hey y'all farmer Dre back at it today
I'm explain to you guys how y'all could
turn Tomatoes it's a big profits
[Music]
so we didn't take into manage for a
while these come this these bottom boxes
here come out of this tunnel
they've been slowing down but I think
they picked the right over about a
thousand pounds and then just this high
total here is coming on pretty strong
now we got a lotta these other girl
count on gold in here and this high
tunnel the weeds kind of took over I
didn't point out plastic now so we got
three rows red deuce and uh Caroline I'm
gold and this one we got to finish her
off and then we'll see how many pounds
of picking total
[Music]
all righty so this is today's picking
there's 43 half bushel boxes here the
average about 30 pounds of box so
forty three times 30 x12
close to the 1300 pounds right under
running a 1,300 pounds flat states
picking one day we got to high tunnels
this smaller high tunnel implants in May
first is produced probably more than
half of those tomatoes and this one
playing the March first word pict o
verse 2,000 pounds out of here
we picked about another six seven
hundred pounds out of this one and
there's a sellout of green ones are
still firing so a lot of tomatoes
everything's have been healthy we've got
a little bit of a white fly issue but
the white flies don't really hurt the
fruit so not going to do nothing about
it it's just the plants either be nice
and healthy so yep yep 1,300 pounds this
morning all righty so before I get to
talking about how you turn Tomatoes into
profit I wanna show you guys a little
bit of the history of our farm and how
we got starting to do in produce where
we are originally an apple and peach
orchard we have about 20 acres of
orchard and then we my parents bought
the orchard six years ago in November
2013 and then in 2014 was our first
season of doing the orchard and stuff
and that's that's a story for all the
time we knew nothing about fruit trees
and stuff and anyways tomatoes so we
started doing farmers markets spring of
2016 our first time ever doing a farmers
market we started one on the one of the
big bigger cities around here at
Springfield and we start off with
peaches and apples and then slowly
realizing that you know all the produce
vendors would come to the markets would
go home with pretty much nothing every
single Saturday so then we started doing
another farmers markets it started
expanding so we currently do about 10
farmers markets a week counting you know
- pretty much - every day and then on
Saturdays we do another two but then we
have a farm stand off of our main
highlight here highway 13 it is open six
days a week and we have a farm store
here on the orchard or people could come
up here we do a lot of you pick on the
apples and peaches so people come onto
the farm and in our first few years we
were buying in tomatoes from a local
produce auction we have here from the
Amish and you know sound a lot of
tomatoes you realize
you know why can't why can't we do our
own tomatoes so then we had to go to
farmers market so he talks a lot of
farmers who have these high tunnels and
stuff and talking to them we found out
that the NRCS gives out equipped high
tunnel grants trying to help out small
farmers or costantino expand their
season you know a month earlier in the
spring in the fall so we got interested
and signed up so then in fall of 2017 we
put up our first high tunnel this one
right here and then in 2018 F grew my
first crop of tomatoes and iGrill Road
cucumbers and after growing them we
tried a few different varieties and then
all the tomatoes that I grew I sold out
within a few days after I picked them so
we're like wow the demand is there for
tomatoes you know people like our
Tomatoes and you know talking on you
know on selling them social media really
helped out you know us selling a lot of
tomatoes my brother he's in charge of my
social media and he does a lot of that
for us so then he started posting it all
the time videos you know pictures of us
having tomatoes and the other stuff we
have on the farm and people like to see
the started liking the process you know
I've seen me planting the seed too you
know growing the plants and then finally
harvesting so our first season
20:18 of tomatoes we literally sold out
i grew over 5,000 pounds out of this
tunnel and it's the only tunnel we had
and i sold out so i was like i was like
man people would like our tomatoes on
our products so then last this spring
this fall the winter we built the height
greenhouse in the second one so first of
all you know it to be profitable
tomatoes you got to have the demand for
it you got to have you got to know if
your market actually desires you having
tomatoes so that's a little backstory
how we got started to doing produce and
now we only grow tomatoes and we do a
lot of fill the vegetables and stuff
it's just first you got to find out if
your market needs you and your tomatoes
okay so i forgot to mention there are
our first season that grew up six year
old tomatoes and we grew the determinate
varieties and they all produced that one
so we have tomatoes for about six or
seven weeks and then that ended about
the middle of August and then the August
through through the fall time we had no
more Tomatoes we had to start bringing
them in and stuff so then we couldn't
solve farmers markets and people wanting
my product one of my tomatoes gonna tell
them hey look you know that I lived
learn every time so now we do a lot of
different succession plantings you know
we started this height on the 1st of
March
then we did started out on the first
maid then we started the planted all the
field production first of June and then
I actually just started a bunch more
tomatoes and on these high tunnels in
the NRCS we did get another little we
got a proof for another one so it's
actually sitting on the palace factor we
got to set it up on in the next few
weeks so by the end of the season we'll
have three high tunnels here and I'm you
know just looking at the numbers and how
much these tomatoes produce and how much
money to make well I'm just saying about
just buying one out of my own pocket and
building on cuz it's worth the money you
know and I'm gonna get to talking how
much do these two minutes produce and
how much we make weekly off these
Tomatoes so well I just talked about a
little bit about the demand and you got
to find your market second thing is
pricing 100% pricing people always you
know talked about farmers things like in
my opinion they're getting gypped off by
the customers because customers are
always complaining well you're too
expensive well if you go to the grocery
store you pay what a dollar fifty dollar
seventy-five for a pound of tomatoes
that are pick green and shipped in from
who knows where you know three four
thousand miles you know and they taste
like garbage and then they come to you
and taste your product and they say you
got the best tomatoes they ever taste it
so pricing is very important we sell our
number one tomatoes the number ones are
nice perfect not a scratch on a bruise
on them for three dollars a pound and
then with seven seconds for two dollars
pound and the seconds are pretty good I
mean it's just another little bug mark
whatever scratch pack whatever so it's
just pricing you know you got to you got
you've got to see what your market
something that we sell my three dollars
a pound
early on like the month of you know the
end part of May when we start picking in
through June we some have 350 pound
because you know we got a you know got
to pay the all the would you bring in
and you know if you're heating with
propane you got to be able to pay off
because you're starting early very early
tomatoes so it's just pricing is key
whenever you come and when it comes down
to the numbers and that's a lot of you
know a lot of people don't realize but
if you're selling for 250 pound you're
number ones and you sell hundred pounds
and I'm selling for three dollars a
pound
you just lost $50 at 100 I had 100
pounds so that's 50 couple more dollars
that I made that you didn't make so if
you're not selling your Tomatoes at top
you know at top market price you're
gonna be losing money no matter what and
there's always gonna be the people
saying you're always gonna be
complainers you know saying well you're
pressed too expensive so let them go to
your neighbor you know you don't need
your
that kind of customer base but you know
whenever they taste your quality in the
flavor of your Tomatoes then they'll
probably come back and be customers for
the rest of your life because you just
have the best quality tomatoes in the
farmer's market and then to have the
best quality Tomatoes you could possibly
have it comes down to the variety in my
opinion and you know some growing
methods but mainly the variety and the
varieties that we found to have the best
flavor very easy to grow grower friendly
are these red ones they're called red
deuce and we get them from up a Morgan
County seed I know Harry's seeds carries
out a lot of different seefs seed
suppliers carry them and we've tried
them and they're they're our favorite
variety grow so this is in the high
tunnels that's the only variety of red
tomatoes we've grown and then we also
grow a roll with the yellow tomatoes
they're called Carolina gold very easy
to grow to put out on a good nice nice
sized real good flavor tomato and they
put out a good quality tomato real good
flavor so that's why you could charge
you know the top quality market price
because you have a really good flavor
rate variety and most most people are
farmers market they don't want to admit
to it but they buy with their eyes you
know you saw prompter eyes whenever you
have rural shining good-lookin tomatoes
go to rather buy back from you then
let's say some of that grows you know
other varieties that don't look as good
so now for the moment you guys all been
waiting for is this probably guys you
get why you guys clicked on this video
is how we make $5,000 a week selling
tomatoes and sell them that tomatoes we
sell about 1,500 to 2,000 pounds a week
of tomatoes and that's spread out
through different farmers markets farm
stands we sell at like I said 10
different farmers markets not at all the
formulas we sell tomatoes there's a few
we don't but my brother Val he has a
produce stand out of south springfield
he sells about 100 120 pounds of
tomatoes a day and he's open 6 days a
week we saw you know part of it here at
farms run or a farm stand and then that
farmers markets so we saw anywhere from
1,500 to 2,000 pounds a week of tomatoes
that's nice number one tomatoes at three
dollars a pound so that converts
converts into you know five to six
thousand dollars a week just on tomatoes
itself and whenever you're growing them
the profit margins are just huge you
know it probably cost you I haven't done
the math yet but you know
20 to 30 cents a pound to grow them and
then your profit margins are huge and
and as you guys just turned me talk you
know the call comes out to see if your
market actually want your tomatoes and
you know if you could be able to sell
them and the way you grow them so it's
just that's how we grow tomatoes here on
a farm and that's how about that's about
roughly how how much money we make week
just off tomatoes and tomatoes overall
are there they're really good money
maker you know if you're looking to you
know make some summer you meet summer
summer have a summer job or do some in
summer time tomatoes is the way to go
ready so another thing I forgot to
mention when you have a lot of tomatoes
like we've been having will be picking
about 4,000 pounds a week now for for
the past three to four weeks now another
big thing is storage if you're gonna
have so many Tomatoes you gotta be able
to store them so works throwing the
tomatoes and here they're at 58 degrees
now and they're so pretty good the
tomato variety the red deuce if you put
them in the right temperature at 60
degrees they still have the amazing
flavor the amazing quality and they
store for about two weeks and then they
start getting mushy and soft but just
like other than any other produce so
storage is very important and even comes
to because you can't just all sell them
on three or four days and to keep them
at least keep in the warehouse and the
warehouse you know and we have big fans
running as you guys saw my previous
videos it still gets really hot in there
you know eighty nine ninety degrees and
outside we've been getting close you
know ninety-five if starting to feel
like hundred degrees out here but it
hasn't in 100 agrees yet so it's just
you gotta have somewhere to store the
tomatoes her if you're gonna have so
many so we're think when we have the
bill box trailer then I just backed up
Val's produce trailer next to warehouse
I plugged it in into 110 probably just
gonna go ahead and show you guys that
so we could start storing Tomatoes next
the warehouse instead of this big thing
so storage is also very important so
this is the Leaford box trailer my
brother Valens when you bought that
produce stand that came with it
16-foot cargo trailer here we just
backed up to the warehouse here so he
put out Tomatoes
we actually got put all those in there
whenever it cools off so and it's
electrical power so we just pulled it
into this outlet out here the receptacle
and it's just pull bar there and
hopefully have nicest or tomatoes in
here so that's enough of me talking now
we actually have to go in the field down
there the actu actually steak or fill
tomatoes because the plants are getting
big and we have reread that time there's
been a winter it's been raining at Taste
overcast so it's just you know matter of
getting it done and we do so many things
here on the farm that you know and it's
just me my brother and if the other farm
hands we have here that we hire on that
actually does do the work so it's just
it takes our time and then for us we got
to do a lot of the farmers markets
ourselves so you know like a quick you
guys probably saw my previous videos we
only do about five or six hours a day
work on actual work on the farm and the
rest were packing for farmers markets
doing other thing so now we got a head
in the field and state those tomatoes
see you guys stay tuned and more
Tomatoes so we started taking the things
down we got them just putting every two
plants here so I'm doing now is I'm
coming through finding two plants in
between them kind of separate knees
because they got all tangled up and
stuff there we go
with this on this side
then finding the drip tape making a hole
in the plastic like this so I'm get the
drip hit then I get a post here anyone
put it in there get the post driver and
beat it in
[Music]
[Music]
all righty so we just got done staking
this first row here managing middlemen
and then we tied up the string and if
you guys want to see how we did that
while you guys had to subscribe to my
channel because that's a bit different
video for a different time it's probably
in tomorrow's video or next time I
posted videos how to stake field
Tomatoes I'm gonna show you guys the
whole process how to do it and talk
about how we fertilize our field
Tomatoes non-autistic good stuff so but
today I kind of experience you guys
humming Tomatoes we could do selling you
know one week and yet all the good stuff
you know all the all the fancy numbers
that's what people like to see these
numbers because it's see if it's worth
it if not so tomatoes are definitely
worth it for us this is why we still
have five rows of these filled Tomatoes
here and you guys see they're starting
to turn here so as if you guys saw my
previous video I kind of gave my rural
opinion about filled Tomatoes I'm not
too big of a fan to fill tomatoes but we
went ahead and planted these because I
got told you guys just extra plants we
think we couldn't we didn't sell and we
just went ahead and planting on his
black plastic so you know we got a we we
don't throw nothing away everything goes
to and we use everything around here so
we're planning on doing with these is
doing a you pick tomato garden people
come out to our farm and pick tomatoes
because there's there's just too many
out here too many tomato plants and we
do sell out but this high tunnel is
still producing and anyway I started
like I told you guys that I started
another batch of tomatoes that are gonna
go in and the new high tunnel install so
these these these tomato varieties are
all mixed in we got big beefs better
boys all the other you know basic
varieties we do sell and they're all
indeterminate so hopefully by the time
they're frosting alone in the fall these
will be you know these are about four
and a half foot tall probably hopefully
by the time they frost the frost comes
in the fall these would be you know
doctors tongue full of tomatoes so
overall the trials are looking pretty
nice and we're seriously getting some
stuff done if we should have done this a
long time ago but it's never too late so
alrighty I think that's gonna be pretty
much it for today I kind of explain to
you guys you know how what goes down
here on a farm on the business side this
is
form channel right I kind of show you
guys the process of how I do stuff but
knowing the numbers and stuff and you
know kind of sharing that is good for
people who want to get in this industry
because you know we could use a lot more
local farmers here honorarium or
anywhere you know local produce is
always going to be hot it's always going
to be top product to sell because it's
fresh so that is going to be pretty much
it for today if you guys haven't already
go ahead and hit that subscribe button
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and we just I just get stuff done here
on our farm you know we got the 20 acres
of apples and peaches we got a that acre
blackberries we just planted we got to
come to him trellis mean Val are
actually gonna go in the shop and work
on designing the trellis from out of
steel so much this projects going on and
on all the time so you guys you guys are
interested in that stuff don't forget to
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channel join the journey here on the
farm and that's gonna be pretty much it
for today I want to say thanks for
watching up to this point you guys have
a good day and we'll see you next time