Farmers Turn To Vegetables As
v (Continued from Page Al)
vegetable grower himself, also
sees an increased interest in
vegetable production. “A large
number of farmers are interested
in growing vegetables,” he said.
However, he added, “It’s difficult
to gauge how much is in response
to the tobacco.”
A ready market and the potential
for healthy returns are other in
centives prompting fanners to
take a second glance at peppers,
tomatoes and melons. While the
profit potential varies from
vegetable to vegetable, a farmer
can expect to net at least as much
from an acre of vegetables as from
an acre of tobacco. Extension
personnel and vegetable growers
estimate the profit potential at
between |l,OOO and $lO,OOO per
acre, depending on the farmer’s
skill, the weather and the
vegetable variety and quality.
In a good year, Irwin said, a
tobacco farmer can gross about
$1,500 per acre given a market
offering $1 per pound and
production at 1,500 pounds per
acre. This year, if a farmer was
able to sell his tobacco for 75 cents,
he made about $l,lOO per acre.
Donald Robinson, adult fanner
instructor for Eastern Lancaster
County School District, listed the
following gross figures on
vegetable test plots grown in
eastern Lancaster County:
tomatoes, $20,000 per acre with
production at 55 ton per acre;
peppers, $lO,OOO per acre;
processed tomatoes with con
tracts, $2,000 per acre; and
cauliflower and broccoli, $3,000 per
acre.
Tomatoes, peppers and melons
are the most popular vegetables in
the county. “Cantaloupes seemed
to be the thing to bring our people
to the vegetable market,”
Robinson noted.
But, while cantaloupes are fine
for farmers who market them at
roadside stands, they do not store
or ship well, A demon cautioned.
Farmers are wise to grow
vegetables that will not bruise
easily or spoil quickly, he advised.
Other vegetables grown in the
county include broccoli,
cauliflower, cucumbers,
strawberries, eggplants, squash,
watermelons, sweet com, cab
bage, asparagus, pumpkins, sweet
and Indian com.
In making the transition from
tobacco to vegetables, a farmer
should consider the amount of
labor he has available. Like
tobacco, vegetables are a labor
intensive crop, requiring a great
deal of attention during certain
times of the season. “It’s pretty
demanding,’’ says Robert Todd,
sales manager for Dutch Valley
Growers, a vegetable cooperative.
“When it’s ripe, it’s ripe.”
Vegetables are at least as much
work as tobacco, with the labor
concentrated during the growing
season. With tobacco, the work
stretches out over the year. “Many
of the vegetable crops are
somewhat comparable to tobacco
as far as labor level,” says
Stoltzfus. A few crops, like melons,
are less labor intensive, while
others, such as staked tomatoes,
are more.
Because of the labor involved,
local farmers often limit their
vegetable acreage to an acre or
two. Todd said most members of
Dutch Valley have between one
and three acres, with a few having
as much as 50 acres. However,
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those with large acreage are the
exception, rather than the rule, he
explained. Most members depend
on family labor and neighbors at
harvest time.
A Marketing options are another
important consideration for far
mers weighing the advantages of
vegetables. Farmers in Lancaster
County have three main choices:
the Leola Auction, Dutch Valley
Growers Cooperative, or roadside
stands.
Entering into its fourth season,
the auction is a major market for
fresh, quality vegetables. Starting
in mid-May with cold crops like
cauliflower, broccoli and
asparagus, the auction attracts
buyers from grocery stores and
farmer’s markets within a 50 mile
radius.
“The auction has pretty much
proven itself as a viable market for
the fresh vegetable crop,” Stoltz
fus notes. In its first year, the
auction did about $500,000 in
business; last year that figure
mushroomed to over $1 million.
About 300 to 400 farmers sell
regularly at the auction with
another 600 or 700 coming in at
least once or twice a season.
Farmers selling through the
auction show up on auction day and
register their produce. The
vegetables must be packaged
according to market requirements
and packaging materials are
available at the auction site in
Leola.
During the height of the season,
the auction operates six days a
week; at the beginning and end of
the season, sales are usually
limited to two or three days a
week.
Both Stoltzfus and Robinson
attribute the auction’s success to
the variety it offers. Nearly
any vegetable imaginable finds its
way onto the dock, permitting
buyers to fill their trucks with a
host of fresh items. Even if the
auction does not have enough of
one item to fill a buyer’s order, the
buyer will not go home empty
handed, Stoltzfus explained.
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The auction has arranged for
Don Robinson to attend the sale
once a week to answer grower’s
questions about nutrients, grading
and packaging, fertilizers and
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Dutch Valley Growers, the
second major market in the
county, uses a different marketing
system. Co-op members bring
their fresh vegetables to a large
warehouse outside of Quarryville
where co-op employees grade and
package the produce. The growers
recently moved to this new, larger
location to accommodate ad
ditional members. Todd estimates
the co-op will represent a third
more growers this year.
After packaging, the produce is
trucked to buyers in Boston,
Baltimore, Washington, Ohio,
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explained. Buyers include chain
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variety, for these services, in
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“Here we pretty much have it
sold up front,” Todd said. “If we
have a good product, we’re not
going to have trouble selling it.”
The co-op, representing about
300 grower-members, sells six
days a week starting with the
earliest vegetables. The co-op also
offers a consultant who will work
with farmers to solve disease and
fertilizer problems.
The third marketing option
currently available is the roadside
stand. With the amount of traffic
through the county, Irwin noted,
many roadside stands prosper.
In fact, the county’s entire
fledgling vegetable industry seems
to be prospering and the future
looks bright as well.
“The future for vegetables looks
good,” Robinson says, “if you can
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area.”
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