2007 Review: 2007 in the aggregate was another good year financially for Kentucky agriculture with farm cash receipts totaling an estimated (UK estimate) $4.22 billion.
2008 Outlook: Assuming normal growing conditions and no major disease outbreaks, farm cash receipts in 2008 are expected to set an all-time record of $4.294 billion! During the past several years rising cash receipts were primarily due to stronger livestock receipts. Next year, however, we expect crop receipts to be up 12% while livestock receipts to decrease 2.4%. The crop receipt forecast is based on what we hope will be more normal growing conditions.
The 2006 Kentucky Produce Planting & Marketing Intentions Survey measured marketing practices and planting intentions of Kentucky fruit and vegetable growers, focusing primarily on commercial vegetable growers. This is the fourth consecutive year this survey was conducted. This year’s survey was returned by 269 produce growers representing 1,814 commercial vegetable acres and 526 commercial fruit acres. This represents a 22% response rate and approximately 23% of commercial produce acreage in Kentucky.
The purpose of the survey is to assess market trends within the nursery industry in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, and West Virginia.
Winegrape acreage in Kentucky has expanded significantly between 2000 and 2004. One of the challenges new grape producers face is finding price information for their crop.
Survey results show buyers giving favorable outlooks for expansion in numerous mainline vegetable crops, especially fresh cut products, peppers, and melons.
The long term impact of the diversification program remains to be seen. New enterprise development takes time and substantial investment by the farmer to make something sustainable.
Purity Foods, Inc. was established more than 20 years ago as a purchaser, exporter, and distributor of bulk organic commodities. The company recognized that bulk organic commodity profit margins were narrowing over time.
Subsector, or industry strategic planning is a potentially useful tool that can be designed to enhance the overall performance and competitiveness of a commodity industry across the industry's inter-dependent vertical segments. Industry strategic planning provides a framework for industry stakeholders to consider future strategic directions and to facilitate needed adjustments and progress on certain issues of common interest.
Industry strategic planning is particularly well suited for facilitating efforts by regional and national commodity industries to enhance their competitiveness in today's business setting, including global markets -- a major objective of industries throughout the world. The paper discusses possible relationships between strategic management objectives and the desirability of subsector coordination and performance. It concludes by presenting ten planning components modified to fit the context of a commodity subsector that need to be considered by those involved in the strategic planning process.
The economics of an innovative long stem rose production system are examined as a specialized perpetual production system as well as an enterprise integrated with other typical greenhouse products. Commercial quality cut roses can be grown in a single stem system from cuttings. Economic considerations integrating seasonal market prices, seasonal energy costs, special capital and labor costs etc. were included in the analysis.
