Some say that personal transformation work is like peeling layers of an onion - perhaps because doing so can cause one to cry.  I say that understanding the economics of farming is also like peeling layers of on onion.  I would also say that at times farming is as much about personal transformation as it is about growing food.  Like personal transformation, attempts to grow food for a living can also make a person to cry.  Nonetheless, the humble onion can serve as a metaphor that illustrates the levels of complexity inherent in farming.
 
One of our farmer role models describes farming as nothing more than an occupation of materials handling.  Indeed, we have come to realize that  the business of growing food is as much about efficient material handling as it is about horticulture.
 
With about 35% of our gross revenue going directly to paying wages, the efficiency with which we handle a crop is literally the difference between making or losing money on that crop.
 
A myriad of factors determine if a crop planted in the spring will increase or diminish the farm’s net profit by autumn.  The labour and inputs that go into each crop during propagation, transplanting, direct seeding, fertilizing, weeding, irrigating, harvest, wash, and marketing all play a part in the profitability of the crop.  Further, disease, pests, weed pressure, frost, and post-harvest handling only serve to complicate the equation.
 
Most market farmers evaluate the profitability of a given crop in the context of both time & space.   We constantly look at the 25+ crops we grow at Sleepy G Farm through the lens of both time and space requirements for the crop to get a general sense of profit potential.  I say “potential”, because the aforementioned variables plus material handling have the ability to turn a potentially profitable crop into a total loss very quickly.
 
Regarding the “time continuum”, we start by assessing how much time is spent establishing the crop in the field.  Crops like tomatoes, celery, peppers, and onions are all started indoors long before the snow disappears.  There is a significant amount of labour spent handling potting mix, sowing seeds in trays, watering and fertilizing the seedlings until they are ready to be planted outside.  When that time finally comes there is a significant amount of labour to actually transplant the tens of thousands of seedlings every spring.
 
Also along the “time continuum”, we consider how many days or weeks the crop will need to grow before it is ready to harvest.  Crops that mature in 42 days tend to be a lot more profitable than those that require 110 days of growing.
 
Some crops are rather needy and require a lot of our time while they grow.  Examples of this include weeding, irrigating, trellising, pruning, and the application or removal of floating row covers.  The more time we spend tending to a crop the less profitable it is likely to be in the end.
 
Finally, there is the amount of time required to harvest and wash before distributing to our CSA members.  Crops like fresh herbs are very quick to harvest and wash.  On the other hand leeks, beans, peas, and salad mix are very time consuming.
 
Along the “space” continuum we need to consider how much space a crop requires to grow and what the revenue potential might be for the acreage of a given crop.  The revenue potential is a simple calculation of yield per row foot multiplied by the retail value per unit.  But it is never quite that simple as factors such as weather, pest pressure, weed pressure, fertility, and management decisions all have a direct impact on the actual yield realized.  By far the biggest detractor from yield is weed pressure.  Incidentally, weed pressure has a direct impact on both the time and space continuums as weedy crops are drastically slower to harvest.  Moreover, weedy crops will be starved of nutrients and water resulting in a yield reduction.  For that reason weed control is our number one priority during the growing season.  A farmer’s ability to manage weeds is literally the difference between making money, or losing money on a crop.
 
The multitude of factors (both inside and outside the control of the farmer) that impact each crop will determine if that crop will earn a profit for the farm that season.  I can’t emphasize enough how vast the difference can be.  Over the last 10 years we have seen a given crop make us money one year, only to lose us money another year.  The difference often comes down to the efficiency with which we handle the crop.
 
If there is one crop that demands near-perfection in virtually every aspect of its cultivation in order to be profitable it is onions.  Onions are the very first thing that is started indoors in March.  An enormous amount of labour goes into transplanting to the field in the spring.  Onions are very sensitive to competition for nutrients and water from adjacent weeds and therefore demand excellent weed control.  They require the entire length of the growing season to reach maturity, which means there is zero opportunity to harvest a second crop from the same space during the growing season.  By contrast, lettuce which requires on average 42 days to grow, presents an opportunity for the grower to plant a different crop either before or after the lettuce is planted in the same space.
 
From a material handling perspective onions are heavy and bulky to handle plus they require an additional step of “curing” prior to storage.  Curing onions is a process that involves blasting heated forced air across them for a week or more in order to prepare them for storage.  Curing is an additional post-harvest step that requires extra handling plus an expensive input (propane).  Finally, the retail price on onions is low which means there is a very slim margin to work with.  Inadequate fertility, irrigation or weed control, or inefficient handling of the crop from transplant to harvest will almost guarantee the crop is not profitable.
 
I like to imagine layers of skin in the onion itself as a metaphor for the complexity of factors that we as farmers juggle each growing season.  The various factors that impact the potential profitability of a crop are considered along both the time and space continuums.  Only once the layers have been peeled back to the core of the crop can we farmers judge its profitability at the end of the growing season.
 
We are very pleased to say that our 2019 onion crop was a success!  The yield was the best we’ve had on this crop to date.  Plus, the onions are keeping very well in storage because of the extra attention paid to soil fertility in the spring as well as a great system used to properly cure the onions prior to storage.   While onions will never be a very profitable crop for us to grow we do enjoy growing them and more importantly we love to eat them!  We hope that you continue to enjoy the beautiful onions and shallots for the remainder of the winter.