2011 Annual Report for FNC10-840
Scaling Up to Meet Market Demand for Local, Organic Broccoli
Summary
Linda Halley met with producers in person and over the phone for crop planning and scheduling. She transported transplants to growers, and supported growers in production and quality issues during harvest by phone and by email.
Producers met with Rick Christensen at Co-op Partners Warehouse in person or by phone to plan logistics.
Mike Leck developed a production manual for scaled-up broccoli production, including information about yields, planting dates, fertility methods, and pest control.
Rock Spring Farm staff traveled to Gardens of Eagan for harvest training. Linda Halley, Mike Leck, and other members of the Gardens of Eagan staff provided training and education about harvest techniques, quality parameters, and agronomic issues.
Mike Leck and Linda Halley conducted comparisons of fertility options, comparing fertility plan in the production manual to less-expensive fertilizer options.
Producers sold broccoli to Co-op Partners Warehouse throughout the season when it met quality standards.
Producers used broccoli as part of their CSA share when the quantity or quality of the harvest was not sufficient for Co-op Partners Warehouse.
Grant funds supported manual development, education for growers, labels to identify product as part of the project, seed purchases, and boxes for the broccoli.
Objectives/Performance Targets
2011 was a very challenging production year and the entire region suffered significantly reduced yields due to cold and wet conditions is spring and spikes in temperatures in May and June. Mid-summer through fall were unusually dry, drought conditions persisted into the full harvest season. This is the context for the following results and observations.
Demand for organic broccoli was not met in the Twin Cities even with the addition of three more farms producing broccoli for the wholesale market. All participating farms had reduced yields, however, due to the weather so it remains unclear if a better than average yield by the participating farms will satisfy the demand for organic local broccoli. Hopefully 2012 will allow a better opportunity to determine that.
Pre-season agreements with buyers work when support is provided growers. It was very helpful for growers to know that if they managed to pick and pack and deliver quality produce they were assured of a market for it.
Because of the very unfavorable weather it’s still uncertain whether scaling up to grow broccoli for wholesale sales is economically viable. In examining income generated by broccoli sales compared to costs to produce, all producers lost money on broccoli production.
Besides weather conditions the following challenges were encountered:
Transportation: In order to assure the quality needed in the wholesale environment broccoli has to be chilled and kept chilled. Two producers lack access to ice or refrigerated transportation and were unable to buy ice machines for an affordable price even with the help of funds provided in the grant. Transportation very early in the day, before temperatures rose, was not always practical.
Training of harvest crew: In order to assure the quality needed for wholesale markets the harvesters had to be trained to pick or sort only the best broccoli for sales to Co-op Partners. It is possible to train inexperienced harvesters but hands-on training was the most successful. Using photos as guides was helpful but not as much as the experiential training by experienced harvesters. Written descriptions are not effective.
Transplanting of broccoli on rolling ground can be problematic (not all transplanters are designed to work on a hillside) so as a producer scales up the option to fill in missing plants by hand, or plant all of the crop by hand is not as viable.
Growing seedlings: In a wet year, the seed-bed method of growing broccoli seedlings, as described in the production manual, is not viable. Seedlings are exposed to over-watering, competing weeds have a significant advantage and result in leggy, fragile broccoli seedlings. The stale bed method of preparing the seed bed is very difficult to do successfully if there are very few dry days in which to prep the seed beds.
Planting schedule: One of the producers had a difficult time interpreting the planting schedule in the training manual so didn’t plant the final fall crops. The fall weather was much more favorable than the spring and summer weather. (and generally can be counted on to be so.) As a result that producer suffered more economic losses than the others in that he was not able to capture the more advantageous growing conditions of the later part of the season.
Accomplishments/Milestones
Trainers Linda and Mike will meet with growers individually to review outcomes from 2011 and clarify plans for 2012.
Producers will meet with Co-op Partners Warehouse buyer, Rick Christensen, to plan improvements needed in the purchasing system.
All producers will “meet” by phone conference to share their plans and outcomes from 2011 and make plans for improvements for 2011.
Producers will continue to search for affordable equipment that will allow them to produce quality broccoli economically.
Production of broccoli and sales to CPW will continue.
Sales income and costs of production will be kept for reporting, comparison and analysis by Linda.
Presentations will be developed to share outcomes.
Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes
How did you share information from your project with others? (Include the number of people who attended field days or demonstrations.) What plans do you have for sharing information next year?
It was not part of the plan to share outcomes this year, but Linda did share profitability figures for broccoli grown on her farm (Gardens of Eagan) in 2011 at the Organic Farming Conference in February. The same profitability tool will be adapted to use with the participating producers after their 2012 growing season. Attendance at the profitability workshop at the Organic Farming Conference is estimated to have been 50 – 60 people, mostly farmers. There were many questions and lots of interest was generated as a result of the presentation. Producers in the audience were fairly surprised by the poor profitability of broccoli during the 2011 growing season.
Outcomes for 2012 will be shared with MOSES for use in a Fact Sheet that they publish electronically with wide dissemination.
Additionally, after profitability is examined producers will take advantage of opportunities to discuss scaling up at the following conferences:
Immigrant Farming Conference – St. Paul
Minnesota Organic Conference – St. Cloud
MOSES Organic Farming Conference – La Crosse
Or other panel discussion hosted by such organizations as Land Stewardship Project and Sustainable Farming Association.
None of the dates or plans for the above have been set yet so it is not known exactly which ones will choose to invite the producers to present but the producers are all regular participants in such events and as the opportunity approaches commitments will be made to present. Linda will create the basic presentation that the producers can modify to meet their needs.