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Farmers See Profits Blossom with Cut Flowers

   

Delphinium, lisianthus, celosia, and rudbeckia are not familiar words to most Virginia farmers. However, for a group of growers experimenting with cut flower production, these flowers and others represent a new source of revenue.

“Virginia consumers buy millions of dollars of fresh-cut flowers each year, but more than 90 percent of them are grown outside the state,” says Andy Hankins, Extension specialist in alternative agriculture at Virginia State University (VSU). “Standard cut flowers, such as roses, chrysanthemums, and carnations can be grown outside the U.S. and shipped in because they last a long time after cutting. However, there are more than 200 other species of flowers regularly sold in floral markets that do not have a long enough shelf life to ship long distances. Virginia growers have an opportunity to fill this demand.”

Hankins has been researching the economic costs and returns of cut flower production in Virginia for a number of years. His work has been supported by grants from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS). Virginia Cooperative Extension agents across the commonwealth have supported the effort by contributing their time and expertise to growers.

   

The VDACS grant provided funding for demonstration plots on twelve farms across the state and at the Randolph Farm at VSU. The growers participating in the demonstration effort each received seeds, bulbs, or transplants; woven plastic weed barrier; trickle irrigation supplies; and flower preservative. They also got support and training from their local Extension agent and Hankins.

Emmett Lowe of Lowe’s Arlington Farm in King William County has been growing cut flowers for 12 years and is a strong supporter of the program. Lowe was a participant in one of the early grant projects. “We started off trying to figure out what to grow, what it would cost, and what we could sell the flowers for,” Lowe says. “Andy worked with us to figure out all the costs. We were profitable from the very first year, so we’ve continued to grow cut flowers along with vegetables.” Lowe sells about 200 bouquets a week to supermarkets in Williamsburg and Richmond, bulk cut flowers to florists, and directly to retail customers at his farm and at farmer’s markets.

Raising cut flowers is not without its challenges. Growers need to learn how to order seeds and plants from commercial sources, how to plan and manage these crops in the field, and how to control insects, diseases, weeds, and pests. Harvesting and delivering the product present additional challenges.

Hankins has found that farmers who raise corn, wheat, soybeans, and vegetables can plan to harvest cut flowers when they are the least busy – in between spring planting and fall harvesting – and supplement their income at the same time.

To date, more than 200 Virginia farmers have established commercial production of cut flowers as a new farm enterprise. These growers have contributed $1 million per year in farm income to the state economy.

“Our proximity to large urban markets and our mild temperate climate are advantages to the development of a cut flowers industry,” says Hankins. “Virginia is not a cut flowers state now – but it could
become one.”