Special Section: Increasing profits

Striking a balance

How using the right fertilizer and monitoring your crops can increase your profits

By Laura Allen

There’s a fine balance when it comes to using fertilizers. Too much can harm your plants and cost you extra, whereas too little can mean a lower-quality plant. There are plenty of factors to take into consideration in striking the right balance, but if you do it right, you’ll be able to produce high-quality plants and perhaps even save some money. Roger McGaughey, head grower of Pioneer Gardens Inc. in Deerfield, Mass., says he has been able to cut his fertilizer usage in half without sacrificing the needs of his crops.

How is this possible? It begins with your water source.

“You’ve got to consider what your water source is, and then you cater your fertilizer and the crop you’re growing in conjunction with your initial water supply,” McGaughey says.

Pioneer Gardens uses an ebb and flood system, which McGaughey says has allowed the company to cut its fertilizer usage by 50 percent. But being able to make that kind of cut requires heavy monitoring.

“You need to monitor your pH and your EC along the way,” he says. “You need to take soil samples [and] tissue samples along the way to check the plants needs and make sure that you’re turning out the best crop that you possibly can.”

When it comes to choosing a fertilizer, McGaughey says that running trials is the best way to determine what will work for your crops and your growing system. But you need to give the trial your full attention and conduct it properly, or else you won’t find the results you need.

“The trial has to fit in with your large-scale production,” he says. “But if you’re not going to do your trial right, you might as well not bother.”

In the end, the key to having success with fertilizer all comes down to monitoring everything that’s going on with your crops. “If you monitor it correctly, then you can save money,” he says.

Did you know?
Pioneer Gardens Inc. strives to produce plants in an environmentally responsible fashion. Its ebb and flood system helps accomplish this.

Building up profits

Last Resort Farm’s additional structure has allowed the company to increase its winter greens production and its profits

By Laura Allen

Last Resort Farm had been considering adding another greenhouse structure to expand its winter greens production, so when they found out about a program the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) was offering to vegetable growers, they seized the opportunity.

“What really made us decide on doing it at that time was that the NRCS was providing money for vegetable growers to put up high tunnels,” Eugenie Doyle, co-owner, says. “So we did it through their program. It was almost completely funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

Last Resort Farm added a Harnois structure in 2010, which currently houses greenhouse tomatoes.

They chose it based on several factors, including how easy it was to put up, good salesmanship and what other growers recommended.

“We did talk to several other local growers who were very pleased with [their structures],” Doyle says.

She also likes how much light gets into the greenhouse and how sturdy it has been against the weather.

“It’s proven to be very wind resistant,” she says.

Because the company has seen some erratic weather over the past few years, Doyle says having the additional structure to control the environment of the crops has made the company more profitable.

When it comes to choosing a structure, Doyle recommends doing what Last Resort Farm did, and ask around.

“Talk to other growers and go around and look at them, see what people are growing in them, and kind of go from there,” she says. “And I think it’s great to have really excellent resource people. In one case, it’s the manager himself and the other the sales representative. You have to have somebody who knows what they’re doing. [And] have a lot of people on hand when you’re going to put the plastic on.”

Did you know?
Last Resort Farm is a certified organic grower that was originally a dairy farm.

Photos courtesy of Last Resort Farms

Robust Roots

Peat moss serves as ideal medium to ensure healthy root development for broccoli

By Amy Stankiewicz

Les Jardins Paul Cousineau & Fils is a grower specializing in the production, distribution and sales of fresh vegetables that the company distributes to large retailers in Canada and the U.S.

Well-known for its broccoli and cauliflower programs, the family-owned-and-operated firm has found an answer to Quebec’s often harsh winters by opening a California division that enables them to produce broccoli and cauliflower for its customers year-round.

Les Jardins Paul Cousineau & Fils produces 300 acres of transplanted broccoli crops and about 700 acres of direct-seeded crops each year in Canada, says Benoit Coulombe, agronomical coordinator for the company.

The operation uses peat moss for the 28-day growth cycle in the greenhouse, he says, specifically because the media allows air to circulate around the broccoli roots. Consistent porosity results in healthy root growth for the plugs, he explains, something that helps to ensure successful development once the plants are transplanted into the fields.

Thanks to the peat moss medium, “The transplants are very uniform,” Coulombe says, and they grow into high-quality produce for the company’s satisfied customers.

Did you know?
In 2005, the government of Quebec honored Les Jardins Cousineau & Fils with the gold medal of the National Order of Agricultural Merit.

Photo courtesy of Les Jardins Paul Cousineau & Fils