Specialty Products Consultants, LLC (SPC) has published the fourth edition of a market research study examining the professional turf and ornamental pesticide market in the United States. Market segments analyzed included: golf, lawn and landscape, athletic turf, institutional turf, turfgrass sod production, ornamental nursery and greenhouse floriculture production. More than 1,200 professional turf and ornamental pesticide product decision makers were personally interviewed for this study.
In total, nearly $884.8 million (manufacturer level dollars), was spent in 2006 on fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and plant growth regulators in the markets analyzed. This includes the manufacturer level value of active ingredients sold in combination with fertilizer products. It represents a 2.3 percent increase from the $864.9 million spent on pesticides in these markets in 2005. An estimated $74.1 million or 8.4 percent of the total manufacturer sales were from generic pesticide producers.
A decline in the number of U. S. golf courses, a reduction in the acreage treated, and generic price pressure all contributed to making this past year increasingly challenging for manufacturers and distributors. Superintendents reported that less than 45 percent of their course was “intensely managed.” “Intensely managed” turf is defined as acreage in which fungicides, insecticides, and other control products are routinely applied. In 2003, more than 51 percent of the golf course acreage was “intensely managed”. If the current trend continues, SPC predicts that less than 40 percent of the U. S. golf acreage will be “intensely managed” by 2009.
The professional turf and ornamental market has become increasingly fragmented. Golf course superintendents named 227 distinct brands of pesticides used on their courses this past year, a 29 percent increase over the 176 pesticide brands mentioned in SPC’s 2004 survey.
Golf course superintendents in this survey identified more than 115 different distributors that they purchased turf care control products from in 2006. Lawn and landscape operators named more than 150 different sources of supply.
The 2006 season market report provides detailed sales data on more than 300 pesticide brands. The study profiles twenty-five leading suppliers serving the professional market.
Specialty Products Consultants, LLC, headquartered in Mendham, N.J., is a market research and business development consultancy dedicated exclusively to the specialty (non-crop) pesticide industry.
