Tike (Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) has completed the preliminary data on the number of horticultural enterprises in 2007, and on the cultivated areas and production quantities of the various crops. Both the number of horticultural enterprises and cultivated area fell. With vegetables grown in the open and in greenhouses, as well as berries and ornamental plants, there were both risers and fallers in terms of both cultivated area and production quantities.

There were 5,245 horticultural enterprises in 2007. Open-field plantations numbered 4,123 and greenhouse cultivation systems 1,923. The number of horticultural enterprises in 2007 was 458 lower than in 2006. The area under horticultural crops was 16,684 hectares, falling by 84 hectares. The decline in area levelled off compared to previous years, as the growth in the area under open-field vegetables compensated for the decline in the area under berries.

Of open-field vegetables, pea rising, cauliflower declining
Of open-field vegetables, the biggest in terms of cultivated area is the garden pea. Its cultivated area rose, due to growth in contract production, to a new record or 2,618 hectares. The areas under onion and carrot also increased. Cauliflower and broccoli areas declined. The areas under pumpkin and open-field cucumber also declined, due to a decline in contract production.

Production of pot-grown vegetables on the increase
Of greenhouse vegetables, the area under tomato last year was 117 hectares and that under cucumber 72 hectares. The crops of both were slightly smaller than the year before. The area under year-round tomato was 28.1 hectares and that under cucumber 14.8 hectares. Year-round production was extended in 2007 to cultivation of crisphead lettuce. As a whole, however, the greenhouse area under crisphead lettuce fell slightly. The total crop was 444 tonnes. The cultivation area of pot-grown salad crops increased, and the production volume rose to 68 million units. In ten years, pot-grown salad crop production has risen by 30 million units.

Of berries and fruit, strawberry falling, apple rising
Of cultivated berries, the strawberry is the most important in terms of cultivation area and production volumes. The area under strawberries was 3,341 hectares, falling by 111 hectares. The total crop was 9.7 million kilograms. The areas under currants also declined by a total of 77 hectares. Of speciality berries, raspberry production remained unchanged at 472 hectares, although the crop was lower than the year before. The crop from highbush blueberry cultivation increased to 77 tonnes. The area under apple trees rose to 649 hectares. The total crop was 3.5 million kilograms, or slightly more than the year before.

Record year for tulips
Of ornamental plants grown in greenhouses, the area under cut flower production declined, but the areas under bulbs and bedding plants grew. The area under cut flower production was about 30 hectares, of which roses accounted for 22 hectares. 70.8 million flowering bulbs were grown, i.e. 11.7 million more than the previous year. The growth was above all due to a strong increase in tulip production. In 2007, 10.3 million more tulips were grown in Finland than in 2006. Production of summer bedding plants grew slightly, with almost 46 million units produced. The number of hanging flower baskets grown was 2.6 million. The most popular were pansy and petunia baskets.

The data for the Horticultural Enterprise Register are collected once a year from all businesses growing horticultural products for sale. The survey conducted in October 2007 covered 5,794 enterprises. The information in this release is advance information from the survey results. Detailed information on open-field and greenhouse vegetables, berries, fruit, ornamental plants, cultivated mushrooms and nursery cultivation are in the attached tables. The final data will be published in the Horticultural Enterprise Register 2007 in June. The publication also contains regional information and maps. Past issues of the publication may be downloaded from the Matilda service (www.matilda.fi).


Additional information
Anna-Kaisa Jaakkonen, tel. +358 (0)20 77 21 374,
Arja Anttila, tel. +358 (0)20 77 21 362,

The e-mail addresses are in the format: firstname.lastname@mmmtike.fi