Production of ornamental plants and cut flowers in peri-urban areas: An economic and environmental analysis of the Barcelona Metropolitan region, Spain

Abstract

Ornamental plants and floral plants are not usually considered in research works on urban agriculture. On the contrary, the main stream of research is focused on food production. An essential feature of ornamental plant markets is that they are global. Most of consumers ornamental plants and cut flowers are located in Europe, United States of America and Japan, and the emerging producers are located in South America and Africa. Ornamental crops present a very high added value, if they are compared with vegetables and fruits, or crops like cereals. Ornamental plants and cut flowers production needs a high level of technology to control the irrigation system (soilless culture), the environment (temperature, humidity, light) and the postharvest. The aim of this study is the evaluation of the technological level used by urban farmers. More specifically, this objective can be achieved through the next questions: How to be competitive in the ornamental global market? Which are the advantages of these farmers being located in urban areas? Which channels do they use to sell their production? A semi – structured survey was conducted of ornamental and cut flowers farmers in Barcelona Metropolitan Region (Catalonia, Spain). The survey was approved by the working group of Entrepreneurial Models of Urban Agriculture within the framework of the European project Cost Action TD 1106 Urban Agriculture Europe.