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One Size Does Not Fit All How Other Farm Profiles Can Help you Plan
January 5, 2016
Ariana Torres, PhDAssistant Professor & Marketing Specialist
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
• Where your operation is situated with respect to the industry?
• Where do you want your operation to head?
• What does it mean?
• Financial benchmarking is common
• Benchmark can be done in other areas• Operation
• Skills
• Perceptions
• Plans
• Online survey to 4,312 farmers in 16 states (Food Industry MarketMaker)• 1,559 responses
• Sample of Indiana vegetable farms• 13% of Midwest farmers who answered the survey
• In-depth information regarding production and management
• But, may not be representative to the overall vegetable Indiana farm
• Compare with 2016 Ag Census when possible
• Farm profiles, farmers profiles, and perceptions
Our Survey
Farm Profiles
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
Farm Size• Small <$10,000 annual gross sales• Medium $10,000 - <$250,000• Large $250,000 or more
2012 Census of Ag• 35% small• 44% medium• 21% large
• Most of Indiana-grown vegetables come from farms that report less than $250,000
small25%
medium61%
large14%
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Land – owned and rented• It does not specify land used for
growing vegetables
• Smaller farmers tend to have fewer acres
• Larger farmers tend to rent more land, rather than own it
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
small medium largeTo
tal L
and
in A
cres
% L
and
Ow
ned
or R
ente
d
% land owned % land rented total land
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Form of ownership• Most small & medium farms are sole
proprietorship– Flexible– More liability
• Large farms are corporations, but at least a third are sole proprietors– Less liability– Double taxation
• LLC farms are more common among medium-sized operations
• 2012 census: 87% of Indiana farms are individual- or family-owned, 6% are partnerships, and 6% are corporations
0102030405060708090
100
small medium large
% F
arm
s
Sole Prop LLC S-Corp Corp Partnership
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Labor• Average number of employees = 11
– 3 are family members– 8 are non-family members
• The number of employees increases as size increases– Specially for larger operations
• All farms rely on family labor– Specially small farms
2.4 2.44.3
0.3
3.8
30.3
2.7
6.2
34.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
small medium large
# Em
ploy
ees
family non-family total labor
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Production practices• As farm size increases
– Conventional land percentage increases– Organic non-certified decreases
• Smaller operations have the largest amount of organic noncertified land
• Larger operations grow vegetables mainly conventionally
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
small medium large
% L
and
land conventional land certified land in transition land noncertified
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
What do Indiana vegetable farms grow?• Number of crops: average of 19. At least 1 and at most 42
– Small = 22 crops– Medium = 19 crops– Large = 15 crops
• Top 5 vegetables– Tomatoes 77%– Sweet peppers 67%– Cucumbers 64%– Zucchini 61%– Beans 61%
• Least grown 5 vegetables– Rutabaga 6%– Shallots 12%– Fennel 14%– Asian greens 18%– Collards 20%
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
Season extension, mulch, irrigation, and compost
• 55% of farmers use season extension (hoop houses, greenhouses)
– Medium and small
• 56% of farmers use plastic mulch for tomatoes
– Medium and large
• 80% of farmers irrigate their tomatoes– Larger
• 56% of farmers make their own compost– Smaller
53
42
74
6360 60
81
56
42
56
89
43
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
season ext mulch irrigate compost
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
s
small medium large
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Tests used for fertilizer application needs• 42% of farms use soil tests
• Very few farms use leaf tests
• Almost 20% use soil and leaf tests
• Over 35% don’t use any test
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
avg farm small medium large
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
s
soil test leaf test soil & leaf neither
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050
100150200250
small
mediumlarge
Distance to Markets by Farm Size (miles)
distance to market farthest market
How far are vegetable markets?
0
50
100
150conventional
certified
transitioning
noncertified
Distance to Markets by Production Practices (miles)
distance to market farthest market
• Large farms sell to farther markets • Conventional farms sell to farther markets
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Where do vegetable farmers sell?• Direct-to-consumer market channels
are the most common market outlets for vegetables
• Less than half of the vegetable farmers sell wholesale
• On average, vegetable farmers sell their product through 3 channels
74.2
62.9
24.7
94.5 2.3
39.3
6.7 5.6 4.51.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
% F
arm
ers Wholesale
MarketsDirect-To-Consumer
Markets
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Farmer Profiles
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
Gender• 32% of farmers in our sample are
women
• Women are more likely to own small (29%) and medium farms (35%), compared to large farms (8%)
• Most women farmers grow vegetables organically but are not certified
• Most men farmers grow vegetables conventionally
25
11
4
61
53
2 2
44
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
conventional certified transitioning noncertified
Perc
enta
ge o
f Far
mer
s
women men
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
Education• 66% farmers have college degree
• College education by farm size– 57% small farmers– 67% medium farmers– 92% large farmers
• College education by production practices– 80% of conventional farmers– 50% of certified, noncertified, and transitioning farmers
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Farming experience• The average vegetable farmer in the
sample has 25 years of experience
• Experience by farm size– Similar experience for small and medium
size– Large farmers have twice as much
experience
• Experience by production practices– Conventional farmers have more
experience (29 years), when compared to noncertified (23 years), certified (19 years) and transitioning farmers (18 years)
21 22
45
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
small medium large
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
s
years farming
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Useful sources of information• Other farmers and university extension
are rated as the most useful sources of information for farmers from all sizes
• Large farmers rated more sources of information as useful
• The least useful source of information are buyers directory and price reporting services.
3529
71
90
55
47
37
22
65
98
46
57
67
58
100 100
83
92
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
pricereporting
buyersdirectory
universityextension
farmers growersasso.
wholesalers
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
s
small medium large
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
Part-time farming• Almost a third of our sample farm part-
time
• A higher percentage of smaller operations farm part-time
• A higher percentage of organic noncertified operations farm part-time.
67
27 25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
small medium large
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
swww.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness
@hortbizpurdue
On farm hours and time record keeping• On average, vegetable farmers spend 46 hours on
farm business, and 12% of time record keeping
• Owners of large operations tend to spend more time on farm business and a larger amount of time record keeping
• Conventional and certified farmers spend the same amount on farm business (49 h/w) than noncertified (43 h/w)
• Conventional and noncertified spend 13% time on record keeping, compared to certified (9%) and transitioning (3%)
30
46
65
7
12
19
0
5
10
15
20
25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
small medium large
% ti
me
reco
rdke
epin
g
Hour
s/w
eek
on-fa
rm
Axis Title
hours/week % time recordkeep
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Farmer Perceptions
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Perceptions: production practices• Most farmers are satisfied with their
farming system
• Most conventional farmers think transitioning is risky
• Transitioning farmers do not think that transitioning is risky
• Most farmers using organic practices think organic practices are more sustainable than conventional0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
conventional certified transitioning noncertified
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
s
satisfied transitioning is risky organic is sustainable
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Perceptions: expected operation changes in the next 3 years
• Most farmers expect to expand in size, regardless of size.
• Farmers expecting to exit farming own medium farms.
• A similar percentage of small and large operations expect to diversify.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
small medium large
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
s
expand diversify no changes decrease exit
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Perceptions: expected operation changes in the next 3 years
• Positive future expectations are more common among certified and transitioning farmers.
• A third of conventional and noncertified farmers expect to decrease size.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
conventional certified transitioning noncertified
Perc
enta
ge o
f far
mer
s
expand diversify no changes decrease exit
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Conclusions
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• Indiana vegetable farms include operations with a variety of sizes, sales, forms of ownership, crops, land, labor, market access, and types of markets
• As opportunities arise, this information can help farmers to understand the main production and market activities for various vegetable operations
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
Thank you!
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
www.hort.purdue.edu/hortbusiness@hortbizpurdue
Ariana Torres, PhDAssistant Professor & Marketing Specialist
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