Profitable Crop

Profitable Crop Productions LLC was created with the goals of producing high quality plants and produce for local consumption, disseminating production related information to those who may benefit, and helping those in need with their commercial production efforts. A principal goal of the founder after graduation was to set out and provide high quality local plants and produce in a sustainable fashion to as many communities as possible. Now realizing that there are so many production challenges for producers to mitigate, our mission now includes providing solutions to the problems emerging on the horizon and helping growers manage some of the issues related to water efficiency, water quality, crop production, etc. Today this is more or less known as sustainability. We embrace the notions of sustainable horticulture, sustainable agriculture, and vertical integration to do as many things in house as possible which lightens our footprint, reduce costs, and streamlines operations. With the constant changes taking place in the production setting regarding resource management, regulations, the environment, and the like, it is imperative that producers remain progressive taking advantage of all the tools available to them which can help in keeping input costs minimized and crop production optimized.

Our knowledge and experience is available to help you be successful.

Let Profitable Crop Productions LLC help you achieve your crop production goals
efficiently, cost effectively, and most importantly profitably!

Coming from possibly the last era of "Ornamental Horticulture" at Cal Poly, SLO., a great deal of emphasis in study was placed on floriculture and greenhouse production. This included much work related to propagation and ultimately nursery stock preparation. During the transition from traditional OH, an emphasis has been placed more on Environmental Horticultural Science which ties more production related disciplines together. In the final phase of study at Cal Poly, much work went into the study of Hydroponics (growing crops in water without soil), crop pest management, and greenhouse vegetable production. After finishing study, and applying the skills learned, interest has shifted to include subtropical fruit crops such as avocados, citrus, wine grapes, and other specialty crops.

So Far Profitable Crop Productions LLC has personally dealt with these crops:

Poinsettias Orchids Roses Carnations Mums Alstromerias Tulips Lilies
Gerberas Snapdragons Ornamental & Nursery Plants Tomatoes
Cucumbers Peppers Melons Lettuce Olives
Avocados Citrus Wine Grapes Guavas
Cherimoyas Macadamia Nuts
Blueberries

- On the horizon -

Dragon Fruit, Passion Fruit, etc.
Bio Fuel Crops

Services and rates have been posted to give rough ideas. Numbers are subject to change. Inquire for a site visit and/or quote for any service you may be interested in! Profitable Crop Productions LLC will attempt to match similar prices for similar services. Price matching may be a possibility, but we will not sacrifice quality to beat a price. After all, our goal is to get your input costs as low as possible while maintaining profitable production!

Commercial production should be considered a business investment and treated as such. If an operation is well managed it can be highly profitable.

Below are some basic services and their associated rates.
Our programs work. You get results for your money.

Grove Management:
1) Complete Irrigation Management: $55/acre/month
2) #1 + Complete Crop Fertilization Management: $65/acre/month
3) #2 + Disease/Pest/Weed Monitoring Possibly w/ Rec's: $75/acre/month
4) #3 + Pruning Program + Harvesting and Marketing Assistance: $85/acre/month

Weed Abatement: Depends on job, inquire for quote
Canopy Management/Pruning: Depends on job, inquire for quote

Site Consultations:
Hourly Rate: $50-$150/hour depending on service

Technical Services:
Hourly Rate: $10-$150/hour depending on service
Fixed Rates: Depends on size of property, sample #, etc. Inquire for quotes

Site Visits

Site visits are the first place to start for any of the services offered. From a single site visit, a lot of information can be learned and a basic evaluation can be made. Depending on the service, site visits typically will range from 1 hour up to 4 hours. The shorter time frame is typical for quick services where the job is known ahead of time. The longer times tend to be consultations where lots of information is being conveyed or when there is simply more work to be done. Either way, it always helps to have a second pair of eyes to see things on site and then we can see exactly what we are dealing with. Feel free to contact us and let us know what type of situation you have and we can set an appointment for a site visit.

Site Planning

Site planning can include initial site preparation work regarding irrigation and fertilization system layouts, automation options, plant layout design, site preparation, etc. It pays to have a great plan which will avert any unforeseen issues well ahead of actually doing any work. Time is truly money, and with commercial production which can be expensive, it is best to spend money wisely by doing things correctly. Cutting corners or failing to do things properly often cause more damage than good, and can be costly. There are plenty of people with great experience which can save others plenty of time. As with other industries, it takes time to learn how to be a successful producer, it pays to seek advice to close the information gap.

System Retrofits

Let's face it, things are never perfect. This is definitely the case with many commercial operations which can stand to do some improvements. When things get installed incorrectly or simply age, and when old practices and equipment become outdated it usually calls for a change. This can include irrigation and fertilization equipment and even new crop management technologies such as automated irrigation controllers, soil moisture sensors, etc. Profitable Crop Productions LLC models its programs around the utilization of crop production technology and will be happy to help those in their goals to become as efficient as possible. Sometimes, to do things truly efficiently, things need to be done over from a fresh start, other times things can be patched up with not too much work, this is where the retrofit process comes in. Retrofits can go quickly taking only a few hours, or they can even last up to a couple weeks or longer depending on the job.

Property Rehabs

Sometimes it seems like there may be no hope for a particular property. That is not always the case. Many times properties are in bad shape mostly due to mismanagement or by doing things incorrectly over time. Fortunately most properties can be looked at like a clean slate with the proper plan, good management, and some money to spend. This approach needs to be looked at as an investment from this point as there is usually a lot of work that needs to be done to bring a property into order. With a crop such as the avocado, there is not really room for mistakes, as the crop only reveals it has been stressed when the damage is done, and it takes potentially a 2-3 years to get a property back into profitable production. With some money to invest and with a few years time, even some of the worst properties have been brought back into excellent health and production. The main rehab work for avocados is going to be clearing or stumping an old and possibly diseased grove, retrofitting or replacing the irrigation and fertilization systems, and then replanting with new trees and going into a good management program. We can help with all of this.

Crop Management

Sometimes the best approach to success is to let a successful company lead the way for you. This can have multiple benefits. It saves a person the time of learning how to properly manage challenging crops and is usually cost effective considering the experience and assistance being received. Costs are always rising, and when costs rise, if old management styles are not changing as well, there is usually room for improvement. Efficiency is key to maintaining a profitable operation, and this all ties into how a crop is being managed from day to day, week to week, month to month, and in the case of a crop such as the avocado, year to year. For any commercial production system, management is key. Profitable Crop Productions LLC can help you manage any crop big or small. Management services range from basic irrigation, to full scale management programs where all the work to produce and market the crop is taken care of.

Pest Control Advising / Best Management Practices / Good Agricultural Practices

Commercial crop management is an ongoing perpetual process which needs plenty of attention to stay dialed in and remain successful. Crops are typically under plenty of environmental and cultural pressures which people are not usually conscious of. This is typically unacceptable in a commercial production situation because when plants are under pressure, the production suffers, management costs are incurred, and profits decline. Again with proper management, many of these pressures can be mitigated. The main production pressures are plant diseases, plant pests which includes weeds, and environmental stresses such as heat, wind, etc. A Pest Control Advisor or PCA is an advisor licensed by the California Department of Pesticide Regulations (CDPR), and one who is considered an "Agricultural Authority" in the areas for which one is licensed. Profitable Crop Productions LLC can currently make recommendations regarding WEED MANAGEMENT, and PLANT PATHOGENS such as avocado root rot. PCA's are very helpful in difficult situations and even everyday situations, but this brings up the concepts of Best Management Practices (BMP's) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). BMP's and GAP are management strategies designed to help manage and mitigate any potential production problems from occurring in the first place by prevention and using proper cultural practices which have been proven for success. We can help you with any sort of cultural issues you may be dealing with by helping to provide solutions and techniques to better manage the situation. With proper management, weed problems, diseases and pests, canopy management issues, and many other things can be controlled to where only maintenance work may be needed from year to year or crop to crop. With poor management, problems quickly get out of hand and require drastic measures be taken to get things back under control.

Irrigation

Irrigation is quickly becoming the most important aspect of an operation. This is mainly due to the cost of water, but even so water should be used wisely in commercial production regardless of cost simply for production reasons. A crop does not perform well unless it is properly irrigated. If water is not correctly supplied to the crop through the growing season, then production suffers. To irrigate crops properly it is essential to have a finely tuned irrigation system that applies water uniformly (distribution uniformity) to the crop and is flexible enough to meet the water requirements of the crop during peak demand. When an irrigation system is in good working order, most other crop related irrigation work is tied to management. Management dictates how much water is applied to a given crop, and how often this water is applied. That being said, irrigation is a 2 fold system: the actual irrigation system itself, and then how that system is utilized to irrigate the crop. It is important to have a good understanding of both. No matter what your situation, Profitable Crop Productions LLC has Certified Agricultural Irrigation Specialists who know what they are doing and can help you get where you need to go. Whether you need a minor system repair, a system retrofit, irrigation management, or just a consultation, feel free to contact us to assist.

Fertilization

Aside from Disease & Pest Management and Irrigation, crop fertilization is probably the next most important aspect for commercial crop production. Commercial production systems are geared at pretty intense production demands. This production requires resources which are not typically found available in most situations and when soils have been over worked, mismanaged, or farmed for long periods of time. In any case, crop fertilization is what drives production and is what gave rise to the agricultural revolution. Without fertilizers we would not produce as much food as we do worldwide, and we would not have all our ornamental horticultural plants we all love come the holidays, etc. That being said, it is important to use them wisely. They are production tools which are also becoming expensive and which can cause harm when misused. Misuse of fertilizers can cause damage to crops themselves as well as to the environment when they are overused or irrigation is not managed well. From fertilization system installations, to custom tailored fertilization programs, Profitable Crop Productions LLC specializes in fertilizers and can ensure that you strike a balance of efficiency when it comes to getting what the crop needs at a cost effective and competitive price.

Canopy Management

Floricultural and potted plant crops need to be trained to achieve the appearances we most know. Without proper training plants will take on shapes which may be natural, but not ideal for commercial production. In Horticulture, this is the concept of topping, disbudding, thinning, using plant growth regulators, etc. In Agriculture, this involves actively managing the growing crop to achieve the same goals, balance within the whole system for both resources, and physical appearance so that the crop production is maximized. In the case of the avocado crop, canopies need to be extremely well managed in an effort to deal with the rising water costs. The old system of having 40 to 50 foot tall trees is not going to work out for much longer. A newer system which has been proven in Chile, that plants more trees to the acre and maintains a shorter tree, is likely going to be the program that will work for at least the foreseeable future. When embracing this system, canopy management comes into play each year, as the trees need to be pruned in a particular manner such that only half of the tree is pruned each year in early Spring. This technique helps to maintain a consistent vertical height, consistent and early bearing patterns of large good quality fruit, and also reduces overall resource inputs of water, fertilizer, picking costs, and pruning costs. If you are looking to stay viable in your production operation rather than doing things the same way they have always been done, feel free to contact us, we can lead the way in showing you how its done, or even do the job for you.

Water / Soil / Leaf Testing

Managing the crop water and fertilizers can be challenging, but there are tools which can help growers out and which should be used somewhat regularly. Irrigation water can contain all sorts of constituents, mostly metal ions and other basic compounds, and most of which are actually needed or tolerated by most crops, but there are some such as sodium and chloride ions which are detrimental to some crops such as avocado. In any case, it is important to know the quality of water being used to irrigate a commercial crop. Often times there are adjustments which can be made to mitigate any potential problems which may arise, before they occur and the damage is done. Likewise, soil testing is recommended in order to know what is natively available in a particular soil regarding crop nutrition, as well as to see how the fertilizers applied are being utilized by the crop for crop management program adjustments. In the same case as the soil, the leaves can indicate how well a plant is taking up the nutrition from the soil and if there are any issues which may need to be addressed. There are known ranges for most crops regarding how much of any particular element should be present in the water, soil, and leaf tissue at a particular time. We can help in all these areas and have the eye and skills needed to overcome most typical challenges seen in commercial production operations.

Harvesting & Marketing

Harvesting and Marketing are very important aspects of any commercial production operation. When so many resources are devoted to producing a plant, product, or crop, it is very important to ensure these resources are returned through a proper harvesting and marketing program. From year to year the harvest is going to fluctuate inevitably, but with good management hopefully the crop harvests are as close to an optimal yield as is possible, and then one needs to deal with the market fluctuations. Market conditions, which are based on supply and demand even for plant related products, are more challenging to deal with. If the price per unit of product in one year is drastically below what is typical, it almost doesn't even matter what the harvest yields are because a loss is likely. Despite the volatility, it is still vital to have an excellent program for harvest and plan for marketing in place every year in order to stay on top. We can help with the harvest and market planning and even with harvesting and marketing itself for various crops.

Plant Propagation

Principal to any good horticultural operation is knowledge in propagation! Propagation is a specialty of Profitable Crop Productions LLC and we would be happy to work with and assist you in any commercial plant propagation efforts. Some plants are easier than others to propagate, but nearly all plants need a specific growing environment to propagate successfully. The perfect touch for any one plant is going to vary from crop to crop and from person to person, but success rates should be provably high and cultural conditions should ensure cleanliness. Producing any crop requires propagation at some point. Whether producing a crop from seed, cuttings, tissue culture, etc. all plants for commercial production are created by a propagator somewhere. With that in mind, it is nice to be able to produce whatever it may be within the site of a commercial production operation rather than having to purchase it from elsewhere. This has cultural benefits, as well as cost benefits. Plants can be costly to purchase in large numbers. With the avocado crop and the new model emerging with more plants to the acre, propagation is on the rise. Let Profitable Crop Productions LLC help you with all your propagation, grafting, and replanting needs.

GIS Mapping

With the new age mapping technologies maps are becoming increasingly more detailed and are being used by people in all sorts of industries. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are essentially computers and complex mapping software which visually map out data in the spatial world known as GPS to make operations and data access more understandable and efficient. This is true in agriculture and horticulture where GIS is being used to map crops and fields, soil types, soil moisture levels, soil salinity, crop yields, crop pest distribution patterns, and all sorts of other measurable trends which are nearly impossible to visualize otherwise when analyzing large data sets dealing with large spatial scales. With more information being made available about how operations are run, the opportunity to find more ways to be efficient is there as well. Fields which have variable rate needs for fertilization based on previous crop yields and various soil deficiency/toxicity variations are able to be fertilized with a variable rate fertilization GPS tractor all because GIS makes it possible. It can also be used to make a nice property map with topography lines and the new irrigation lines which were installed for a grove. The possibilities for GIS technology are literally endless. Let Profitable Crop Productions LLC handle all your commercial crop production GIS related needs. This is on the progressive edge, and is cool stuff!