Nursery and greenhouse growers and dealers in the United States contribute significantly to the economy, environment, and food systems. Nursery and greenhouse operations provide a wide range of plants critical to residential and commercial landscaping, habitat creation for pollinators, and essential planting materials for fruit, vegetable, and ornamental crop production. The sustainability of these operations, as with other agricultural productions, highly relies on water availability, making it significant to evaluate the future of water and climatic risks throughout the United States. This study focuses on the critical part of this evaluation, developing a map of licensed greenhouse and nursery growers and dealers throughout the United States, using information received directly from state officials and agency websites. Texas, Florida and California were revealed to have the most HRI operations (growers and dealers), but the latter two states have the most growers. Region-wise, the Southeast and Northeast regions have the most nursery growers, with the Northern Rockies and Plains and the Southwest regions having the lowest numbers, although states like Utah, Arizona, and Idaho are currently missing in our analysis due to data unavailability and complexity. This mapping exercise will be followed by overlaying climatic indices such as precipitation, temperature and drought forecasts, to evaluate growers' state and regional vulnerability to water and climatic risks. This will aid in assessing climate-related risks, guide adaptive strategies, and support sustainable nursery management across diverse environmental zones.
