Mat-Su Express

[PureHarvest]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Since we are on the subject I just talked to my NRCS guy and he said I'd prolly be approved about a year for now for a HT. He said new farmers cap has increased to around 15k for an approved structure/structures. I am trying to think of the best way to go about it. I want to do something similar to that pic myself where I can grow plants for sale but still obey guidelines of producing a eatable crop. They wont cover the cost of fans/heaters but I'd really like to have a heated HT for early heirloom tomatoes. Nobody here does that so I'd have 100% of the market. AKmark and the rest of you guys, what size should I start with that will be economical to heat and I would be able to manage on a part-time basis? Or should I just quit my real job and focus on my business if I can get 15k worth of HT's? I feel like I'm getting closer to saying blank it and jumping off the cliff in another year or 2.

BV, I write the plans/contracts for that and many other NRCS programs.
That is a generous cap. Ours is $10,500.

You could almost fund 2 HTs at 30x72 with that high of a cap.
Our HU (beginning farmer) rate is $3.64/sqft. So two 30x72 is 4,320 sqft x $3.64 is $15,724.80.
You can always go beyond what the grant caps out at. It just stops paying at 15k in your state. So, you could build a 30 x 300 if you want, they will just pay for 15k of it. However, you are obligated to build whatever size you plan for even though they are not covering all the costs because they can not pay you until the work is completed.
Also, you could theoretically get your tunnel cheaper than what the grant pays, and have nothing out of pocket, or even make money. It is a flat rate payment, not based on invoice.

Of course you also need to calculate lumber and associated gear.

Propane heaters are relatively cheap. I'm gonna try a radiant tube heater this fall. Supposed to use 1/2 the propane as forced hot air and it heats the surfaces and object (like the sun) rather than the air. I'll report back/make a thread.

You need to make a budget and look at the true total cost to be up and rolling and then make the decision if it's worth matching your funds with the grant.

In FY16 I got a 30'x72'. The grant covered everything except the automated roll-up side kit and automated end wall vents and computer controller. I was cool with that, because I bought a premium kit with all the bells and whistles including double inflated plastic, double aluminum channel (don't have to use a hip board now) and extended 6' ground sockets. Truss braces on every hoop section, hoops 4' apart.
I had about $2,200 out of pocket.
But I still had to buy base boards, trellis cabling/turnbuckles.
Then there are the injectors and the gear to hook it all up to my drip lines (around 2k), bags, tubing, spray stakes, spools, clips, insect screen, ferts, Promix.....

Did I mention you should do a budget?

If you can project different yields at different prices, you will come up with a net profit to see how soon you will pay back your costs and put money in your pocket.

I can't imagine not going with injectors once you are at one 30x72. You will be mixing TWO 275 gallon tanks every day if not and that is ridiculously time consuming.

I'm doing 2 caterpillar tunnels for my FY17 grant (to cover day-neutral strawberries) along with another pollinator planting.

I am planning on applying for another 30'x72' for FY18 (deadline for that application is this October).

Let me know if I can help you in any way. I am looking to slowly build up too.

A big hurdle for me is working 40 hrs a week off farm and juggling my farm. Each new addition adds to the load/stress (HT heirlooms, garlic, and now strawberries). But I do live for this stuff.

The biggest hurdle I feel is in the selling/marketing. If you have just one 30x72, you could conservatively yield 5,400 lbs. That's 540 boxes! (10lb. single layer). Who is your buyer? What if you hit 15lbs per plant? That's 6,750 lbs, or 675 boxes! Those will need a home. Let's say that's over a 20 week season. Thats roughly 27 or 34 boxes per week. Probably beyond most farmer's markets.

Good news is 5,400 lbs at 2.50 is 13,500 in revenue. 6,750 is 16,875. TWO tunnels would be $27k and $33,750.
Then there are the variables like you getting 20lbs or more per plant, and more than 2.50 per pound and those number climb quickly. Plus YOU would be the labor, and the other input costs are not that bad. Talked to a guy late winter that assured me guys in my area should be getting 30-40lbs per plant in HTs. We'll see.

Plan, budget, find your market. Then the rest is follow through and never giving up. I watch a motivational entrepreneur on youtube every week along with a successful farmer to keep me positive and always thinking creative.

This will now conclude the most rambling post on TV I've done. i maybe should have just Pm'd you, but thought others might find this helpful.

[BigVanVader]

Wow thanks PH! Yeah that is what I am trying to figure out...where to sell the tomatoes? I know the grocery store chains buy a lot of local produce here, but that is about all i know about it. I'm sure they need at least a 50% PM to even look at you. I do have other markets I could get into, one being a very upscale high dollar type. The best thing I have going for me is I don't need to make that much starting out. I have very little to pay as I have never had credit cards and usually only buy things if I have the cash. Mortgage is pretty much it other than utility bills. Could you PM me the equipment you bought? I'd like to start getting a plan together.

[pmcgrady]

PureHarvest, great info!
I just got my paper work to fill out for my high tunnel application and like BVV they told me its to late to get it this year, I have a great chance of being approved next year. They printed out a google map of the farm and wanted me to pinpoint where it's going to be and a few other questions, but failed to tell me what Illinois pays a sq ft. Back to their office with a few more questions. They did say they would pay for drainage tile for the run off of water from the high tunnel which I thought was odd.
Any high tunnel kit companies you recommend?

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Thanks Mark, Yeah I get that I need to maximize profit per sq ft. How big is your earliest tunnel? I could always try the wood stove heating like you. Here it really only gets cold a handful of days in March, and Feb was actually warmer than March here this year so I wouldn't need to heat it all the time anyway.

How much earlier do you like to get to market than the majority of typical growers? A month? 2 months? I know I ask a lot of questions and I will learn all this over time I'm sure but I really do look at you as the model to copy Mark.

Glad your getting excited to expand. I start with a 30x72, but would use my 48 footers if they were set up for tomatoes early in the season like I like.
I did look into the hoop house program, but bailed on it because their requirements with growing were too far apart from my model with my greenhouse business. I am into this to make money, and have to do things differently, some things may have changed since, but that's the past now for me. We sell loads of flowers baskets, many kinds of starts, trees, shrubs, etc, etc. You can look at my website to get an idea of my business. My next greenhouse is a Matterhorn for our retail center, our model did good enough for us.
I suggest natural gas heaters, with back up heat to save some cash/ wood, etc, if you can cut your own. When most hoop house guys up here hit the market, I have already reeled in the fans, and if the products good, they come back, again and again. Get your product to the market first, whenever they open, do whatever it takes, you can sell more than you can grow. In July and August everyone has tomatoes, at least that's the case up here. Another bonus for starting early is using cuttings to expand the plant count, I have already taken hundreds of cuttings from the best plants, which are rooted and transplanted waiting for the next GH to be fired up.

Have fun, treat the customers like they are family.

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by AKmark

Glad your getting excited to expand. I start with a 30x72, but would use my 48 footers if they were set up for tomatoes early in the season like I like.
I did look into the hoop house program, but bailed on it because their requirements with growing were too far apart from my model with my greenhouse business. I am into this to make money, and have to do things differently, some things may have changed since, but that's the past now for me. We sell loads of flowers baskets, many kinds of starts, trees, shrubs, etc, etc. You can look at my website to get an idea of my business. My next greenhouse is a Matterhorn for our retail center, our model did good enough for us.
I suggest natural gas heaters, with back up heat to save some cash/ wood, etc, if you can cut your own. When most hoop house guys up here hit the market, I have already reeled in the fans, and if the products good, they come back, again and again. Get your product to the market first, whenever they open, do whatever it takes, you can sell more than you can grow. In July and August everyone has tomatoes, at least that's the case up here. Another bonus for starting early is using cuttings to expand the plant count, I have already taken hundreds of cuttings from the best plants, which are rooted and transplanted waiting for the next GH to be fired up.

Have fun, treat the customers like they are family.

Thanks so much Mark. I guess the ideal target date for me would be April 15th, that's 2 months before any local markets have tomatoes. I learned last year that plants are more profitable than produce and tbh I'm much more interested in having a nursery than being a farmer but I love growing tomatoes and if it can help me get more space to grow starts/baskets it's a win-win. Plus the closest heirloom tomato grower is across the line in NC so I would be the only commercial scale grower as far as I know. I need to get busy studying and take some classes on business planning.

[PureHarvest]

Originally Posted by pmcgrady

PureHarvest, great info!
I just got my paper work to fill out for my high tunnel application and like BVV they told me its to late to get it this year, I have a great chance of being approved next year. They printed out a google map of the farm and wanted me to pinpoint where it's going to be and a few other questions, but failed to tell me what Illinois pays a sq ft. Back to their office with a few more questions. They did say they would pay for drainage tile for the run off of water from the high tunnel which I thought was odd.
Any high tunnel kit companies you recommend?

I use Rimol. Not sure what the freight would be to your area. My freight was about 1k, but they also gave me a 1k discount for buying a kit.
You can also apply to run a pipeline from your well/pressure tank to the high tunnel if your state has that in their list of practices. We also pay for wells, pressure tanks and the shed to house it if you don't have one on site reasonably close to your plot.

[PureHarvest]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

Wow thanks PH! Yeah that is what I am trying to figure out...where to sell the tomatoes? I know the grocery store chains buy a lot of local produce here, but that is about all i know about it. I'm sure they need at least a 50% PM to even look at you. I do have other markets I could get into, one being a very upscale high dollar type. The best thing I have going for me is I don't need to make that much starting out. I have very little to pay as I have never had credit cards and usually only buy things if I have the cash. Mortgage is pretty much it other than utility bills. Could you PM me the equipment you bought? I'd like to start getting a plan together.

BigVan, I don't have everything itemized out on one sheet right now, but will try to get that together for you. Are you talking just the HT? If so, I could scan the invoice from Rimol and send it to you.

[BigVanVader]

I'm most curious about the automated roll-up side kit, automated end wall vents and computer controller. I will need the same since I work full-time.

[PureHarvest]

Here is the page on that. It also has automated motorized shutter vents for both gable ends. They open first, and then the sides will roll up second when the temp get high enough.:

rimol pic_Page_2.jpg

[Cheryl2017]

Yummy. These are very good. Fun plant to grow.

Untitled by breisch2017, on Flickr

Untitled by breisch2017, on Flickr

Thank you Cole for the seeds.

[Barb_FL]

I'm still picking lots of MatSu-Express tomatoes. I can't even imagine how well they would do starting in the long fall season which I will do in August.

It's end of season here so I'm watching to see which non-cherry plant will set the last fruit for the season and Matsu is definitely in the running.

[greenthumbomaha]

Some unexpected news, Mark - My cabin neighbor in Nebraska will be visiting a h.s. friend that now lives in Wasilla; after too many years (40 almost) a class reunion brought them together again. He used to work elsewhere north in Alaska on pipelines, maybe he crossed paths with Worth too.

He'll be there fishing and exploring around and will be gone for most of our tomato season. What is the best production period for grabbing your MatSu tomatoes from end of June thru August. If there are any other "special crosses" tomatoes he can taste while he is there it would be great for him and his host/hostess to taste those too and save some seeds. We are both excited about his trip for obviously different reasons!

- Lisa

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Some unexpected news, Mark - My cabin neighbor in Nebraska will be visiting a h.s. friend that now lives in Wasilla; after too many years (40 almost) a class reunion brought them together again. He used to work elsewhere north in Alaska on pipelines, maybe he crossed paths with Worth too.

He'll be there fishing and exploring around and will be gone for most of our tomato season. What is the best production period for grabbing your MatSu tomatoes from end of June thru August. If there are any other "special crosses" tomatoes he can taste while he is there it would be great for him and his host/hostess to taste those too and save some seeds. We are both excited about his trip for obviously different reasons!

- Lisa

Anytime from now to October will work, we have been sampling tomatoes, and will soon have lots of choices to try.

[greenthumbomaha]

I was so excited the above didn't register as it wasn't on my radar yet. I didn't know you actually sample too. Its hard for farmers markets to sample due to health regulations. Here you need a hand washing sink. Not many outdoor markets meet that requirement.

- Lisa

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

I was so excited the above didn't register as it wasn't on my radar yet. I didn't know you actually sample too. Its hard for farmers markets to sample due to health regulations. Here you need a hand washing sink. Not many outdoor markets meet that requirement.

- Lisa

We always sample lots of tomatoes here at the farm, we have lots of water to wash hands. I send them to the markets, and do not go myself, too busy, I just grow them. We sample them to select for seeds, and customers get a chance to tear into one too, it is a ritual of sorts. LOL