Pandemic Gardening Boom Boosted 2020 Home & Garden Pesticide Sales

A new Freedonia Group analysis of the $2.4 billion US home and garden pesticide market finds that surging gardening activity during the Covid-19 pandemic boosted 2020 demand for garden herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and other pesticides:

• During the initial phases of lockdown, gardening activity boomed nationwide, but as many garden supply retailers reported record sales, they also found themselves sold out of products like seeds.
• Home and garden pesticide suppliers like Scotts Miracle-Gro reported healthy year-over-year growth in their consumer segments for the second and third quarters of 2020. Strong sales were also reported by many industry participants through the summer and fall.

A quarter of US adults started gardening during the pandemic

Increased gardening activity was largely driven by people finding themselves at home with more free time, with 26% of adult respondents to the August 2020 edition of The Freedonia Group National Online Consumer Survey reporting that they started a food garden because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, many consumers also witnessed supply chain issues over this period, and home growing of food provided a sense of comfort and security. As a result, growth was particularly strong for vegetable gardening.

Although it is expected that some new gardeners will not return to the hobby in 2021, gardening will likely remain above pre-pandemic levels through 2024 as elevated interest in home food production persists and the uptick in remote working is likely to last to some extent.

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Home & Garden Pesticides and spin-off study Home & Garden Insecticides are now available from the Freedonia Group.