590 



SHALL I BE A FRUIT GROWER? 



tain fixed costs in all the agricultural industries which vary 

 little, one from the other. On the other hand, the prices which 

 farmers get for their products may vary considerably among 

 those items which are produced for sale. 



The price of peaches in a given year may be fairly high 

 because of a late frost in Georgia while a surplus of apples 

 may have caused the unit value of that crop to be low. Even 

 more pronounced may be the spread existing between fruit, 

 truck crops, and dairy products. It must be remembered that 

 these differences in price are yearly phenomena. All agri- 

 cultural products tend to follow each other in price relation- 

 ships over a long period. It is doubtful that any one crop 

 possesses any particular advantage over a long span of years. 



Diversification. This brings us to the consideration of the 

 advisability of planting more than one crop. The advantages 

 of such a program are twofold. 



1. It gives the young orchardist who is planting his own 

 orchard an opportunity to derive some cash income until his 

 trees reach the bearing stage. 



2. It contributes considerably to uniformity of income by 

 reducing the risk of crop failures and low prices. 



Diversification tends to take some of the gamble out of 

 fruit raising. The grower is not ^'putting all his eggs in one 

 basket." However, there are some factors which tend to 

 limit the number and types of enterprises which a farmer can 

 handle economically. Care must be taken to choose those 

 enterprises which do not confiict with one another in receiving 

 the attention which they demand. The units must be large 

 enough to permit economical operation. The commodities to 

 be produced should be ones which can be raised profitably in 

 the area. Many fruit growers in western New York raise 

 feeder lambs and beef cattle, not because the return from 

 these enterprises is high but because they are making a little 

 money this way that would not be obtained otherwise. In- 

 direct benefits may be derived even though no actual cash 

 profit is made. 



