Tag Archives: delaware

Delaware’s Green Industry

On October 17th 2018 the AGRI130 class had the pleasure of guest speakers Tracy Wooten and Valaan Budischak. These women first spoke about what exactly the “Green Industry of Delaware” was. The Green Industry of Delaware includes horticulture among other types of agriculture. Horticulture is the art or practice of garden cultivation and management. This entails a large variety of planting methods from greenhouses, farming, and even growing plants in your home garden. At first I was not aware of how big the green Industry was in the state of Delaware. However, I learned quickly that this is a very important part of Delaware’s Economy. For example, in 2014 Delaware’s Green Industry from $21,744,000 from sales. The shear amount of money was mind-boggling to me. This was a very interesting and thought provoking guest lecture discussion. Before this guest lecture I thought that this was a very basic and not that interesting of a topic. However, now that I have heard exactly what the Green Industry of Delaware is I am really interested in this topic.

Guest Lecture: Tracy Wootten and Valann Budischack

Tracy Wootten and Valann Budischak came in to our class and gave a very interesting lecture on Delaware’s green industry. Economically, Delaware’s green industry generates over $21 million every year. This includes landscapers, producers, retailers, golf courses, and many other fields. They told us a lot about how a nursery works and the types of plants they produced. I was surprised to learn about the Delaware Christmas Tree Grower’s Association. I once worked for a nursery who sold Christmas trees, so it was very cool to learn that there is an association for those that grow them. I also thought it was interesting that landscapers do so many different jobs within Delaware to keep everything looking nice, including landscaping between the highways in an attempt to keep Delaware beautiful. They also told us about the State Parks, which own the most land in the state, and all that they do in Delaware.