Labor makes up nearly half of the operations required to run a successful nursery business, and the nation’s green industry depends heavily on Hispanics to fill that need. Yet, little is known about this segment of the workforce — where they hail from, their educational background, their technical expertise and interests or why they are here. But, through a new project, Ohio State University Extension is looking for the answers.

Hannah Mathers, an OSU Extension nursery and landscape specialist, and Alejandra Acuña, a graduate student in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, are leading a multi-state survey to learn more about the Hispanic labor force in nursery companies throughout Ohio, Michigan, Delaware, Tennessee, Florida, Indiana, Arizona, and Rhode Island. The project is supported by the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association and the Horticultural Research Institute.

“Despite the industry’s heavy reliance on labor and the need to provide technical information to workers for advancement opportunities, statistics on the workforce, nationally, and learning and training preferences do not exist,” Mathers said. “We don’t know anything about the Hispanic labor force in the nursery industry, and it’s important that employers have this information.”

The survey is the first of its kind that would characterize Hispanics in the green industry — a segment of the population that constitutes up to 90 percent of the industry’s labor force in certain areas of the country. So far, a third of the 3,000 surveys sent to green industry employers have been submitted.

In a pilot survey, conducted in 2005, data indicated that nearly 70 percent of workers are between the ages of 26 and 36; nearly 50 percent finished high school, but only 4 percent went on to college; with only half understanding English, 90 percent surveyed felt learning the language would help them in their jobs; and nearly half named low salaries and lack of advancement as stumbling blocks to job improvement.

The survey is just one of numerous efforts by OSU Extension to broaden the knowledge of employers and help Spanish-speaking workers, not only in the green industry, but in other agricultural segments such as the dairy and wine/grape industries, specialty crops, fruit production, and general on-farm labor.

In Ohio, it is estimated that nearly 70 percent of the green industry labor force is made up of Hispanics, and labor demand is anticipated to increase an average of 3 to 5 percent over the next several years. For an industry that is worth $4.13 billion in Ohio, the need to learn more about those who are integral to its success is vital.