The number of flower growers belonging to the California Cut Flower Commission has declined from 360 in 1994 to 300, with just 95 selling at least $300,000 in cut flowers a year. Many growers have been forced to shut down and sell their land to developers. “It’s lamentable,” Lee Murphy, president of the California Cut Flower Commission, said in a recent interview with the Associated Press. “The flower industry’s decline is part of America losing its ability to be a producer nation.”
Ten years ago, foreign growers had just 45 percent of the domestic market, according to the commission. In 2002, foreign growers supplied 70 percent of cut flowers in the United States. Their lower prices were fueled by cheaper production costs and efficient shipping systems.