Nurseries, Garden Centers & Farm Supply
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 9,800 nurseries, garden centers, and farm supply stores in the US sell lawn and garden products and farm supplies. Major product categories include grain and animal feed; fertilizer, lime, chemicals, and other soil treatments; outdoor nursery stock; pet supplies; and hardware, tools, and plumbing and electrical supplies. Companies may also sell fuel (oil, LP gas, wood, charcoal), automotive products and supplies, lawn and garden tools, and indoor plants. Services include equipment rental and repair and consulting services (landscape design, agronomy). Companies may offer delivery services for large orders (fertilizer, sod, dirt).
Competition from Alternative Sources
Nurseries, garden centers, and farm supply stores compete with a variety of alternative retailers, including home improvement and hardware stores and general merchandise retailers.
Highly Seasonal Sales
Sales for farm supply retailers are highly seasonal, with peaks during the spring and fall to support crop schedules.
Industry size & Structure
The average nursery, garden center, or farm supply retailer operates out of a single location, employs 13 workers, and generates $3-4 million annually.
- The nursery, garden center, and farm supply retailing industry consists of about 9,800 companies operating 13,500 stores that employ about 131,000 workers and generate about $35 billion annually.
- The industry is highly fragmented; the top 50 firms account for about 41% of industry sales.
- Tractor Supply is the largest farm supply retailer in the US with over 1,940 stores. Large nursery and garden centers, such as Armstrong Garden Centers and Stein Garden Centers, have multiple locations but typically operate in one or two states. Most companies are small, independent operations.
Industry Forecast
Nurseries, Garden Centers & Farm Supply Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Nov 21, 2022 - Green Services Revenue up, New Work Down
- “Green” services providers – including the lawn care and landscaping industries - saw some mixed results in the third quarter of 2022, according to the Home Service Economic Report released in November 2022 by Jobber, a job tracking and customer management software firm. New work scheduled dropped 5% year over year in Q3 2022. Contract work also declined, falling 15.9% compared to Q3 2021, but one-off jobs increased by 1.9% over the same period. However, Q3 median revenue was up between 5% and 10% compared to Q3 2021.
- Sales of existing US homes fell 5.9% in October from September and were down 28.4% year over year, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). October marked the ninth consecutive monthly drop as rising interest rates slow home sales. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said, "More potential homebuyers were squeezed out from qualifying for a mortgage in October as mortgage rates climbed higher. The impact is greater in expensive areas of the country and in markets that witnessed significant home price gains in recent years." Homeowners often make improvements to landscapes before putting homes on the market to boost curb appeal.
- A weaker US harvest in 2022 and the uncertainty of Ukraine’s agricultural production due to the war continue to strain global food supplies, according to The Wall Street Journal. Several major food companies, including Bayer, ADM, and Archer Daniels Midland, have said that two years of good harvests in North and South America are needed to stabilize the world’s food supply, but the task will be more difficult amid stubborn drought conditions and the war in Ukraine.
- US net cash farm income, a demand indicator for farm supplies, is forecast to rise by $22.1 billion (15.1%) to $168.5 billion in 2022. Net cash farm income includes cash receipts from farming and farm-related income, such as US government payments. Expected cash receipts for animals and animal products in 2022 are expected to increase by $55.3 billion (28.3%) on higher receipts for all categories of animal/animal products. Crop receipts are projected to increase by $36.4 billion (15.3%) amid higher receipts for corn, soybeans, and wheat. Increases in crop and animal/animal product income will push total cash receipts to their highest level on record, even after adjusting past years for inflation. However, reduced government payments and high production costs will moderate farm income growth. Direct government payments are expected to drop by $12.8 billion (49.7%) to $13 billion in 2022 compared to 2021 amid fewer supplemental and ad-hock COVID-19 relief payments. Total production expenses are projected to rise by $66.2 billion (17.8%) to $437.3 billion across all production expense categories. The largest expense category will be a 44% increase in fertilizer-lime-soil conditioner expenditures.
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