1968 Fruit Farm Business Summary Lake Ontario Fruit Growers

Abstract

This report summarizes the 1968 farm business records of 16 Lake Ontario fruit growers located in Niagara, Orleans, Ontario and Wayne Counties. The records were kept under the Farm Business Management Program sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service. Record keeping assistance and supervision was provided by R. L. Pease, Cooperative Extension Agent, Niagara County, in cooperation with the Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University. The data presented here do not represent the average of all fruit growers in the Lake Ontario region, but the average of a group of fruit growers interested enough in their business to keep good records and take the time to study and analyze them, One of the purposes of business management projects is to teach and encourage farmers to keep better records. A more important purpose is to teach farmers to use the records as a basis for sound management decisions. Each farmer has the opportunity to participate. He should learn good record keeping and learn how to analyze his business. This should enable him to use more effectively the economic and management information available from many sources, including the farm management program offered by Cooperative Extension. Some of the data from the 1967 Lake Ontario Fruit Summary is included this year for comparison purposes, 1968 was not as good a year as 1967 for most New York State fruit growers. The apple crop of 20 million bushels was the shortest in five years. Only the 1968 peach and cherry crops were larger than in 1967.