Growth Fuels Nursery Boom

 

Avocado (seen here) and citrus are losing ground to construction-driven commercial nurseries in Ventura County, Calif.

Valley Crest Tree Co. has bought hundreds of acres in California?EUR??,,????'???s Ventura County, bulldozing 20,000 citrus trees to create huge nurseries that supply a building boom taking place across the West.

Others have followed suit, triggering a revenue surge that in 10 years has seen the value of the trees, plants and turf used for landscaping nearly triple to $222 million, second only to strawberries in Ventura County, located northwest of Los Angeles.

?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s all tied to construction?EUR??,,????'???. If you get a few more big players here, I can see the nursery industry becoming No. 1,?EUR??,,????'?? said Valley Crest?EUR??,,????'???s Brad Bowers.

Few industries have risen as rapidly as the nursery business. Nursery stock generated $82.5 million in 1994 and was ranked fifth on the county?EUR??,,????'???s crop report that year. In 2003, the value was pegged at $173 million, and nursery stock for the first time moved into second place on the crop report. That year, the county was the third-largest producer in the state of nursery products, flowers and foliage, behind San Diego and Monterey counties.

The 2004 total includes the gross value of trees, potted plants and turf, much of which were shipped throughout the western United States to landscape new housing projects and commercial developments.

?EUR??,,????'??Ironically, it?EUR??,,????'???s all fueled by the housing boom, which seems to be happening everywhere but here?EUR??,,????'?? in Ventura County, said Rex Laird, executive director of the county farm bureau. He noted that in the county, local voters have enacted tough growth-control laws that put much of the farmland off-limits to development.