,000 m2 of greenhouse space and 20,000 ha open-air production are used to produce floriculture crops [1]. Nursery crops are produced mainly in open-air production space (136,000 ha), with only a small portion being protected (~28,700,000 m2 ) [1]. These crops require frequent irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticide applications to maintain optimal crop growth and quality. Production irrigation return flow may contain agrichemicals [2,3] and pathogens [4,5]
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