Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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be great if we could get to that point. But I would probably still do the
wholesale because we have identified some niche markets that we feel we
can fill,” particularly to natural foods stores in the Boston area. In terms
of diversifying the entire farming operation, “there are some years that the
weather is bad or the vegetables don't market, or there's competition from
other areas. The livestock is a steady income.”The livestock are not certified
organic because “we haven't identified a good enough market.”He has tried
to dovetail the meat sales with his CSA, but with little success. “Cattle, I am
down to two steers, which I have been trying to sell through the CSA.It
has been a little underwhelming. I was somewhat disappointed.” He says
he knows several organic livestock producers across the country who are
“just not getting enough of it sold and are quite discouraged.” One friend
in Iowa, for example, “is putting together good quality organic heifers and
steers and can't get them sold.” On the other hand, Porter's livestock focus
is now different. “Our main livestock are the lambs. We are selling them
direct, locally. There is enough of a Muslim population around that loves
their lamb.” They have five hundred ewes and are hoping to expand.
The livestock portion of the Porters' operation is responsive to market
changes. “We are quite flexible. The barns we use for our livestock are
flexible as to what they can be used for. The sheep use just an open shed.
It isn't concrete and permanent. We used chainlink pen setups. We can
land the ewes inside or outside or put feeder lambs inside. We are quite
flexible in what we do. If the buildings sit empty, it's okay. They are not real
expensive.” Steve describes the highly concentrated hog industry, in which
smaller producers (with under five thousand head) have fallen out rapidly.
“We got out of hogs in the early nineties. We saw the writing on the wall,
which way the hog business was going. Don't regret not having themaround
at all. There is no real market to sell hogs to anymore. You would have to sell
them to the big packer, go down south. We just didn't see the hog business
going any way we wanted to go. We just didn't want to be tied into it year
after year. You have to have the right facilities so you can produce the hogs
efficiently enough so you can hopefully eke out a profit. Those eight-cent
hogs a few years ago . . . we have no regrets being out of the hog business.”
On the other hand, with their sheep: “We have market opportunities that we
somewhat control; not control, but are happy with. And if we are not real
happy with our local sales, there are a couple of companies in Pennsylvania
who are somewhat competitive.”
Steve describes agriculture in this region. “We are in a fairly good dairy
area and cash crop area. Mostly processing type vegetables: green beans,
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