The major expense in asparagus production is the initial cost to establish the crop (Table 4). Major cash expenses at planting are for asparagus crowns or transplants and fertilizer. Other significant costs are labor-related. The cost of maintaining the crop after establishment is less than those incurred in producing many other vegetable crops.
Before planting asparagus, growers should make sure that they have carefully sought out markets for their crop. Keep in mind that with the new hybrid varieties and good field preparation in the planting year, one should expect a yield close to 500 lbs per acre the year after planting. During this first harvest, spear diameters will tend to be small. This may influence their marketability.
Studies show that the average asparagus customer purchases about 10 lbs of retail asparagus per year. A grower would then need about 50 customers to sell one acre of asparagus one year after planting. The second year after planting, one can expect to harvest about 1,000 lbs per acre; the third year, 1,500 to 2,000 lbs; the fourth year, 3,000 lbs; and the fifth year, 4,000 lbs per acre.
During the first and second years after planting, be very cautious in your advertising. First, determine your primary trade area. The primary trade area consists of a 20-mile radius drawn around your farm. You will find that about 75% of your customers who come to your farm live within this area (9). If your farm is located close to a large population center and an ad is placed in a newspaper, you likely will be flooded with customers, especially if there are no other growers located nearby. Running out of asparagus could anger potential customers and affect future sales.
You can avoid this problem by taking orders before harvest begins. It is best to start this process in the early years of production, before yields increase dramatically. Record the quantities of asparagus ordered, and stop taking orders when you have "sold" all your asparagus ahead of time. If you receive other customer orders at a later time, tell them you cannot satisfy their requests this year, but can put their names on your list for next year's orders. In the meantime, you will be building a large mailing list that will help you sell larger quantities in later years as your production increases.
As asparagus yields increase, advertising makes it possible to sell large quantities of asparagus as soon as possible after harvest. This gives the consumer the freshest product available. Word-of-mouth is still the cheapest and best form of advertising. The word will spread once people taste your fresh, high-quality asparagus.
Several fresh-market outlets are available for asparagus. Being close to large population centers is an advantage for direct marketing asparagus to consumers via a roadside stand on the farm.
Asparagus is one of the more difficult vegetables to market by pick-your-own, but success is possible with considerable consumer education and orientation. Adequate field supervision is a must. Customers will need to know how and when to pick. Crop damage and losses can be significant if customers are allowed to walk on the asparagus rows or snap very short spears. Spears not harvested by customers grow tall and fibrous and must be destroyed. Pick-your-own fields must be snapped clean daily to maintain production and avoid insect and disease problems.
One of the worst obstacles facing asparagus growers is the plant's growing habit of sending up many spears with a sudden burst of energy. These are known as asparagus growth "flushes." There is no way of knowing how many growth flushes to expect in a growing season. After these flushes occur, the growers will find themselves with large amounts of spears ready to be sold, often more than can be sold through the farm or roadside market.
Up to this point, direct marketing has been discussed as growers selling on the farm or at the roadside market, or in other words, selling primarily retail to the consumer. Retail selling brings the most profit to the grower with the least amount of added cost inputs.
Selling wholesale is another way of marketing asparagus. Growers should be aware of a few things before undertaking such a venture.
Potential wholesale markets include selling to roadside stands, independent stores, chain stores, vegetable repackers, or terminal vegetable markets. Each of these markets has specific trimming, grading, packing, and handling requirements. They usually want the asparagus to be hydrocooled, which involves showering ice-cold water on the asparagus to remove the field heat before shipping. Some buyers demand this as a condition of sale. Wholesale buyers usually will buy huge quantities of asparagus (tractor-trailer loads) and want that type of volume over a long period of time. Growers should understand these requirements in detail before delivery.
Also, when growers analyze costs such as packaging, cooling, and transportation, the price per pound received is usually very low compared with the price received by the growers who sell retail directly to the consumer with low packing, handling, and transportation costs. The wholesale marketer is usually forced to take whatever price is offered for the product, regardless of the quality.
Large quantities of fresh market asparagus are grown in western states by growers who take a lower price per pound due to the enormous quantity of asparagus they put on the market. Also, the more asparagus there is on the wholesale market at the time you are trying to sell yours, the less money you will likely receive for your product. Supply and demand rule the marketplace as in any horticultural crop.
However, Lash (24) has usually been able to get the wholesale terminal market price plus an average of $2.00 more per carton by knowing what the "market clearing value" of asparagus is. This is the highest price that he can get for his asparagus to be able to sell every last spear. Some of the supermarkets that he sells to know that he has excellent quality asparagus. Because of this, if he asks them to pay him a higher price than the current wholesale price, they will pay him his price and then sell the asparagus for less than what they paid him. The store feels it doesn't want to turn down high quality asparagus. Instead, they want to offer excellent quality to their customers.
The store uses Lash's asparagus as a "loss leader," which is advertised at a low price to attract people into the store, impressing the customers with high quality and low price, and increasing the chances of the customer buying other items while they are in the store. If a grower has "stick-to-it-iveness," he may be able to market his asparagus in this way.
Remember that large plantings of asparagus will require much labor. A 20-acre field of asparagus producing 100 lbs per acre at one harvest equals 2,000 lbs of asparagus to harvest and must be sold very quickly if one does not have cold storage facilities.
Selling small plantings of asparagus directly to the consumer makes it easier for growers to demand the price they want.
Another way of getting a high price for asparagus is to become familiar with the chefs of fine restaurants in the area. Take them some asparagus to sample. They will soon find it superior to any other "trucked in" asparagus that they would be otherwise forced to buy.
Other growers practice what is called "value added" in their enterprise, which involves changing the product and selling it in a way other than in the raw product stage. For example, getting the necessary license to process green or white asparagus by pickling it and packing it in glass jars can command a premium price and will bring off-season income if sold during the winter months. Mail orders are an option here.
Another option for wholesaling asparagus other than selling to wholesalers or chain stores is to investigate the possibility of supplying area hospitals, military bases, nursing homes, local state institutions, or schools. A satisfactory price for asparagus can be obtained, as well as the chance to "unload" some unexpected production during those heavy asparagus growth flush periods. Also, small supermarkets (single or very small chains) have produce managers that tend to buy directly from the grower and are more receptive to locally grown produce.