CONCORD, N.H. – Ornamental horticulture has become the No. 1 and fastest-growing industry classified as agriculture in New Hampshire, according to a recent state Department of Agriculture study.
The industry is now valued at $438 million, topping specialty and processed foods at $125 million, the state’s report shows. Ornamental horticulture now accounts for $3 out of every $5 of income made by New Hampshire agriculture, reports The Nashua Telegraph (N.H.), citing the recent study.
However, the ornamental horticulture category may be misleading because it includes landscape services such as lawn care firms, according to The Telegraph. But the business, more commonly known for growing plants or flowers, still makes several times as much as growing apples or milking cows in the state, The Telegraph reports.
“Dairy was the number one category for a long time, but the number of dairy farms has decreased so much,” Gail McWilliam-Jellie, director of agricultural development for the state told The Telegraph. “The ornamental industry has been number one for a number of years.”
Ornamental horticulture may be growing in New Hampshire because of its access to flower markets.
“Our reason for locating here was to be close to the Boston Flower Market,” says Gary Matteson of Epsom told The Telegraph. Epsom and his wife, Sabrina, turned an abandoned dairy farm into New England Anemones, which ships roughly 300,000 cut anemones a year to the Boston Flower Market
Flowers also work for southern New Hampshire agriculture because they have a much higher sale value per square foot of land, which is vital when the cost of property rises, The Telegraph reports.
The Mattesons, for example, can fit their total crop in one minivan and get the same income as hay or sweet corn, which would take many truckloads, according to The Telegraph.