Marketing an Orchard Business - Growing Organic Orchard Fruits - page 703

cooperative representatives are also excellent sources of information, as are
representatives of farmers' markets.
Consumers' preferences vary by market population, and these preferen-
ces will influence the fruit crops and varieties that you choose. If you plan
to sell directly to a packing house or supermarket, you will probably need
to focus on crops and varieties that have high consumer recognition and
demand. For example, popular apple varieties at the moment include 'Fuji',
'Gala', 'Honeycrisp', and a handful of others. One problem is that varieties in
greatest demand are often not the best varieties to grow organically because
they have less resistance to disease than other varieties. If you plan to sell
through local food cooperatives, farmers' markets, and roadside stands, you
will often have greater flexibility in choosing the crops and varieties that you
market.
Selecting a Farm Design and Selling Venue
We went into detail on selecting an orchard site and designing an orchard in
chapters 2 ➔ and 3 ➔ . The emphasis in those chapters was on fruit growing,
but you also must consider marketing as well.
Beautiful views, lake access, or seclusion are not good reasons to buy a
commercial orchard site. Before you design your orchard, know what you are
going to grow, what value-added products you plan to make, and how you
are going to market them.
Say, for example, you want to grow apples, pears, and peaches and sell
them through a U-pick operation. You may design the orchard differently
than if you planned to harvest the fruit yourself. For a U-pick orchard, you
want small trees that customers can harvest without stepping on a ladder.
“What's a ladder got to do with it?” you ask. Just imagine if a customer falls
off a ladder and is seriously injured or killed. Are you willing to risk the
potential lawsuit? The same reasoning applies if you have barns, sheds, or
equipment that will attract children — you want to make sure they won't get
hurt. If you are planning a U-pick farm, you should eliminate every possible
hazard that you can. You will also need to provide roadside advertising, cus-