-3- 



You are your oim boss, yet that is an illusion, because when you are boss 

 the responsibilities rest vfith you. If something is done wrong, you, in the end, 

 shoulder the burden. Tour customers and your creditors are your bosses. 



Will orcharding pay financially ? Here the ansvfers range from a deafening 

 NO] to a reassuring YES ; 



Some growers are seriously concerned about their ability to nake a living 

 from orcharding. On the other hand, there are growers who are doing very well 

 financially, 



What are the differences between these growers? 



Let's go over some of the requirements of a successful operation ; 



1, How is your orchard site? Be honest when you ask yourself this. For the 

 best orchardist vail have a hard time on a poor site. If the soil is poor, or 

 you are exposed to frosts, winds, hail more than occasionally, it's a poor bet 



to start. Orchard sites so strongly affect orchard income that putting capital 

 into a poor site is like throwing it away, 



2, The grower himself. Do some soul searching on this one, 



3, Size of unit. Are you big enough to afford machinery and labor and invest- 

 ment in a storage and turn out apples at a fair cost per bushel competitively? 



U» Details, We can lump a number of things under this category, Do you pro- 

 duce good volume consistently? Not too many ups and doims? If not, why? Some 

 small detail such as pollination, or soil management? A consistent volume of good 

 fruit I That to me is the KEY. Have apples and good apples every year. If you 

 are not producing consistently, there is a reason for it and it's your job to 

 find it. 



Fortunate is the grower who has a crop in a "short year". Yet there are 

 growers who consistenly come through vdth better than average crops on these years. 



Keep your operation in tip top shape and v;hen one of these short crop years 

 comes along, you can hit it hard, and put that money back into the operation to 

 enable you to dc it again, 



ViTith production and quality you can't go v^rong. True- you may just coast 

 and squeeze by in a poor market year. You probably would have done better Tdth 

 your capital invested elsewhere. But in a good m.arket year, you should make tetter 

 interest on this capital than it viould do in industry. 



Remember this is not a 2, kj or 6 year adventure. It's a long term propos- 

 ition. Plan it that vray and see hov-r you do over a 10 year period. 



If your apples aren't bringing the top of the market, find out why, and do 

 something about it. 



