Nursery Production Survey and Nursery and Floriculture Chemical Use Survey

February 2007
Dear Floriculture Producer:

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You have been selected for an extremely important role: as a participant in the January 2007
Commercial Floriculture Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Please take a few minutes to fill out and return the
questionnaire about your 2006 production.
This survey is the only comprehensive annual measure of production in the floriculture industry,
and provides useful and important information on many levels. For you as an individual, the
completion of this survey provides a systematic way to review what your operation did in 2006.
You can identify profit centers and level of profit. When the results are published in the USDA
Floriculture Crops 2006 Summary in July 2007, you will be able to compare your own operation to
industry averages. The summary can also help you identify state and national trends as you plan
the future of your business.
Information you provide is also vital to our industry as a whole. All of us in the floriculture industry
– whether growers, buyers, suppliers or others – rely on this information to help us make sound
business decisions. There is an ever-dwindling pool of government and university resources to be
used for the development of products and technology for tomorrow. The survey results provide a
reliable source of public information for all members of our industry as well as for industry
representatives working with policymakers at the state and national levels. Only with
comprehensive, accurate data on the size, scope and economic impact of our industry will we be
able to get our fair share of these limited resources.
Please don’t pass up the opportunity to participate in this important survey. Your participation is
crucial. Rest assured that your survey responses will be kept completely confidential, as required
by federal law. NASS safeguards the privacy of all survey respondents and publishes only stateand national-level data from this survey, ensuring that no individual operation or grower can be
identified.
On behalf of your fellow growers throughout the United States, we thank you in advance for your
service to agriculture through participation in this important survey.
Sincerely,

David Dowling, President
Association of Specialty
Cut Flower Growers

Otto Bulk, President
International Cut Flower
Growers Association

Robert Luthultz, President
Society of American Florists

Janet Anderson, President
Perennial Plant Association

Carlos Fighetti, President
American Orchid Society