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A talk I gave on Tractors and implements for the Missouri Organic Association
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Tractors, Implements, Systems
Michael Kilpatrick, Farmer
What are your goals?
Stay small and do farmer’s markets part-time
Run a large CSA
Go certified and produce few wholesale crops efficiently
Every Farm is different!
What is the weak link?
Look at operation every year and see where bottlenecks are.
Or weakness in team?
What is slowing us down, crimping the operation.
opportunity lost cost?
How do we know what we are making money on?
We need to make $40,000 an acre
Also need to make at least $40 an hour picking the crop
Works out to be $4.50 a bed ft
Bed Systems
an acre is 43,560 square ft
All beds are on 72” centers
or 7,260 bed ft per Acre
We grow 4 rows on a bed, 14” apart
Carrots
Yield is 4.25 lbs #1’s for 3 row ft.
NOT including juicers or seconds
that is 5.64 lbs per bed/ft
Beds are 300 ft long=1,692 lbs per bed
24 beds to the acre, or 7260 bed ft per acre = 40, 946 lbs per acre
Sales of Carrots
We retail in quart containers at $3.50 for approximately 1.5 lbs or $2.33 per lb
That equals $95,404 per acre.
at 40, 960 lbs per acre we need around $1 a lb to break-even.
At our normal $1.50 wholesale price we are making $60 k an acre
When can we harvest?
Retail price is 2.33 per lb
divide that into $40,000 per acre and that equals 17,167 lbs per acre, or 0.59 lbs #1 per row ft
bunched carrots are more per # so can harvest earlier
Harvest efficiency
We can harvest 1250 lbs #1 in an hour, 4 crew and the brontosaurus
That is 312.5# per man/hour
a crew of 2 can wash, weigh, and label 296# in one hour, ten minutes or 127# per man hour
we estimate $10 per hour for our workers
Continuing..
3.2 cents to harvest and 7.8 cents to wash
It costs us 11 cents per lb to process carrots, harvest, wash, and pack.
$728 dollars per hour to harvest, $295 to pack.
The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, http://amzn.to/1cynDsA
Don’t grow expen$ive
Cover Crop
Questions every farm should ask
Scale and Goals
How does this fit with my long term plan?
What scale do we want to be on and does this fit with that?
How does this fit with our systems already existing on the farm?
How will this affect our team?
How does this affect, me, the farmer?
How does this affect our crew? What do they think?
What do councilors or mentors think?
What do other farmers using this piece of equipment, technique, or soil type think of it?
Financial Decisions
Do we have the money for it? or do we need to finance this?
Could we borrow, lease or rent this equipment?
How many hours will this save us? Cost us?
What are the numbers on this? Payback, reduced cost per unit of crop, etc?
Financial Decisions
How does this affect the farm financially, or what are the long term liabilities of this decision?
What additional expenses, resources, or time commitments will this purchase/lease incur?
Is a dealer for this equipment readily available? How much do parts cost?
Equipment purchasing
never make a hasty decision
see if you can try it out before buying
double size your equipment, windows of opportunity can be small
Track record of the company
Rainy day or reserve fund
we always have a list of equipment that is on our radar
if the right one comes along we use this money to buy it.
Multi-use equipment
You don’t want an expensive piece of equipment sitting around 363 days of the year.
buying a G over a Super C- depends on scale
share equipment between growers
research, research, research
Mentors
try to find an established, seasoned, grower that you can learn from
be careful of conflict of interest, look outside of your immediate area, or in different sales channels
There is a difference between a good grower and a good business man.
Equipment
Equipment case studies
Vegetable tractors
Tillage work on the farm
important it doesn't break down
responsible for spraying, bed forming, pulling harvesters, transplanters, etc
loader responsible for loading compost, fertilizer, moving equipment, light excavation.
most dealers are clueless about vegetable tractors
important features
telescoping draft links
telescoping hydraulic top link
creeper gear
open operator platform
reverser transmission
narrow tires to fit between beds
JD 5325 Hi-wheel
not enough traction
couldn’t put loader on it
don’t like electro-hydrostatic 3 pt controls
JD 5525 Hi-wheel
Hi-wheel tractors need matched implements
13-6 tires had plenty of traction
again no loader
5325
12.4 tires work great
self-leveling bucket with 3000# rating
creeper gear
reverser transmission
All goes back to scale
both those tractors were too specialized for our operation
if we had had other large tractors both would have worked excellent
3720 John Deere
used as our run-about tractor on the farm
hydrostatic
weighs only 2900 lbs
can lift around 1200 lbs (all bulk bins)
dealer 5 minutes away
Bed Systems
provide a standard system for vegetable production
The wider the bed the less wheel tracks per acre
Allow for machine planting, cultivation, harvesting, air flow
1 row system
4 row systems
5 row system
5 rows for spinach, radish, salad, other small crops (9”)
3 rows beets, carrots, beans (18”)
2 rows broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes (36”)
1 row tomatoes, artichokes (72”)
Cultivation Tractors
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Wish List...
Flaming for early weed control
Flaming basics
• either used for stale seed bedding (before the crop is planted or blind cultivation (before the crop is up)
• idea situation: plant, wait till seeds are germinating but not above the soil yet, flame, seeds come up in weed free bed
• flame midday when plants and ground are dry
• hot as possible
Parsnips just coming up
Transplant House
‘/ |:}} Ω
Mulches
Why Mulch?
• ADDS ORGANIC MATTER!
• stops erosion
• reduces water requirements
• keeps workers and produce clean during harvesting
• Keeps worms happy
Biotello• starts to breakdown within 2-3 months-
gone by spring
• twice the cost of regular plastic($350 for 5000 ft)
• NOT OMRI yet- Certified in Europe, Canada
• has changed the way we farm- we are now adding organic matter easily while growing crops
fmc carrot and beet harvester
Listening to our crew
we have an open door policy
we also try to buy 1 major thing each year for them
important for them to feel like we are listening
bunch line
greens line barrel washer
vegetable washer
tomato area
coolers
in feed
Hudson Valve
Connect with us!
@kilpatrickfarm
Michael Kilpatrick
www.kilpatrickfamilyfarm.com
www.michael-kilpatrick.com
