Economic Gardening

For those that have never heard of Economic Gardening, it is a process where economic focus is on the second-stage businesses that can bring sustained employment to an area. Rather than focusing their tax incentives and financial grants on start-up businesses that have high failure rates or large, time consuming company relocations, governments with an Economic Gardening policy work with businesses that are past the formative and speculative stages and can provide more jobs that will last longer.

The practice of Economic Gardening has been proven to work quite well, on a long-term basis. When you consider the success story of Littleton, Colorado, which had a major employer pull out of the area, the focus that was put on the second-stage businesses is what kept the town's economy functioning. Since that time, many areas are considering the benefits of Economic Gardening, including a number of communities in Florida.

Not only has the focus of Economic Gardening in Florida been directly attributed to attracting and maintaining these mid-sized businesses that have survived, but the gardening process has helped the businesses overcome a number of hurdles. Second-stage businesses need help to get over hurdles that might include technology and equipment purchasing challenges or hiring and attracting skilled employees that stay with the company and help it grow.

When it comes to the benefits of Economic Gardening, Florida economic development executives considered the statistics. Companies that were in the second-stage category had more than 10 employees and appeared to produce more jobs, accounting for a 40.7% increase in employment between 1993 and 2007 in Florida. While start-ups are important to build local economies, the focus on helping second-stage businesses can provide more long-term jobs, whereas a start-up business generates jobs quickly but might not be long-term.

Many Economic Gardening proponents are quick to point out that helping second-stage business doesn't cost a lot of money. Sometimes, these businesses need help with marketing information and management advice that larger companies take for granted and don't consider enough enticement for relocation. Many businesses need help with these things in order to expand. Information technology doesn't always involve large amounts of capital for the second-stage businesses.