Watch out for the Ag survey. The orchid numbers are bogus. AOS lobbied
very hard to get orchids as a line item, but never put in any effort to
clean up the numbers. I think there was a lot of dick swinging to get the
highest orchid counts possible. Every time an orchid changed hands it got
counted. If an orchid passed through three 'growers' before it ended up
with a consumer it shows up in the survey as three plants sold and the value
added to the survey was the sum of the three sales. I feel the bogus Ag
survey orchid numbers are a major factor in the current world glut of
orchids. The industry was just not as big as the Ag survey made it seem.
Today the Ag survey is even more questionable. It no longer covers all 50
states and I am not sure how many of the Phal arriving via boat are showing
up in the survey counts at all. A better measure on the state of orchid
sales within the US would be to look at the number of plants being imported
into the US.