Curious of what others think.

If it were possible in a very mild southern climate to grow about a dozen medium to large fig trees in your own home orchard, would it be possible to sell your excess fruit to local restaurants/consumers and make a profit?

In say Arizona (zone 9) would it be possible with a sunny open plot of ground to grow a dozen good sized trees and sell what you can't consume to local restaurants primarily.  Could there be a market for something like that?

Any feedback welcomed.

Joe

Hope this starts others to chime into this subject.
Just my thoughts on this i probably would do poorly im not a good buisness man but,
Each area may be different in getting a clientel base to buy figs.
If it were me in my area i would go around first to these places of buisness to see if they were willing to purchase them first with an idea of what you can produce and charge and when they might be available , im sure they would want to know some of these things.
Bring along some ripe figs and let them taste them, might not be a bad idea to give them an idea of what a fig actually taste like fresh.
I would suppose its like selling most things folks want to see a sample of what they may or may not purchase.

Some may not even know what a fig looks or taste like.  ; )

It is doable, but very difficult. You need to talk to the chef, because he will be the one with the vision and creativity to put them to use. The rest of the staff has been tasked with keeping you FROM talking to the chef. Having samples will definitely help. Doing it is easy - getting your foot in the door is the hard part.

I have worked at this a little in the past 2 years. Currently have a deal to sell to an Italian market in "Little Italy" part of town.

Martin and Jon,

Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else have an opinion?

Joe

Anyone ever heard of Backyard Orchard Culture. Getting high yield out of heavily pruned trees grown very close together. Think it would work with figs?

Joe

There's a guy in Tucson who sells great mangos and other fruits & vegetables out of big truck. He's got a regular location and hours, and has been around for years, with a bunch of faithful customers. I asked him once if he thought I could sell home grown figs, and he said that a lot of his middle-eastern customers ask about them. I don't know how it might work selling to restaurants, but maybe you could sell fresh-picked figs through Craig's list or a local farmer's market? Or, maybe "test the waters" by selling them out of a pickup for a few days, and see if there's any interest? Sounds like it might be worth a try if you could find enough people who already know how good they are.

Hi Joe.  You're not going to get rich, but I would think you could make some money doing this as a seasonal hobby/business. 

Most hobbies lose money, but this one could make a little I would think. 

All depends on your local market, but if you have a city nearby, or immigrants from places that actually understand and appreciate good food, you could sell figs.

I'm planting my figs in a hedge for easy maintenance; efficient use of space; etc.  I will let you know how it's going, but so far so good.

You could sell fresh figs in season, and also make some fig jam with the ones you couldn't sell for sale out of season.

But if this is something you really want to do, don't ever let anybody tell you you can't do anything you want to do in life.  History is full of famous people who were told they couldn't do whatever they are now famous for.

You're probably not going to get famous selling figs either, but you will have some fun, and will probably make a little money if you put your mind to it.

Best wishes.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

Hi Ken.  I read an article about a guy in South Florida who sells papayas.  He's retired, and the extra cash is very helpful no doubt.  And sounds like he is having a lot of fun with it as well.

Nobody gets rich selling home grown produce, but if you're having fun growing it, and like to get out and talk with people at farmers markets, etc., the extra cash is just a plus.

Hope you are well my friend.

John

Another channel to consider would be farm shares/CSAs. Any decent-sized metro area probably has a few. The ones around here typically provide just vegetables and herbs. Nicer parts of the country might have a fruit component.

If you had the space, you could grow a couple other types of fruit trees to round out the season--the more interesting, hassle-free, and productive, the better. No apples.

Then approach different CSAs and offer your fruit as a complement to what they're offering. It would work best if you found one that only offers vegetables. They could sell your stuff as an upgrade to their customers. It would be a risk-free, all upside proposition for the CSA.

Still not going to make you rich, but every little bit helps.

Frozen Joe,
You'd be living the dream, and I'd say with the current interest in eating local, now would be the time.  Agree with previous posters that you should hit up local chefs who do the farm to table thing that is all the rage and hit up farmer's markets.  I was just at one in DC and saw plums and peaches galore, but not a single fig.  I have heard that figs are very delicate to transport, but they do it in Paris and Italy, so why not here!
Go for it, and keep us all posted.  What kinds are you going to plant?

Ireiley,

I'm moving to AZ in September. Not even sure if I will have the space at first to try this. But if I do I will be bringing most of my current fig collection with me to start me off. Right now it looks like I will be bringing black mission nl, vdb, barnisotte, lsu gold, celeste, Marseilles vs, king, and an unknown called Jersey. I would definitely want to add black Madeira and a few other sun loving varieties to round things out. Some of my current collection varieties may not be the best for AZ. Long term goal would be to get at least 6 or 8 top quality figs in the ground as part of a backyard home orchard that also includes citrus and peaches. Any excess fruit (if there is any ;) could be sold locally to make cash. From what I've heard so far, I should probably focus on developing the home orchard first, and when it gets to the point (years down the road) of being really productive look into options for selling excess.

Joe

Yes, definitely get the orchard into production first. What part of Arizona are you moving to?

in my experience, unless you're just doing it for a hobby, anything in agriculture is too much labor for the return in money.  i am growing fruit to eat and give away... i've been pondering a line of fig based wines, however :). 

i look at figs just as this forum is named.. figs for fun :).

Hi Joe.  You could also consider some easy artisan specialty items like growing herbs (which should grow well in Arizona) and making herb flavored vinegars in nice bottles.  Very pretty, a nice healthy flavoring for cooking and at the table, and they keep well for sale.  We don't sell these, but do them as gifts.  Figs could be a main item; but if you had a couple secondary items to make a double or triple sale to customers, they get some good quality stuff and you make more money.  Everyone is happy.

Best wishes for happiness and success in your move and new venture.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

Ken,

Phoenix.

Joe