U.S. turf & ornamental market sees fluctuations – but ultimately experiences increases

The professional turf & ornamental market for pesticides and fertilizers in the United States has experienced a series of ups and downs – but still saw a CAGR of 2.8% from 2013 through 2021 with estimated sales of USD 1.8 billion.

According to Aneesa Moolla, Project Manager in Kline's Agrochemicals sector, the vast majority of sales come from fertilizers (roughly 35% of the total market).  In second place: herbicides, which account for more than 25% of the market.

″Among the more minor segments are nematicides, aquatic pesticides, and plant growth regulators, with the latter becoming more and more of interest to turf producers,″ Moolla says in a new webinar that spotlights findings from Kline recently published Professional Turf and Ornamental Market for Pesticides and Fertilizers USA report.

In fact, Moolla points out, plant growth regulators have become the highest-growing product type in the end-use segment of landscape contractors, with a CAGR of almost 20% from 2013 to 2022.

″Plant growth regulators have become more popular as contractors look to reduce the amount of mowing and clipping that needs to be done – those tasks are labor-intensive, and labor is both expensive and scarce,″ Moolla says.

The landscaping service industry itself is on the rise: There are 636,249 landscaping service businesses in the U.S. as of 2022, an increase of 5.5% from 2021; the industry employs more than 350,000 across the country.

Meanwhile, Moolla says that golf courses remain the largest segment within the T&O market (1.6 million acres treated), despite the country’s total number of courses declining due to COVID-19. Among the treatments taking a hit: aquatic pesticides.

″Many golf courses tend to have ponds that are very important to aesthetics,″ Moolla says. ″But with golf courses feeling so much financial pressure for the last few years, turf care managers are spending more on herbicides and turf products than aquatic products.″

The reasoning: Ponds are pretty, but turf quality is, ultimately, most important.

There’s brighter news in the lawn care operator (LCO) category: The $100 billion industry, which employs more than 1 million people, is on the rise – mostly due to millennials who eschew a DIY approach.  

According to Moolla, younger households are filled with those who are working long hours and would rather ″spend the money and get professional help — and have their gardens look immaculate.″ Social media (and photographs of neighbors’ picture-perfect lawns) could be triggering millennials’ interest in lawn care, Moola notes — and causing them to open their wallets.