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market-farming - Re: The $200,000 garden

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: "Wiediger, Alison" <awiediger AT HART.k12.ky.us>
  • To: 'Market Farming' <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The $200,000 garden
  • Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 09:27:58 -0500


And, this is also one of the things to watch for when larger farmers are
considering "diversifying" to specialty crops using university/extension
data. I know here in Kentucky, they'll grow tomatoes on 1/10th acre and
extrapolate the data to acre(s) of tomatoes. Can't be done. Too many other
factors enter in - from soils, diseases and pests, to labor and marketing -
to extrapolate that way. But they DO!, So, when looking at the profit
figures for a crop, it's wise to find out just how large the original
planting the figures come from, was. And, as Alex says, always ask for NET
figures, GROSS don't mean much.

Alison Wiediger, Au Naturel Farm

> From: Alex McGregor[SMTP:waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com]
> And one of the myths about biointensive (or most small-scale) techniques
> is that
> they can be expanded to large agricultural scales. We use the simple
> formula (like
> Adriana pointed out) that if X can be done on a small scale and net Y
> dollars, then
> if we do 100 X, we can net 100 Y dollars. This ignores the facts that
> 100X
> requires many complications- a multiplied capital cost, labor costs (plus
> employee
> taxes- FICA, unemployment, workers comp.), higher repair costs,...
>




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