The Economic Viability of Commercial Fresh Vegetable Production in the Northeastern United States

John W. Wysong, Mary G. Leigh and Pradeep Ganguly

Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council, 1984, vol. 13, issue 01, 8

Abstract: The Northeast region with nearly 25 percent of the U.S. population and purchasing power in I 983 is a deficit regioa in both processing and fresh market vegetable crops. This study explores the underlying factors in the long post-World War II decline in Northeastern vegetable production. It evaluates the economic viability of small-scale, family operated vegetable farms with emphasis on Maryland and the Baltimore-Washington Wholesale Market outlet near Jessup, Maryland. Preliminary results of our study indicate that, under certain conditions, small-scale fami ly farms can grow and commercially market fresh-market vegetables at competitive prices, and generate healthy cash flows. The optimum mix of crops would include up to three, non-competing crop sequences, with four different vegetable crops including spinach, snap beans, tomatoes and broccoli. Family (owner-operator) labor was found to be a major resource constraint on volume of vegetables marketed, especially tomatoes. Potentials for future expansion in selected crops seem to exist with improved technology and better management.

Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics; Crop Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1984
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/159498/files/The%20economic%20viabiliity.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:nareaj:159498

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.159498

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council from Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().