Cut flowers are a rapidly expanding crop in Tennessee, driven by growing consumer interest in locally grown products and by farms diversifying to manage risk and efficiently utilizing limited acreage. Population growth and increasing demand for local cut flowers have created opportunities for both new farms and existing operations to enter or expand into this specialty crop sector.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service census data estimates cut flower operations in Tennessee increased by 70% from 2012 to 2017, with nearly 80 farms reporting sales of cut flower and florist greens exceeding $400,000 in 2017. From 2022 USDA census data, the number of cut flower operations in Tennessee increased to more than 180 cut flower farms, an increase of 133% in the number of cut flower farms from 2017 to 2022.
© UTIAUT Extension has released five cut flower enterprise budgets to help Tennessee farmers evaluate profitability and make informed financial decisions. Photo of visitors enjoying the cut flowers cultivated at the Organic Crops Unit of the East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Knoxville by H. Harbin
To support current and prospective cut flower producers in making informed decisions, UT Extension specialists Rachel Painter, Eryn Bell and Becky Bowling from the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics developed five summer annual cut flower enterprise budgets and an accompanying publication. They collaborated with cut flower farmers across the state and Natalie Bumgarner and Celeste Scott, Extension specialists in the Department of Plant Sciences, to ensure the budgets reflect practical production and management considerations for Tennessee growers. Bumgarner and Scott provided data from two cut flower production trials conducted at two UT AgResearch and Education Centers across the state.
These tools allow users to evaluate the potential costs and returns of producing and marketing cut flowers under typical Tennessee conditions. The budgets include projected costs for inputs, labor and marketing, as well as estimated revenues for popular summer annual crops including single-stem sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, celosia and gomphrena.
"Our goal in developing these budgets is to provide Tennessee farmers with practical, research-based tools to plan and make informed business decisions," said Rachel Painter, UT Extension farm management specialist. "They offer a clear view of the financial considerations in cut flower production and help producers evaluate profitability before planting a seed."
The Tennessee Cut Flower Summer Annual Enterprise Budgets and publication are available on the UT Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at the link here.
Source: University of Tennessee
