Economics of blueberry farming - Part 2

Posted by Sapan Behar

June 13, 2007

In this post we will examine the pros and cons of either investing in bare land for the purpose of blueberry farming or a pre-planted blueberry field.

Bare Land

Bare land is considered to be either uncultivated, unimproved land or land used to purposes other than blueberry farming. If the land is used for some other form of farming (e.g. raspberry farming) there would be additional costs involved in preparing the land. It may or may not be suitable for blueberry farming and would have to be amended to allow successful blueberry production.

For our discussion, we will consider bare land to be just that, bare, and suitable for blueberry farming. Here are some of the main advantages of a parcel of bare land over a pre-planted blueberry field:

Cost of land is much lower than a pre-planted field.
Total control over the layout of the farm.
You are involved from day one and can ensure that everything is done properly. This is extremely important if you plan to farm for a number of years.
You pick the plants, the source of plants. The source of plants is of utmost importance as healthy young plants mean a vigorous blueberry field in a few years
It is easier to make any amendments to the soil if necessary
If you invest sweat-equity, i.e. do a lot of the work yourself, you can save on labour.

Some of the main disadvantages of buying a parcel of bare land are:

Takes longer to establish the farm.
Easy to make mistakes that will cost you in the long run.
Plant stock is not readily available. In some cases you may have to wait for a year or two before you can even start planting.
If you are a novice at blueberry farming; you either need to learn fast and be good at it, or hire someone that can guide you.

Pre-planted field

The most important thing to consider when buying a pre-planted field is the age of the field. Generally, you should not consider anything that is over 10 years old since most of the older farms were developed without planning for mechanical harvesting. With the labour supply dwindling year after year, mechanical harvesting is going to be essential to the future success of a blueberry farm.

Here are some of the major advantages of a pre-planted blueberry farm:

Takes less time to establish.
In most cases the farms are producing some income.
Since all of the work is already done, you can concentrate on the day-to-day upkeep of the farm
Easier to manage cash flow as most of the work has already been done.

Some of the main disadvantages of a pre-planted blueberry farm are:

Expect to pay a premium for a pre-planted blueberry farm.

Consider that the seller most likely established the farm with a motive to sell and his or her main concern was the bottom line. This may have caused the seller to cut a few corners.
There is no way for you to ensure that the plants are from a good, virus-free source. Healthy plants are essential to successful blueberry farming.
If any soil amendments are required, they are going to be hard and expensive to conduct.
he seller may not have considered mechanical harvesting when farm layout was designed.

So what now?

These are the main advantages and disadvantages of either buying bare land or a pre-planted blueberry farm. When deciding which way to go, keep in mind that the lower cost of buying bare land may seem very attractive, but if you don’t have the time or inclination to do a lot of the work yourself, it would probably end up costing you more in the long run. Also consider the fact that there will be delays in getting the plant stock. This would mean that you are making regular mortgage payments while sitting idle. On the other hand, buying a pre-planted field will be enticing to some. You already have some income coming from the farm; the farm will reach full production sooner. But, what about the quality of the plants in the field? Were they certified to be virus-free? Were they bought from a licensed nursery? What about the field layout?

These are some of the factors that you should consider when deciding what to buy. As a Realtor, I always ask my clients to take a long look at their financial situation and then decide their course of action. Ultimately, it is the client’s decision to make. I just ensure that they have all the information available to make an educated decision.

In Part 3 of this series, we will examine the importance of healthy plant stock, how to procure healthy plant stock and how to plan to buy a blueberry farm in either the Lower Mainland or the Fraser Valley.

-SB-

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.