Tulip production is measured in several different ways: cultivated bulb acreage, farms, active crop-protection substance, and cut stems sold. The figures below keep those measures separate while showing the scale of tulip production in the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada.
Table of contents
- Dutch tulip acreage over time
- The Dutch production footprint in 2024
- Farms and production structure
- Crop-protection use in Dutch open-field tulips
- United States cut-tulip sales in 2024
- U.S. state examples
- Canadian greenhouse tulip stems
Dutch tulip acreage over time
The Netherlands provides the longest continuous series in this dataset. These are tulip cultivation areas reported in thousand hectares by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), not harvested stem counts. The series rises from 2013 through 2020, dips in 2021, and then reaches a new high in 2023.
According to CBS’s “Area used to grow bulbs up by more than a fifth since 2013”, Dutch tulips occupied 11.350 thousand hectares in 2013. The area was 11.440 thousand hectares in 2014, 12.156 thousand hectares in 2015, 13.202 thousand hectares in 2016, and 13.408 thousand hectares in 2017.
| Year | Dutch tulip cultivation area (thousand hectares) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 11.350 |
| 2014 | 11.440 |
| 2015 | 12.156 |
| 2016 | 13.202 |
| 2017 | 13.408 |
| 2018 | 14.243 |
| 2019 | 14.354 |
| 2020 | 14.897 |
| 2021 | 14.446 |
| 2022 | 14.817 |
| 2023 | 15.017 |
The same CBS source reports 14.243 thousand hectares in 2018 and 14.354 thousand hectares in 2019. Dutch tulip acreage then stood at 14.897 thousand hectares in 2020, followed by 14.446 thousand hectares in 2021 and 14.817 thousand hectares in 2022. In 2023, the reported area was 15.017 thousand hectares.
This sequence describes the area used for cultivation in each stated year. It should not be read as a year-by-year series of flowers harvested or stems sold, because bulb cultivation area and cut-flower sales are different production-stage measures.
The Dutch production footprint in 2024
CBS’s “Area used to grow flower bulbs has increased in 10 years, decreased in 2024” reports 14.74 thousand hectares of Dutch tulip cultivation in 2024. That was 2 percent lower than in 2023, while remaining 29 percent higher than in 2014. The 2024 figure is therefore a one-year reduction from the 2023 level, not a return to the earlier acreage scale.
Tulips accounted for more than half of all Dutch flower-bulb cultivation area in 2024. All flower bulbs together covered more than 27 thousand hectares. This places tulips as the largest stated component of a broader flower-bulb production base, while the tulip figure itself remains specifically 14.74 thousand hectares.
Production was concentrated geographically. Westelijk Holland had 9.6 thousand hectares in flower-bulb cultivation in 2024, while the IJsselmeerpolders had more than 9.3 thousand hectares. Looking specifically at tulip area, the IJsselmeerpolders contained 49 percent of Dutch tulip acreage and Westelijk Holland contained 33 percent. Together, those two regions represented 82 percent of Dutch tulip area in 2024.
The regional figures refer to cultivation geography, not to the location of every later handling, distribution, or sales activity. They are useful for understanding where Dutch tulip production is concentrated, but they do not provide a stem count for either region.
Farms and production structure
The farm counts show that production area and the number of participating farms are separate dimensions. In 2023, the Netherlands had 1,639 farms active in flower-bulb cultivation, according to the 2024 CBS report. That was 7 percent higher than ten years earlier and 108 percent higher than in 2013, as reported in the supplied CBS measures. The two percentage comparisons describe different reference points and are retained as reported.
Tulips were grown by 55 percent of Dutch flower-bulb farms in 2023. The number of farms whose main activity was flower-bulb cultivation was 577, and those main-activity farms accounted for 61 percent of Dutch flower-bulb cultivation area. In other words, the reported production structure includes both farms for which flower bulbs were the main activity and farms that grew bulbs alongside other activities.
Earlier farm counts in the 2025 CBS report provide a narrower historical comparison for tulip growers specifically. The Netherlands had 850 farms growing tulips in 2014 and 853 farms growing tulips in 2015. These counts should not be substituted for the 2023 total of all active flower-bulb farms, because the categories and years differ.
The available measures therefore describe a layered industry: 1,639 active flower-bulb farms in 2023, 577 farms with flower-bulb cultivation as their main activity, and tulips grown by 55 percent of flower-bulb farms. The area share of 61 percent for main-activity farms adds a further indication that farm participation and cultivated area are not distributed in the same way.
Crop-protection use in Dutch open-field tulips
CBS’s “Use of pesticides in agriculture down by over 20 percent since 2020” reports crop-protection use for Dutch open-field tulip production in kilograms of active substance. The 2024 figures are provisional.
| Measure | 2020 | 2024, provisional |
|---|---|---|
| Active substance used | 385 thousand kg | 214 thousand kg |
| Active substance per hectare | 25.8 kg | 14.8 kg |
In 2020, Dutch open-field tulip production used 385 thousand kilograms of active substance, or 25.8 kilograms per hectare. In 2024, the reported amounts were 214 thousand kilograms and 14.8 kilograms per hectare, respectively. These figures measure active substance, not the number of applications, product containers, or a particular named pesticide.
The comparison is also limited to open-field tulip production. It should not be applied to greenhouse stems, all flower bulbs, or all horticultural crops. Because CBS labels the 2024 figures provisional, that status belongs with the 2024 measurements whenever they are cited.
United States cut-tulip sales in 2024
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Table 12, “Cut Flowers Sold: 2024 (continued)” reports sales by horticultural operations. The table uses thousands of stems and thousands of U.S. dollars.
Across all sales channels, U.S. horticultural operations sold 251,362 thousand tulip stems in 2024. The reported value was 132,035 thousand dollars, and 650 operations reported all-channel tulip sales. These are sales by operations, not a count of individual farms across every stage of production.
Wholesale was the dominant reported channel by stem volume. U.S. wholesale tulip sales totaled 247,475 thousand stems, with a value of 126,634 thousand dollars. The number of operations reporting wholesale tulip sales was 269.
Retail sales were reported separately. U.S. retail tulip sales totaled 3,887 thousand stems and were valued at 5,401 thousand dollars. The number of operations reporting retail tulip sales was 526.
| U.S. tulip sales channel, 2024 | Stems (thousand) | Value (thousand U.S. dollars) | Reporting operations |
|---|---|---|---|
| All channels | 251,362 | 132,035 | 650 |
| Wholesale | 247,475 | 126,634 | 269 |
| Retail | 3,887 | 5,401 | 526 |
The channel rows are reported categories, so the operation counts should not be added to infer a unique national farm count. The sales figures also describe cut stems sold during 2024; they are not directly comparable with the Dutch acreage series or with Canadian greenhouse stem counts from 2010 and 2011.
U.S. state examples
The USDA table also identifies state-level all-channel sales for selected states. Colorado operations sold 96 thousand tulip stems for 100 thousand dollars in 2024. Connecticut operations sold 75 thousand stems for 134 thousand dollars. Illinois operations sold 309 thousand stems for 420 thousand dollars.
| State | All-channel stems (thousand) | All-channel value (thousand U.S. dollars) |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 96 | 100 |
| Connecticut | 75 | 134 |
| Illinois | 309 | 420 |
These state examples show the scale used in the national table: stem quantities and sales values are both reported in thousands. They are state operation totals for 2024, not estimates of total tulip acreage or production capacity.
Canadian greenhouse tulip stems
Statistics Canada’s archived Table 10, “Greenhouse cut flower production by variety” reports greenhouse tulip stems sold in 2010 and 2011. The table covers flowers grown or given cultural treatment and sold, and its archived use-with-caution and revised qualifications remain relevant to these figures.
Canadian greenhouse operations sold 96,670,305 tulip stems in 2010. Ontario operations sold 13,402,465 stems, while British Columbia operations sold 19,673,105 stems. Newfoundland and Labrador greenhouse operations reported 0 tulip stems sold in 2010.
In 2011, Canadian greenhouse operations sold 80,472,630 tulip stems. Ontario operations sold 9,461,095 stems and British Columbia operations sold 18,355,740 stems. Prince Edward Island greenhouse operations reported 0 tulip stems sold in 2011.
| Canadian greenhouse tulip stems sold | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 96,670,305 | 80,472,630 |
| Ontario | 13,402,465 | 9,461,095 |
| British Columbia | 19,673,105 | 18,355,740 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 0 | — |
| Prince Edward Island | — | 0 |
The Canadian figures are historical greenhouse sales measures, not current production estimates. They also describe stems sold, whereas the Dutch data above primarily describes bulb cultivation area and the U.S. 2024 data describes cut stems sold by horticultural operations. Keeping those units and measurement periods distinct is essential when comparing tulip production across countries.