One Size Does Not Fit All - Purdue Agriculture...• Online survey to 4,312 farmers in 16 states (Food Industry MarketMaker) • 1,559 responses • Sample of Indiana vegetable farms

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


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%


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


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


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


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


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%


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


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


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


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


Farmer Profiles


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


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


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


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


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


Farmer Perceptions


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


Perc

enta

ge o

f far

mer

s

satisfied transitioning is risky organic is sustainable


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


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


Perc

enta

ge o

f far

mer

s

expand diversify no changes decrease exit


Conclusions


• 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


Thank you!



Ariana Torres, PhDAssistant Professor & Marketing Specialist

Documents

One Size Does Not Fit All - Purdue Agriculture...• Online survey to 4,312 farmers in 16 states (Food Industry MarketMaker) • 1,559 responses • Sample of Indiana vegetable farms