What's A Cuke Worth?

In September of 2010, I took the time to write a blog that looked at the value of one of the many vegetable crops we were raising that year.  There were a few motivations for doing this at the time.  First, I would frequently assess whether we were growing the right amount of any given crop - and one of the ways to do that was to figure out if a crop was contributing financially to the farm in some fashion.  But, I also realized that boiling things down to financial numbers was both more complex than it seemed and it was not the only way to assess what we were growing.

I thought it might be interesting to look at what I wrote then and modify with a few more years of experience and see where it landed.  For full disclosure, we actually removed cucumbers from our production list this season - and we might see a reason for that as we go.

The first thing I often like to do is look at the value of the crop produced.  And, when I say value, we need to remember it isn't always about sales.  For example, I might look at buckwheat and see the value in its ability to suppress perennial weeds that have harmed other crops.  Or, I might add value for a basil crop for its ability to attract pollinators when allowed to bloom.  And I've been known to grow more green beans than we need because it can help with Colorado Potato Beetles in our potato crops.

No matter how I go about it, the process of exploring value is what is important here.  It isn't necessarily important that you uncover everything as long as you feel comfortable that you have enough information to make useful decisions. 

Our numbers from 2010 at the beginning of September for cucumber production were as follows:

• 4200 cucumbers went to the CSA
• 50 were sold at farmers market
• 400 were sold to other outlets
• 1400 were donated to various locations
• 1100 were used on the farm to feed birds, for events, for our own (or our family's) consumption or for promotional usages, etc

That is 7150 cucumbers produced, harvested and used in some fashion or another.  To clarify, our main business in 2010 was the CSA Farm Shares for about 120 members.  Deliveries were done at farmers markets, so we tried to maintain a front table with some extra produce.  One of the issues with that approach was that we only had certain types of produce at the table when we had fulfilled our commitment to the CSA.  That means we only had cucumbers when they were at top production - when every other vendor had cucumbers.  This is not exactly the best way to sell cucumbers at farmers market because you typically make your best sales on the 'edges' of the season!

We usually didn't have much time to pursue other outlets, so we sold what we could that way and we were quite free with our donations to the local food bank.

When we tried to assign values, we used these numbers:

• 75 cents at market
• 50 cent values to cucumbers given to CSA or donated. We figure in these cases that there is a discount because of the ability to move bulk amounts.
• We sell to other outlets in bulk at 40 cents.
• We assign 5 cent value to things used on the farm. There is still value - even if it is used to feed birds (or even compost).

That gives us a value so far of $2900 for this one crop.
This works out to about $4.32 per row foot assigned to cucumbers.

So, how do I feel about those values now?

We can't change the price we charged at farmer's market, so we won't discuss that one - and the bulk price to other outlets is also a constant.  Other than that, the rest was an assigned value based on various estimates.  

The first question, of course, is why did I go with higher values for CSA and donated crop rather than bulk price?  Most years, the CSA value for cucumbers would be lower, but at the point I wrote the 2010 blog, cucumbers had taken a higher than usual proportion of the share volume because some of the other crops were slow due to weather issues.  By the time we reached the end of the year, this value would be much lower because our Fall crops did very well (with the help of a new high tunnel!).

Backing up a little bit, there are two ways I could calculate CSA values for a given crop.  One would be to take the entire income from CSA shares for the year and assign value based on the portion of those shares represented by each crop.  But, that assumes each crop is appreciated in the same way by the customers (hint - they are not). 

The other option might be to consider it another bulk purchase and simply assign that price.  The problem with that is I run into the danger of over-valuing each crop and making the total value actually EXCEED the realized income from the CSA.

In the end, I simply recognize the weaknesses of each approach and go with an informal hybrid of the two.  It is just not worth the time and effort it would take to come up with an exact formulation.  

Why?  There is a point where the returns for the effort of determining exact values are negative.  We just need to get things close enough so we can get a handle on what we are doing and inform future decisions.

So, if I did this valuation process for 2010 now, with all of the data for the year and a few more years experience - what would I do?

I would start with the bulk price for both the CSA and food donations and I'd probably stop there.  I only need some reasonable base values of the crops I am analyzing each season to make comparisons.  I never had the time or energy (or need) to assess every single crop - which makes sense when you have forty or more crops each season.

And, I think I might argue that the 5 cents per cucumber for the rest works out well enough.  Though my gut tells me I am underselling some of the benefits that come from feeding the birds, etc.  My gut also tells me that I am overvaluing these things because I can't readily change them into cash.

But, again THAT IS NOT THE POINT.  If we consistently use the same valuation system, we do not need to make it balance exactly with actual cash.  What we need is to value things for the purpose of comparison so we can evaluate how we are doing with our crop.  Instead of using dollars and cents, we could make up a new unit... call it "whatsits" or "thingies" or something else if it makes you feel better.  It's a unit that we can use on our farm.  Maybe I'll call them GFFs?

After adjustments, our value for the cucumbers in 2010 might be closer to $2500 (or 2500 GFFs)- which would still have been a reasonable return.

Is there other value we missed?

It is a common mistake to miss some intangible benefits that come with a given crop or practice.  The reason for that is that we have a hard time figuring out a monetary value to assign these things.  And sometimes we do it a disservice when we try.

For example, it works well to plant multiple successions of cucumbers AND they can get an early start (or late finish) in high tunnels.  Consistent and long production of a quality crop brings value.  We might be able to assign numbers to that if we really wanted to.  Remember how I mentioned the production "at the edges?"  If you have quality product in the early or late stage of the typical season, it usually can bring a better price - so it can have more value.

So, why don't I use those numbers?  

First, time is valuable too.  So, I was never convinced I needed to do that for this particular crop - though I did try it with lettuce (for example).  And second, I figured edge of the season value averaged out with prime season value.  The end results were only a few dollars (or GFF units) different, so why should I get that detailed?

Here's another example of value we might consider:

Cucumbers mature in 50 to 70 days depending on the variety.  Most melons take 80 or more days to mature.  Many winter squash take even longer.  And, squash bees are the best pollinator for these crops.  

So tell me, doesn't it make sense to get an early planting of cucumbers going to start feeding those squash bees so they are present when the longer season crops need them?  And maybe additional successions of cucumber (or summer squash and zucchini) might help to keep those populations healthy and moving about the farm for future production?

How do you put a value on that?  It's hard enough to actually establish whether or not there is measurable differences in pollination - so there isn't a good way to establish a value easily.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it. 

So, maybe $2900 (2900 GFFs) is still a reasonable estimate for that 2010 crop?

So, what does this crop cost us?

In the 2010 version of this blog, I proceeded to work on the costs for our cucumber crop:

• Seed cost - $62
• We direct seeded these into the ground, so planting cost was low
• Irrigation costs depend on the year. 2010 was wet, so this was minimal
  
• Labor included seeding, cultivation, weeding and harvest.
• Labor for cleaning, packing and distribution.
• Overhead costs, such as fuel for delivery and equipment are split between so many crops that this is not a huge factor.
• The highest cost is labor. 

Estimate of person hour labor spent on this crop = 160 hours.
Assign a value of $10/hour and you have a labor cost of $1600

In 2010, I calculated a net value of $1238 from the crop, not including overhead expense splits.

How have things changed for cucumber production costs?

The biggest change in process over the years was that we moved from direct seeding cucumbers to transplanting them.  We made that move because it increased the reliability of each succession.  After all, there is value in being able to consistently produce a crop (another intangible we often fail to measure).

Otherwise, labor is still the biggest expense.  And, $10/hour doesn't represent the present day labor cost either.  Either way, it is safe to say that the expense per row foot for growing cucumbers has gone up since 2010, if only because the rate per hour is higher.

The price we can get for cucumbers hasn't exactly changed much since 2010 and the cost has gone up.  Our $1200 "profit" on cucumbers would look more like $500 in 2022.  But that assumes we have two things:

1. sufficient labor to grow and harvest the crop
2. sufficient demand for the crop in the markets we have available to us
   

Well, once we hit 2020 (and the pandemic) we no longer had the access to labor we once had.  For that matter, we lost most of the demand too.  Combine all of that with a decreased value over cost per row foot and...

the farm stops growing the crop.

What did we learn over time?

Over a period of ten growing seasons (2010 to 2019) we developed a fairly consistent production system for cucumbers that routinely resulted in quality product in a volume that covered all of the demand we were willing to pursue.  We were also able to devise a system where the failure of one succession rarely resulted in a drop in income for this crop..

In short, what we did worked.  And our analysis of the crop informed the small adjustments we would make from year to year as circumstances changed.

We also determined that investing additional capital into a labor saving piece of equipment (like some version of this) was not going to fit our operation or the future plans for our farm.  We considered, at one point, adding trellising to our cucumber operation to reduce harvest labor costs.  But, we found that would only move labor to a different point in time where we wouldn't have enough of that resource available.

We did make adjustments to our cucumber succession timing and we changed the composition of the varieties we grew in each succession.  As it was, we came to recognize that not all cucumbers could be valued equally.

But that, as they say, is another story for another time.  If you read this far and found some of this useful or interesting, excellent.  If you found it amusing - ok, I can accept that too.  If you skipped to the end to find out how this blog was going to end.  Here you go.

And they all lived happily ever after.