Vegetable grower calls for• quality , not quantity
BY JACK HUBLEY
HERSHEY American farmers
are over-achievers.
American farmers are under
achievers.
Although these two statements
seem contradictory, both are true,
say vegetable growers Dale and
Kathy.Whitenight of Danville.
As with virtually all agricultural
commodities, the production end of
vegetable fanning has been an
onward-and-upward story.
Marketing efforts, however, have
fallen short.
As the owners and operators of
Whitenight’s Farm Market, Dale
and Kathy find themselves im
mersed in all phases of the
business from planting to finding a
home for their produce. While
Kathy runs the market and keeps
the books, Dale keeps the shelves
stocked with a wide variety of
vegetables from the farm’s 275
acres. The couple also added
greenhouses in an effort to supply
the bedding plant market.
The immediate past-president of
the Pennsylvania Vegetable
Growers Association, Dale finds
that most farmers seem to have
two weaknesses. “We don’t like to
keep records, and we don’t like to
sell what we produce,” he ob
serves. “If we didn’t have such a
dislike for bookkeeping, we’d know
what it costs to produce, and know
how foolhardy it is to overproduce,
and thereby would have corrected
some of the problem by this time,”
says Whitenight.
From a production standpoint,
less can actually be more, says
Dale. As an example, he recalls the
drought that hit Pennsylvania
growers three years ago. With
yields down and demand steady,
the cabbage maricet took wing.
“We happened upon a H a cuts
cabbage market during tbetiaMfl
the season when $3.50 iMraP
ceptable,” Whitenight remndbers.
Despite the fact that the drought
cut his yield in half, the season still
ended in the black. “If you have to
use only half the boxes and you
more than double the price, you
come out better off,” Dale says.
But these market conditions
were too good to last. With inflated
cabbage prices making headlines,
other growers felt compelled to
cash in on the temporary windfall
by planting more cabbage. “I’m
not aware of there ever being a
another very good year following a
very good year,” Whitenight says.
Another factor that augments
the overproduction problem, says
Whitenight, is the flood of
vegetables being produced by
weekend farmers who can afford
to give away their products. “I’m
talking about the guy whose
agricultural income would not
affect his standard of living. He
has another job and he’s fanning
just for the fun of it,” says Dale.
Whitenight’s proposed approach
to the problem is straightforward.
“License him. If you want to be a
producer, then you make some
kind of commitment to that end,”
he says. “It’s the age of
specialties, and food production is
no less of a specialty than many
other things.”
One of the reasons that the
backyard grower must resort to
virtually giving his produce away
Junior Holstein
calf raffle underway
The Pennsylvania Junior
Holstein Association’s 6th Annual
Calf Raffle is in high gear. Juniors
are out selling tickets to help fund
the many programs and activities
sponsored by the Pennsylvania
Junior Association.
This year’s outstanding calf is
Pen-Col Rotate Jr Miss-ET. She
comes from Pen-Col Farms,
Millville. She is an Arlinda Rotate
heifer born September 25, 1985.
Her dam is a Milestone scored VG
-88 with an Excellent Mammary.
Her best record is 30.619 M 4.2%
1296 f. The next two dams are both
over 26,000 m and IOOOf.
The winners will be selected at
the Pennsylvania On Parade
Spring Sales, March 28, 1986,
Harrisburg, PA. The first prize
winner has the option of taking the
calf or a cash prize of $l,OOO.
Second prize is $250 and third prize
is $lOO.
Pennsylvania Juniors greatly
benefit from the Calf Raffle. Trips,
Dale Whitenight
Judging Schools, Production
Contests, DJM Contests, and many
other Junior Programs are funded
from the Calf Raffle sales.
To receive your six Calf Raffle
tickets, simply send a check for
|5.00 to Pennsylvania Holstein
Association, 839 Benner Pike, State
College, PA 16801. Please include
your name, address, and phone
number.
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is that he doesn’t have the volume
of produce or the knowledge
necessary to be able to locate
favorable wholesale markets when
the local retail market bottoms
out, says Kathy. “If you’re not
doing it on a fulltime basis, you
don’t know those outlets,” she
points out. “So you put it down on
the wagon in the yard and that’s
where the problem starts.”
Co-ops are another promising
method for marketing produce, but
membership in a co-op is no
guarantee that the producer will
receive higher prices. “The co-op
concept is good,” says Dale, “but
producers have to really support it,
and you need a good manager.”
But whether vegetables are
trucked to distant wholesale
markets or sold in the producer’s
roadside market, Pennsylvania
growers must become better
handlers, Dale says. Unlike the
more arid western states, Penn
sylvania’s humid climate reduces
the shelf life of most produce,
necessitating the use of fast
cooling to slow down the quality
robbing respiration process in
vegetables. Whitenight’s
hydrocooling unit provides an ice
water bath for his freshly picked
Schuylkill County fruit meeting
POTTSVILLE - The Schuylkill
County Fruit Growers meeting will
be held on Wednesday, February
12,1986, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
at the Dusselfink Motor Inn, Route
61, Pottsville.
Speakers for the meeting will be
Winand Hock, Pesticide Program
Specialist; Ed Rajotte, Extension
H«B
Automatic Farm Systems K& S Inc. Marshall Machinery
608 E Evergreen Road RDM RDM
Lebanon, PA 17042 Quarryville, PA 17566 Honesdale, PA 18431
717-274-5333 717-284-3111 717-729-7117
produce and greatly enhances its
quality and shelf life.
“Some of the best money to be
had is in direct sales, primarily to
the chains,” he points out. “And
the chains are demanding that
kind of preparation.” As an
example, Dale notes that, while a
crate of precooled, top-iced com
might be worth five to six dollars,
the same product taken from the
stalk straight to a burlap bag may
be worth little more than two
dollars.
But providing a quality product
is only half the answer, says Dale,
pointing out that even though the
Department of Agriculture has
made strides in the field of
promotion within the past five
years, vegetable promotion still
lags far behind that of many other
agricultural commodities. The
Whitenights both agree that
promotion provides the foot in the
door for the vegetable grower.
“The first order of business in
producing anything is to sell it.
You sell it before you buy the
seed,” concludes Dale. “If you
don’t know where the market is,
you’re going to be hurting. And
you’re going to have a lot of other
people upset.”
Entomologist; Rob Cassweller,
Extension Pomologist; and James
Travis, Extension Pathologist.
All fruit growers are invited to
attend this meeting sponsored by
the Schuylkill County Cooperative
Extension Service. Penn State is
an affirmative action, equal op
portunity university.