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cyberfarmer

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 

Last year, I purchased the 4 acres adjacent to the 4 acre property where I live. I mainly wanted the 2 acres right behind my house to extend my back yard, and the other two acres are planted with avocados. I've already removed about 50 trees to do some grading. I still have about 70 trees left. I don't really want to grow avocados, but there are some tax benefits to being a farmer. Avocados are almost a guaranteed loss. The water costs more than the packing house will pay me for the fruit. Costs of fertilizer, picking and maintenance add more loss on top of that.

So, I'm thinking that if I chop down all of my avocado trees, I could fit two fig trees in between each avocado stump and make use of the existing irrigation system. I have about 60 trees in pots right now, so I could get most of the way there with just some elbow grease. By the time I'm done, I'd have room for at least a couple hundred full size trees within the current avocado grove, or more if I plant higher density.

Before I go too much further with this idea, I thought I'd run it by the experts here to see if anyone has any ideas or suggestions for how I could make this work. I'm looking for ideas both on how to plant the orchard, IF I should plant the orchard, and how to sell the crop. Should I plan to sell the figs fresh, dried, both? Should I consider selling trees and/or cuttings? Should I sell to produce markets, individual buyers, restaurants, farmers markets...

Help me justify replacing my avocados with figs... or not.
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Paul the Fig Tree Destroyer in Fallbrook, CA (Zone 10A )
rcantor

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Jose rented an auger and found that it helped him tremendously.  It's your call as to how to sell the crop but the most lucrative way is probably start calling on high end chefs who appreciate fresh, local ingredients.  If they're interested you will probably need several of a few varieties to give them what they need - a bunch of identical figs all at once.  You can ask them their preferences.  You need a back up plan for whatever doesn't sell.  You can dry or freeze for jelly or something similar.  If you sell at $7.99/lb fresh to the public (high end chefs would pay more for grading out the cream of the crop), dried would cost ~$64/lb for the same amount of figs not including time, electricity and depreciation of the dryer.

Since you have to prune anyway you might as well sell, trade or give away cuttings.  I would plant a few to start with and see what ends up being popular and plant more of those.
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Zone 6, MO

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Galicia Negra, De La Reina - Pons, Genovese Nero - Rafed's, Sbayi, Souadi, Acciano, Any Rimada, Sodus Sicilian, any Bass, Pons or Axier fig, any great tasting fig.
hoosierbanana

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
Sounds like you have put a lot of thought into this already Paul. If you have a superior product to what is in any of those markets you mention you can get a premium price and more sales volume, and I bet you can do that.

To sell dried or frozen figs and jams they need to be packed or processed at a certified facility. But if there is a food processor nearby I think you can dry or freeze the figs yourself and then take loads of them there to be packed or canned. It sounds like you will eventually build up to that scale so it is a good thing to think about. At first you might try partnering with a restaurant and maybe trade figs for services or have your own kitchen certified. http://www.theselc.org/cottage_food_law_summary

One market you did not consider is online sales. It could be very difficult to manage fresh fruit but would be a great outlet for dried figs and jams. You can probably produce much nicer dried figs than big farms.

There may also be produce auctions nearby to look at. 

I would start experimenting with direct planting your cuttings where you want trees or a nursery bed.  if you can work it out it will save you a lot of trouble.

Here is a section from UC Davis' Specialty and Minor Crops handbook.
specialty and minor crops1.jpg 
specialty and minor crops.2.jpg 





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jdsfrance

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
Hi,
Direct selling fresh would get you more profits ... but cost you more time.
Figs have a short shelf life, and are not easy to be kept fresh looking.
Transforming them to jam would add the cost of the containers, sugar and heat to cook them, but you can do the jam as you need , when fruits are ripen .

You wrote that avocados are not profitable ... So why not .
To sell cuttings/plant, you need a nursery license ... I read somewhere ...
If you plant this year. You may be ready in two or three years ...
The choice of the cultivars would be a hard topic too !

Good luck, whatever you choose to do !
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Sas

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
It is a very interesting concept, but I was thinking that if each tree has different needs, at some point they might start to interfere with each other and perhaps disrupt the healthy growth of one another. The spacing between trees,watering habits and how much sun they get should play a major role in your overall result.
I would love to hear from the experts about such practice.


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cyberfarmer

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sas
It is a very interesting concept, but I was thinking that if each tree has different needs, at some point they might start to interfere with each other and perhaps disrupt the healthy growth of one another. The spacing between trees,watering habits and how much sun they get should play a major role in your overall result. I would love to hear from the experts about such practice.


I was planning on stumping the avocados. That wouldn't kill them, but I'd keep cutting off new shoots to prevent them from growing. If anybody wants to revive them someday, they just need to start watering them again and let them grow. I have several stumps like that on my property. The avos are spaced far enough apart that I should be able to either fit the figs between the trees on the same row, or just plant a row of figs in between each avocado row.
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Paul the Fig Tree Destroyer in Fallbrook, CA (Zone 10A )
Sas

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
Wow! I'm not sure if I heard the late Roger Meyer once say that he got rid of Avocados because of water shortage and replaced them with Jujube trees. I guess the water shortage problem is not going away anytime soon.

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cyberfarmer

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 

Thanks everybody so far for all the information. I actually haven't thought this through much yet, so this is just what I was looking for. I already have about 60 or 70 fig trees, probably 25 different varieties. I was planning on just planting everything I have and see what thrives. If one doesn't perform, I'll graft one of my better varieties onto it. I'd like to offer a variety of figs, even if it means I don't grow all high production figs. I'd rather have a more unique product and have less figs to deal with. Again, I can graft over to a more productive variety if I later require more volume.

Avocados are not only expensive because of the water, but also the picking costs. I'd probably pick my own figs anyway. So, if I'm going to compare the profit potential of figs vs avocados, I guess I should exclude picking costs from avocados since there is no reason I shouldn't be able to pick my own. Still, I think figs can do fine with way less water than avocados, and I think they have a better chance of tolerating my slightly salty well water. The avocados are on a separate meter and they run me about $300 a month averaged throughout the year. I think the figs could get by on half as much water (think, meaning I just sort of hope).

This is sounding like a lot of work. I'll probably take it slow, planting a few trees every other weekend. My crop will build up slowly, so I guess I'll have time to figure out the details. I think whenever possible, I'll let someone else do the work as long as I can make a little profit. I don't want to end up a slave to my fig trees.

Regarding augers, I'm personally a jack hammer man.
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Paul the Fig Tree Destroyer in Fallbrook, CA (Zone 10A )
cyberfarmer

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
Do I need a nursery license to sell cuttings on eBay? I'm pretty sure that most sellers of eBay cuttings are not nurseries. Not that that makes it legal.
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Paul the Fig Tree Destroyer in Fallbrook, CA (Zone 10A )
Vladis

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
Paul, the production of seedlings, cuttings figs always profitable production and sale of fresh figs and jams.
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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
Just a quick thought, are there any highly sought after avocado varieties that would sell for more that you could graft onto the existing stumps? Like figs I am sure there must be some gourmet types of avocados and rare types that people would purchase scions and fruit from you.  Either way good luck with your project.
P.S. Sorry about the water problems. So far water is still cheap here.
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cyberfarmer

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Posted Reply with quote  #12 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kingoceanos
Just a quick thought, are there any highly sought after avocado varieties that would sell for more that you could graft onto the existing stumps? Like figs I am sure there must be some gourmet types of avocados and rare types that people would purchase scions and fruit from you.  Either way good luck with your project.
P.S. Sorry about the water problems. So far water is still cheap here.


I have Hass now, which is one of the best commercial varieties. Not that it tastes best, but it will hang on the tree for a long time without ripening, and then only ripen after picked. Ideal as far as durability, shelf life, and ease of delivery to the packing house since they are still firm when picked. If I do decide to keep the avocados, I might consider stumping them and then grafting on some Lamb Hass, which I think is a better variety than what I have now. It is a good idea to stump them every few years anyway to regain vigor. Even so, the bottom line is that we can buy avocados from Mexico for less than the cost of the water. The farm advisor visited our CRFG chapter and told us that the only hope of making any profit on avocados in California is to grow organic, and I don't want to deal with certification. If I could make the avocados profitable, that would be so much easier than figs, since there are 2 avo packing houses within 3 miles of here.
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Paul the Fig Tree Destroyer in Fallbrook, CA (Zone 10A )
rcantor

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Posted Reply with quote  #13 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberfarmer
Do I need a nursery license to sell cuttings on eBay? I'm pretty sure that most sellers of eBay cuttings are not nurseries. Not that that makes it legal.


In CA you need a license to  *think* about plants.  Technically anyone selling plants, seeds and cuttings is supposed to have a nursery license in most states but in reality few really care.
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Zone 6, MO

Wish list:
Galicia Negra, De La Reina - Pons, Genovese Nero - Rafed's, Sbayi, Souadi, Acciano, Any Rimada, Sodus Sicilian, any Bass, Pons or Axier fig, any great tasting fig.
cyberfarmer

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Posted Reply with quote  #14 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rcantor


In CA you need a license to  *think* about plants.  Technically anyone selling plants, seeds and cuttings is supposed to have a nursery license in most states but in reality few really care.


I think nursery permits are pretty easy and only $150 for a small nursery. My neighbor told me to fence off a small area, line it with weed barrier and put all my container stock into it. I call that my nursery, and then they only inspect the area within the fence.

The produce guy at my local market said the permit or whatever I need to be able to sell to him just requires an inspection of my orchard for proper food safety practices. I want to be inspected anyway. I don't want to accidentally poison anybody.

Even if I want to sell dried fruits and preserves, there is a Cottage Foods Act in California that would allow me to preserve and dry a certain amount at home - no certified kitchen required. They do come and inspect your kitchen or food prep area, but again, I welcome the inspection.

I think permits will need to be addressed, but I see bigger challenges in finding the time to take care of the trees, harvest fruit, pack it, deliver it, and run a business.  
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Paul the Fig Tree Destroyer in Fallbrook, CA (Zone 10A )
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