Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Joel and Adela. “At the farmers' market $3 a pound, whole chicken. But for a
whole if it is cut up, we sell it for $3.50. But chicken breast, we sold them for
$9 a pound. Eggs we get $3 a dozen.We have eggs, too.We don't have enough
layers.We get sixty dozen and sell every egg. Now that is a year-round thing.”
Plus, Joel sells directly to consumers in the Chicago suburbs. “I started two
meat buying groups - fifteen families in Oak Park who e-mail me an order.
We put all of their orders together. We drop it all off at a central location in
Oak Park. Everyone picks up their order there and writes a personal check.
One person puts them all in an envelope and mails them. We do that once
a month in Oak Park and in Naperville. We are going to start a third in
Wickerville. When they want eggs, it is like thirty or forty dozen at a time.”
Joel proudly notes,“I amgetting close to 70 percent of our income coming
from the consumers.” Just to clarify, the 70 percent that is sold directly
to consumers is composed of specialty items for the farmers' market that
include dog biscuits and homemade soap plus “the beef, chicken, eggs, and
turkey. And flax to consumers.” Then, with a sigh, “But unfortunately the
other 30 percent pays a lot of the bills with the food grade soybeans.” So
although he and his family are attempting to diversify as much as possible,
the reality is that the organic soybean crops are a fairly reliable source of
income. But even with the soybeans, they have “taken a hit on that the last
couple of years because of quality issues. Well, you know we have had a
drought the last couple of years and the bean leaf beetle has been hitting us
pretty hard.” He describes the pest that is plaguing soybean growers across
the region: “What happens is the bean leaf beetle punctures into the pod or
into the plant and that allows the vector for the mottled mosaic virus. The
bean has what is called a brown swirl, which stains the seed coat. That takes
youfroma$16 food grade bean to an $8 feed grade bean. So you incur a
substantial loss.” Japan has been a consistent market for organic soybean
exports from the United States, but Joel explains, “What is happening is
they are bringing beans in from China and other places. Even the Japanese
are trying the Chinese beans because of the bean leaf beetle problem in this
area. It is all over Illinois, Iowa, and all throughout the bean-growing region.
It is a real problem. The Japanese have actually gone to other sources, even
though the taste is not what they want.”
Joel describes how he scouts for weeds and pests: “We always walk bean
crops. It is not that tough of a job. Basically, I am willing to sacrifice one
bushel per acre to weed control. And I'll hire people to walk, but I would
spendmore than that on chemicals.”Then he describes an interesting weed-
ing technique: “I started propane flaming my beans when they are early, and
I think that is going to eliminate a lot of hand labor. I've got a machine
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