• $166m
    Generated as exports for cut flowers and foliage, seeds, bulbs and live plants in 2022-2023
  • $106m
    Generated as exports for seeds in 2022-2023
  • $13m
    Generated as exports for cut flowers in 2022-2023
  • 3100
    Total filled jobs in Nursery and Floriculture production for September quarter 2021

Overview

When Māori arrived in Aotearoa, they brought some plants with them which they grew alongside native plants. When Europeans arrived, one of the first things they did was clear out native bush and plant European grasses. People in Aotearoa weren’t that interested in growing native plants at first, seeing them as boring or hard to grow. But by the 1970s and 80s, they began to realise that native plants make interesting gardens, and today they have become very popular.

Aotearoa is considered a biodiversity hotspot around the world and makes an important contribution to global biodiversity. There are 2,500 species of native conifers, flowering plants and ferns here, and over 80% of these are endemic species. The beauty of our country’s landscape is a highlight for recreational users, particularly golfers. The first recorded game of golf in Aotearoa took place in Dunedin in 1871, and by the early 21st century, there were about 400 golf courses across the motu – more per capita than any other country, except Scotland.

In 2022-2023, New Zealand export revenue for cut flowers and foliage, seeds, bulbs, and live plants was over $166 million. We counted 16,476 people in the workforce in 2021 across four sub-industries including plant production, turf growing, gardening services and floriculture production. An estimated 10% of businesses in the industry are Māori owned, with New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated (NZPPI) having several Māori plant producers within its membership. Māori members of NZPPI are focussing on indigenous plant production in a local mātauranga Māori context.

The industry struggles to attract and retain skilled people in the workforce and finding ways to build a more inclusive workforce is a priority for the industry. Recent government initiatives to support native plantings has put some additional pressure on plant production, at a time when the industry is grappling with climate change mitigation. Sustainability concerns around water use and the minimisation of plastics are front of mind across the industry.

View the Sports Turf industry dashboard, including learner enrolments and workforce data for Greenkeepers here: Sports Turf industry.

View the Arboriculture industry dashboard, including learner enrolments and workforce data for Arborists here: Arboriculture industry.

Find out about our work to assess the quality of programmes delivered by providers for this industry here.

A snapshot of the Nursery, Turf and Gardening workforce development plan is available for download here. Please note that this reflects a point in time (July 2024). The most up to date information is on the workforce development plans website.

2025 Investment Advice

Muka Tangata provides advice to TEC on investment in vocational education to influence funding decisions that considers industry needs, to help match skills and workforce demands with supply.

Learn more

Projects

 Across the board, attracting people into the Nursery, Turf and Gardening industries with the right skills is a challenge and retaining staff in a competitive market can be difficult.  Furthermore, the existing qualifications do not align with the skills required on the job and the industry is interested in shifting to more apprenticeships and on the job training.   

Nursery and Sports Turf are both focused on efficient water usage, while the Sports Turf industry is navigating a raft of different legislation and compliance challenges around greenkeeping. Nursery is also considering minimising plastic use and navigating an increased demand for native tree planting across the motu.  These are just a few of the skills and workforce needs that industry is currently grappling with.  

This is our plan to address the vocational education and training opportunities that arose from our engagement, research and analysis. It includes real projects that we are committed to delivering, with most of these spanning across some or all Muka Tangata industries. Our Projects have replaced our previous “Roadmap Actions” and present a consolidated view of our mahi. Some of the previous roadmap actions have been completed or closed out following a review of our work programme and engagement with industry on the priority of these actions. 

Training that works
Simplify qualifications
Insights for industry
Success for learners and workers

Highlights