Consumer's wallet and their hearts are not in the same pocket! A universal truth. Most consumer believe that farms that do not use chemical pesticides or herbicides spend less money and less time tending to their plants. Hence, organic fruits and vegetables should be cheaper, the higher prices are just a cash grab by farmers. It is the same logic that complains when the garage quotes thousands of pounds to replace an engine gasket when the head gasket only costs fifty quid.
In our system, we have certain advantages. High tunnels are particularly good at keeping weed at bay and use limited bioherbicides to keep it under control. We also use a polyculture so that pests have less of a purchase. We intercut our high tunnels with lemongrass, which is a very effective pest control tool.
None of this is low manpower. In terms of production, our strawberry bushes produced between 25% and 35% less fruits than ordinary farmers that are not organic.
Our saving grace is that our organic fruits and vegetables sell for between 15% and 20% higher prices than the non-organic production. Because we entered into the processing of fruits and vegetables we have virtually no waste. On an average day, the farm will produce less than 200kg of fruit and vegetable waste, (damaged for one reason or the other). Compared to a "normal" farm this is less than 10% of what a farm produces as waste (misshapen or discoloured vegetables are processed).
For our farm organic production is more profitable, because of these actions. It remains, that consumers don't care, they will pick a broccoli that is 50 pence cheaper!
It is the real nature of consumers. BTW consumers that really care usually shop at open-air markets where they can interact directly with the farmers (not our gig either).
I got a few questions:
A1: I should be clear our farm is focused on a very specific segment of the food industry. From its very inception the farm had this specific goal; provide high-quality organic heirloom fruits and vegetables to the high end restaurant trade which values these factors.
A2: Our direct-to-consumer has the same mentality; our fruit and vegetable boxes are more expensive than other commercially available solutions, 75% of our clients are related to our commercial trade.
A3: We know of six farms that have similar objectives in the UK, that operate on a similar model, and demand outstrips supply. We are aware of three farms in the Netherlands that have a similar strategy and a few in France, but they export very little (the French)
A4: 20% of our produces are exported to Europe (via Netherlands). We see limited scope for further expansion because our shift to more transformation of our produces limits our capacity to export.
A5: Our biggest advantage is the ready availability of capital. Our core activities of supplying the UK restaurant trade will remain very important, as will the direct-to-consumer, but these two will account for less than 50% of sales by the end of 2025, if all our projects come to fruition.
A6: The first year of operation we hired nearly 60 people, we hired everyone who applied. From 2021 to 2023 we saw 5 applications for each job. So far, in 2024 we have seen 2 applications for each job. All the jobs are manual labour. It's a farm
Note: The wast produce is fed to the goats.
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