This paper summarizes opinions on the economic impacts of horticulture research and extension at the Mississippi State University, Coastal Research and Extension Center. More than 8400 horticulture producers, master gardeners, research and extension staff, and nonprofit organizations participated in horticulture events during the last five years. Qualitative assessments of horticulture research and extension performed by the faculty and staff were solicited during voluntary surveys.

Retail florists in the United States were surveyed from Oct. to Nov. 2020 to document business practices and innovative approaches to marketing, designing, and delivering flowers during Mar. to Sept. 2020 of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Slightly less than half of the responding florists (45.0%) closed operations for an average of 31 to 60 days (15.6%). City or county COVID-19 restrictions caused 34% to close their storefronts to customers. Nearly all offered no-contact delivery service. Approximately one-third of these florists used social media marketing consisting of still images and video posts, and a similar number offered no-contact shopping options. Two-thirds of the florists made no changes to the way they designed flowers (60.6%). Event-oriented stores reorganized their business models and sought daily work to replace postponed or canceled wedding orders. Three-fourths of the florists who terminated employees because of shutdowns hired or planned to rehire all terminated employees.

Floristry evolved from commercial floriculture production and women played a key role in its 19th century development. Ella Lawton Grant Campbell (Wilson) (1854-1939) was an important figure in 19th century American floriculture. Her publication, Floral Designs Series 1, A hand-book for cut-flower workers and florists (1888) aided florists in both constructing and selling floral designs, serving as consumer selection guide and professional technical manual. Her work provided a glimpse into Victorian-era floristry, a significant era in the history of floral design history.

Our statewide floral design training program aimed to raise consumer awareness and appreciation of locally grown fresh flowers and to promote extension floral programs through delivery of workshops and demonstrations. Initially, trainees used artificial rather than fresh flowers, necessitating development of a streamlined floral design project plan. Through collaboration with three flower farmers, we developed a floral design prototype. Our growers produced the flowers based on this model and extension provided registration support and media that facilitated locally grown flowers use in workshops. As a result, we connected 47 consumers directly to our producers. Flower growers felt the project was worthwhile and desire future extension partnerships.

This paper summarizes the estimates of the total changes in sales, expenses, and income of participants of the horticulture research and extension programs at the Mississippi State University - Coastal Research and Extension Center for the past five years. Major items outline the estimation procedures for the past five years. The average annual values were used in estimating the total economic impacts of added gross sales, expenses, and incomes of participants in horticulture events. The cumulative total impacts reach $8.7 million in sales, 76 jobs, $1.4 million in labor income, $2.4 million in value-added, and $0.4 million in local, state, and federal taxes. In addition, the total willingness to pay for the horticulture program by the adult participants reached $1.8 million. In comparison, the annual public spending on the horticulture program averaged $1.4 million, creating additional substantial economic impacts to the region.