Economic Feasibility of Primocane Fruiting blackberries

The purpose of Objective 3 of the analysis was to examine economic feasibility of primocane fruiting blackberries. In order to assess the profitability of our partnering farms, robust data were needed regarding production practices and yields. To that end, the economic team developed a data collection sheet in order to gather the data needed. All producers were provided the sheet and given some training on how to complete it. However, due to circumstances beyond our control (primarily weather related but also the transition of one farm from one owner to another), we were unable to collect all of the data needed from all farms across the full time period. As a result, we were not able to conduct the analysis as planned. Drawing conclusions from the partial data would not only be methodologically incorrect, it would be irresponsible. Evidence of this possibility arose about half way through the project, so we turned our efforts on providing economically relevant education, training students and improving our Interactive Sustainable Blackberry Budget to increase knowledge and skill sets of interested producers such that they could conduct their own analyses in the future. Each effort is described briefly below.