Should Red currants lose money?
I have 3 types of orchards and they are all on second year
so they are all fully planted, I did all the work on them and kept track of all
the costs. Currently it is harvest time for the red currants and they are
losing money and I don’t see how they will ever make money.
I have two 5 HA plots in Washington, Plot A I left standard
and Plot B I changed over for organic so it has less yield this year and no
bonus.
Plot A is at 93% growth, I harvest around 700 kilo per day
of average size, the AP’s needed to harvest is around 255. Plot B is at 50% growth, I harvest around 320 per day of
small size. The AP’s needed to harvest is around 115
Now when I sell the fruit from Plot A I get around $2700 per
day, it cost me $2550 for AP so I make only 150 per day for a total of $1050
for the season on plot A.( It works out to only .10 per kilo more for the
average berry compared to the small berry.) For Plot B I get around $1270 - $1150 (AP cost) for $120 per
day / $840 for the season. So my total after I subtract the harvest AP’s for the season
will be around $2000 for both plots. My cost for pruning and thinning both
plots was $59000 so I will lose $57000 from Red Currants.
I have tried selling on the market, I get about 50% more for
what sells (I get around$6 on the market and $4 just selling to SA) but I only
sell a very small amount maybe 10kilo per day. They can only be sold at the
markets not wholesale or group seller. And they only last 3 days in storage.
Even if they were organic and I had the same yield, the
$2700 would be $3240 (20% more) I would gain $540 for a total of around $700
per plot / per day. so $4900 for the season per plot but again that would not
cover the cost of $29500 per plot for pruning and thinning.
So I have no idea what to do with these to make money, what
did I do wrong or are they just set up wrong in the game and they just lose
money?