Economic Problems of the Horticultural Specialties

An area of research in agricultural economics hitherto largely neglected was introduced with the recent publication of "Trade in Horticultural Specialties," 1 which was issued by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics last April. The data in this statistical compendium constitute the basis for further research in this field. That the industry is of economic importance may be seen in the fact that at midcentury the value of sales and inventory of horticultural specialty goods and services in this country exceeded $1.5 billion. The labor force of the industry was more than a quarter million persons, with a payroll of more than $300 million. Cash receipts from horticultural specialties in 1952 surpassed those of such outstanding farm products as potatoes, apples, oranges, sugar beets and cane, wool, turkeys, and sheep and lambs. Some of the aspects of economic research in the horticultural specialties were considered at a workshop conducted last summer by the Foundation for Floriculture, in cooperation with BAE. In the accompanying paper Mr. Fossum follows up with an outline of the principal areas of economic investigation in this fertile field.