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2013 Horticultural Sciences Academic Program Review Section 1 Page 2 I. INTRODUCTION TO THE SELF STUDY This self-study document was created as part of the requirements for the comprehensive Academic Program Review, a process through which Texas A&M University fulfills the mandate of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to review all doctoral programs every seven years. The University has extended the review process to include all aspects of departmental programs to include undergraduate and graduate programs as well as research, service, and engagement activities. The Department of Horticultural Sciences graduate programs were reviewed last in May, 2005. Except where noted otherwise, the self-study refers to the 5-year period of 2007-2012 as directed in the Academic Program Review Guidelines document. Historical Perspective of Horticulture at Texas A&M University The practice of horticulture has been taught at Texas A&M University since its founding as the A&M College of Texas in 1876. Dr. Carlisle P. B. Martin, a professor of practical agriculture, taught in the Department of Agricultural and Scientific Courses and his subjects included chemistry, farm tillage, horticulture, arboriculture and care of stock. The Department of Horticulture and Botany was formed in 1892 with Robert H. Price as head, and the first degree in horticulture (a Master of Science) was awarded in 1898. Horticulture and Botany were separated in1906, and the reorganized Horticulture Department was led by E. J. Kyle, namesake of Kyle Field, who later became Dean of Agriculture. Guy Adriance was appointed head of the Department of Horticulture circa 1920, and he served in that capacity until 1961. The Department of Horticulture during the Adriance era had its primary focus on fruit and vegetable crop production, horticultural food processing, and plant breeding for fruit and vegetable variety improvement. The study of ornamental horticulture had its roots in the Department of Landscape Art which was organized and led by F. W. Hensel beginning in 1925. This department was reorganized to include the study of greenhouse crop production and floristry into the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Art in 1950 and the new unit was led by A. F. DeWerth. In 1961 the name of the department was changed to the Department of Floriculture. In 1962, the horticulture departments (Horticulture and Floriculture) were merged with the Department of Agronomy and the resulting department was named Soil and Crop Sciences. Horticulture faculty retained their crop and commodity focus and they functioned somewhat like a section of the Soil and Crop Sciences Department. The very large increase in horticulture student enrollment that occurred in the early 1970s served as justification for the horticulture faculty, and their ardent supporters in the horticulture industry, to propose and to be granted the right to form their own department, the current Department of Horticultural Sciences, in 1976. The Horticulture/Forest Sciences Building in which the department resides today was completed in 1985. The Department of Horticultural Sciences executes the tripartite mission of the landgrant university. Faculty who teach in the undergraduate and graduate programs are all physically located on the College Station campus. Faculty who conduct research and mentor graduate students and postdoctoral research associates are physically located on campus in College Station, or at off campus research centers in Weslaco, Uvalde, El Paso, Lubbock, Dallas, and Overton. Extension faculty are located in College Station, Weslaco, Uvalde, El Paso, Lubbock, Dallas, and Fredericksburg. An Overview of the Major Horticultural Industry Sectors in Texas The horticultural sectors in Texas are significant contributors to the State’s agricultural economy. Horticultural crops combined are the leading agricultural sector on the crop side and are only second to the livestock sector. Two broad segments comprise the horticultural industry including the green industry and the produce industry. Each is discussed separately in this overview. The Green Industry Sector The green industry complex is comprised of wholesale nursery, greenhouse, and turfgrass sod growers; landscape service firms such as architects, designers/builders, contractors, and maintenance firms; retail firms such as
2013 Horticultural Sciences Academic Program Review Section 1 Page 3 garden centers, home centers and mass merchandisers with lawn and garden departments, and marketing intermediaries such as brokers and horticultural distribution centers (re-wholesalers). There is also a substantial allied trade industry that supplies various production inputs to the industry. Total industry sales, including grower, landscaping and retailing sales increased 8.74% in 2011 for a total of $15.6 billion in gross sales. The grower sector experienced the highest increase in growth with almost 20% for a total of $1.9 billion, the highest sales level recorded for the grower sector. The landscaping sector had a slight increase of only about 3% in 2011 for total sales over $3.5 billion. With this slight increase sales of the landscaping sector are still below the highest levels of 2007 and 2008 with a peak of more than $3.9 billion. Gross retail sales increased 8.5% to a total of $10.1 billion in 2011. Total economic contributions of the Green Industry in Texas were estimated at $17.97 billion in output; 200,303 jobs, and $10.7 billion in value added. For the production and manufacturing sectors, including nursery and greenhouse, lawn and garden equipment manufacturing, and metal building manufacturers, total output impacts were $3.7 billion; employment impacts were 32,195 jobs; and value added impacts were $1.7 billion. For the horticultural services sectors, including landscaping services and landscape architecture services, total output impacts were $7.6 billion; employment impacts were 88,824 jobs; and value added impacts were $4.1 billion. The largest economic impact contributions for individual sectors were landscaping services, lawn and garden stores and nursery and greenhouse. We continue to see a number of structural changes occurring in the green industry. The shakeout that started with the Great Recession has slowed, but nonetheless continues at all levels of the supply chain. Several more reputable growers, landscape service providers, and retailers have gone out of business since last year. Not all of this productive capacity has exited the industry, however; consolidation activity through mergers and acquisitions continues to shrink the number of industry participants but some of the capacity is simply being operated under a different name. Hypercompetitive conditions have fostered a cost-centric mindset, as firms attempt to shave as many costs out of their value chain as possible. The Produce Sector In Texas, the number of acres for fresh market and processed vegetables was estimated to be 73,700 acres with a value of $361 million (NASS, USDA 2011) and an economic impact in excess of $450 million. Crops in that estimate include cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, chili peppers, cucumbers, honeydew melons, spring onions, summer onions, spinach, squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelon and snap beans. Not included in that estimate are bell peppers, lettuce, broccoli, okra, other leafy greens (mustard, collard, turnip, kale, etc.), herbs, and potatoes. From regional focus workshops we have identified several economically important vegetable crops not included in the 2011 USDA statistics. Those are: 5,850 acres of specialty vegetables grown in the Wintergarden, Hill Country and Lower Rio Grande Valley (lettuce, tomato, beets, beet-tops, dandelion, parsley, cilantro, celery, Swiss Chard, collards, kale, kohlrabi, turnip greens, mustard greens, artichoke and habanero peppers) and 39,000 acres in the High Plains (30,000 dry beans, 7,000 southern peas, 2,000 pumpkin). Also not included in the USDA statistics are 14,040 acres of fresh market-processing potatoes (High Plains, Wintergarden and LRGV). Texas also grows 18,000 acres of grapefruit, 8,800 acres of oranges in the LRGV, 75,500 acres of improved pecan (3,000 in the Wintergarden and 12,500 in El Paso), 1,320 acres of peaches (Hill Country), 3,000 of grapes, and 35 acres of apples. Therefore the total combined area for growing vegetables, fruits, citrus, grapes and pecans was 238,745acres in 2011. The gross value of pecan represented $80 million in 2011. Fruit and vegetable production is scattered across the state. However, the four major vegetable producing regions of Texas are the Rio Grande Valley, the San Antonio-Wintergarden corridor, the Laredo-Eagle Pass region, the High Plains, West and East Texas. Other producing areas within the state include the Trans-Pecos, the Coastal Bend, and the North Texas area along the Red River. The leading vegetable producing counties in the State are: Hidalgo, Starr, Cameron, Deaf Smith, Frio, Uvalde, Zavala, Webb, Hale, Castro, Lamb, and Duval. Historically, Texas ranked third in vegetable production behind California and Florida. Over the past decade, however, vegetable acreage has steadily declined to the point where Texas now ranks seventh in terms of volume
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