Buying a farm, nursery or agricultural service business in Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay has 270 established farms, nurseries and agricultural services by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 74% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.

270

established companies

74%

built over 20+ years

$258k+

a year, earned by the top quarter

32%

built over 30+ years

What it takes to own one

Farms, nurseries and agricultural services in Tampa Bay come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.

A solid company

Earns about: $123,000 a year
Price about: $338,000
Your cash: $47,000
Could pay you: up to $62,000 a year

A strong company

Top quarter in Tampa Bay

Earns about: $258,000 a year
Price about: $708,000
Your cash: $99,000
Could pay you: up to $130,000 a year

One of the leaders

Top tenth in Tampa Bay

Earns about: $575,000 a year
Price about: $1.6 million
Your cash: $222,000
Could pay you: up to $290,000 a year

Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 2.8 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.

Age, size and location

Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.

In business	Companies
Under 20 years	71
20 to 29 years	113
30 to 39 years	36
40 years or more	50

Estimated yearly revenue	Companies
Under $1M	43
$1M to $2M	16
$2M to $4M	9
$4M to $8M	3
Over $8M	3

County	Companies
Polk	103
Hillsborough	94
Pasco	36
Pinellas	15
Citrus	13
Hernando	9

Town	Companies
Plant City	32
Dade City	22
Lakeland	19
Winter Haven	18
Lake Wales	16
Tampa	15
Frostproof	12
Wimauma	11

What the best farms, nurseries and agricultural services have in common

A grower or production manager who knows the crop and plans to stay. In a nursery, much of the know-how lives with that person.
Repeat buyers spread across landscapers, builders and retailers, not one big account.
Inventory that is counted, healthy and in the sizes and varieties that sell in your area now.
Reliable water: wells, pumps and irrigation in good repair, and a water use permit that covers what the business actually pumps.
A clean record with state plant inspectors: no stop-sale orders or quarantines.
Shade houses, greenhouses, tractors and trucks that weren't patched together after the last storm.
Records good enough to show which crops or services actually make money.

What to check before you buy

Land. Is it included, leased or a separate deal? For a leased farm or nursery, the lease's length and renewal terms can matter more than anything else.
Inventory. Count and grade it with someone who knows plants. Buyers and sellers disagree most over what plants in the ground are worth, and pests or disease can lead to a stop-sale order.
Weather. Ask about hurricane and freeze damage, what was lost and what insurance or disaster programs paid.
Labor. How the business finds and pays seasonal workers, whether it uses a labor contractor or the federal H-2A visa program, and whether it follows housing and wage rules.
Water and environment. Compare what the permit allows with what's actually pumped, and look at fuel tanks, chemical storage and old dump spots. An environmental site assessment is common when land is part of the sale.
The building cycle. Nursery demand rises and falls with home and commercial construction.

Questions to ask the owner

Which plants or crops make you the most money, and which do you grow mostly out of habit?
Who are your biggest buyers, and how long have they been buying from you?
How did the place come through the last few hurricanes or freezes, and what did you change afterward?
Who grows the crop day to day, and would they stay on after a sale?
In a dry spring, how much water do you pump compared with what your permit allows?
When did the state plant inspector last come out, and did they find anything?
How do you find enough workers at your busiest time of year?
What would come with the business: the land, the equipment, the plants in the ground and in containers?

To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a farm, nursery or agricultural service business in Florida.

Owning a company in Tampa Bay

The local economy

Tampa Bay, as we draw it, runs from Citrus County south through Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, and east into Polk: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Wesley Chapel, Brooksville, Inverness, Lakeland and Winter Haven. Tampa is the business center, with Port Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport, the University of South Florida and MacDill Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. Financial services, insurance and health care employ many people, and the Gulf beaches of Pinellas bring tourists and seasonal residents.

Polk County sits on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando and has become a center for warehouses and distribution, alongside its older citrus and phosphate industries. To the north, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus are more suburban and rural, with many retirees. Home service companies, the building trades, medical practices and auto businesses all have a deep customer base across the region.

What's different about owning a company here

Hurricane Helene's storm surge in September 2024 and Hurricane Milton two weeks later both hit the region hard. Flood zones and insurance costs now matter in any deal near the water. Ask how the business came through those storms, what it claimed, and whether its building sits in a flood zone.

The labor market is deep by Florida standards, though skilled tradespeople can still be hard to find. New homes have pushed north and east into Pasco and eastern Hillsborough, and along Interstate 4 in Polk, bringing demand for services with them. Coastal Pinellas is more seasonal than inland Tampa or Lakeland. The bay itself shapes a service company's territory: crossing a bridge at rush hour can turn a short distance into a long drive, so look at where the customers actually are.