Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

I was trying to get you to do the math.

You're picking 3/4 acre to get four or five bushels, which can sell for $45 
per bushel, more in smaller quantites. Say $300 gross from picking 3/4 acre. 
How much do you spend getting to the point of harvest? Subtract that from 
your gross. That's your profit.  How many hours do you spend preparing the 
soil, cultivating or weeding, picking, shelling, and selling (just for black 
eyed peas)? Divide profit by total hours.

If you're picking and selling that much every day then you're paying a lot of 
labor, which is a cost not figured in yet.

If you're growing other crops, do the same for each crop, allocating a 
realistic amount of costs and labor to each crop. That's cost accounting. I 
strongly suspect a lot of market growers don't know if they're breaking even 
or not, much less making a profit. I bring this up because people think 
market growing is just too much work. And the way most people do it, IT IS. 
Until they learn some cost accounting and find intensive methods right for 
their climate, they won't be driving new pickup trucks and nobody else will 
want to grow for market. But we need a million more growers for food security.

Why don't you experiment on a smaller area, keep records, and report back to 
us?

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 7/5/2008 at 1:57 PM mcoldiron wrote:

>Not sure what you are trying to say.  I sell my shelled peas for $5 a
>quart.bag.  The bushel goes for about $45 and I get $1.50 a pound for
>less.
>Don't you think that's a lot more than it cost to plant and pick it?
>
>TxBeeFarmer (Mark)
>West Texas Zone 7b
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
>To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 1:42 PM
>Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] No-till planting
>
>
>>
>> Black eyed peas for market? Let's see. Subtract the costs just for black
>> eyed peas from the gross income from just that crop. Divide that by the
>> total number of hours you spend growing, picking, shelling and selling
>> them. That's what you're paying yourself to grow black eyed peas. Is it
>> more than 10 cents an hour?
>>
>> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>>
>> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>>
>> On 7/5/2008 at 1:25 PM mcoldiron wrote:
>>
>>>I'm pretty sure I know how to modify my buster planter to a no till
>>>planter.  So let's take black eyed peas, for example.  I usually pick 4
>or
>>>5 bushels a day for market.  It usually takes a week or so for the peas
>to
>>>grow again, so I pick different rows each day.  I plant enough so I'm
>>>starting over at first set of rows at the beginning of the next week. I
>>>sell them shelled or by the bushel.  I know black eyed peas will grow
>here
>>>without irrigation.  If I use your method of no till and grow a cover
>crop
>>>for mulch for next year, should I plant fewer rows of peas to get my 4 or
>>>5 bushels a day?  The last time I planted peas, it took about 3/4 of an
>>>acre to get my daily quota.
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>TxBeeFarmer (Mark)
>>>West Texas Zone 7b
>>>
>>>