Subject: cash crop

From: [email-masked] (john ferguson)
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 02:28:56 GMT

Date Entered: 02-25-93 21:18
L(> In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Duane
  > Jacobson) wrote:
>
>
> Does anyone have references, or experiences to share, pertaining to
> growing fruits/vegetables as a cash crop on a small farm? Related
> organizations or periodicals?  ( I know about the "Growing for Market"
> newsletter.)  I'm talking about a part-time venture here, and would
> guess that 5-10 acres would be plenty to keep one busy, yes?

L(> Probably 5 acres would keep you busier than you want to be.  But the real
  > problem isn't the growing--it's the marketing.

It seems that Pick Your Own operations are the best way to go. You avoid
the backbreaking work of harvesting and the marketing problem. You can pick
up some customers that you harvest for as you go. You can pick the cream of
the crop for these people and charge more. After you supply your regular
wholesale or retail customers you can open that item up as Pick Your Own.
It will start out slow depending on how much you advertise but as you go
you will pick up many steady customers. A friend of my fathers had one of
these operations in Nova Scotia for about 15 years. He usually handled it
in this order when an item was ready for harvest:

             1. Pick the cream of the crop for your regular retail
                customers.
             2. Pick the next level of quality for your wholesale
                customers.
             3. Call regular pickers and let them know that crop is ready.
             4. Put up the signs and open it up to everyone.

You have to do a bit of balanceing to keep everyone happy. My fathers friend
had a playground set up and picnic tables around the place. he would get a
lot of mothers and children during the week and families making a picnic
of it on the weekend.

    John F.

---
   SPEED 1.20 [NR]   Yes my son, long ago mail was read 1 packet at a time.
   RoseMail 2.00 : RoseNet<=>Usenet Gateway : Rose Media 416-733-2285