JUNE 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


23


Wise Earth tracks numbers to plant savvy, sell smart Precision growing practices and strong business skills help small farm be successful


by TOM WALKER


KELOWNA – “I am amazed sometimes that it all gets sold”, says John Hofer, without the slightest hint of irony. Yet, in fact, he knows as well as anyone might predict what their farm will sell at the Kelowna Farmers Market. “I realized very early in farming that if you are not going to track numbers, you are not going to make it,” Hofer explains. Careful tracking of what


volume of what produce sells for what price at what time of year is one of the keys to success at Wise Earth Farm which Hofer runs with partner Brenda Paterson. They farm leased land about a half-hour bike ride from the center of Kelowna. “Luckily, John has a very mathematical mind,” comments Paterson. “We never really talked much about it but it was natural for him to start tracking.” “Its really quite simple with


a spreadsheet,” adds Hofer. “You just plug in a few numbers and the spreadsheet does the work for you.” “There were times when we came home from the market in the first couple of years and 50% of our produce went straight to the food bank,” Hofer says. “We really wondered if we were going to make it.” “We had 20 rows of pickling


cukes one year and we thought, oh, we are going to make money,” quips Paterson. If you have too much produce at one time, you are going to sit on it or have to blow it out, she maintains.


“I remember one year at the market, a guy was selling two big heads of lettuce for $2.50,” she says. “You are not going to make money like that. You should leave half of them in the ground, do less work by not harvesting them and make the same amount of money.” “By talking with our range of customers and our wholesaler, we know when we put something in the ground there is going to be a market for it when it is ready,” says Hofer. “And now we can actually sell those 20 rows of cukes,” adds Paterson. A broad variety of produce, with multiple plantings allows them to remain in the market for a maximum length of time. “We have figured out the


formula so if a restaurant wants four-inch carrots six months of the year, I can supply them,” says Hofer. “We plant at least every two weeks, if not every week. So, if you want two pounds of pea shoots a week, I can pretty much guarantee it. ” “We try to get our lettuce


mixes as far into the winter as we can,” adds Paterson. “With plants covered and inside a hoop house, we are aiming for 52 weeks of the year. They will die back a bit in the winter but are still alive and will get going really well in February and March.” “With multiple plantings of


beans, for example, we aim to have them right up until frost.” says Hofer. But the best growing


practices don’t guarantee a profit.


Our passion is to help grow yours.


Brenda Paterson and John Hofer of Wise Eath Farm in Kelowna | TOM WALKER PHOTO


“If you don’t track the numbers individually for each crop, you don’t know,” he points out. “When we have a crop that doesn’t make money, we look at it to see if it is under-priced; do we need to be more efficient or do we just stop growing it because someone else can have better success with it?” Having a variety of markets


for their produce is another key for Wise Earth. They offer a custom CSA box, have a regular booth at the Saturday


Kelowna farmers’ market (April to October outside and bi-weekly indoor winter markets), sell through a distributor who covers the Rockies (Banff to Calgary) and supply many of the high end city and winery restaurants in the Okanagan valley. “When we started, I was super altruistic,” says Paterson. “I wanted to be a farmer for the everyday person. I don’t know where along it became obvious that we had tapped out that


market.” “Chefs started finding us at the farmers’ market and when we had built up the confidence, we were able to talk to other restaurants,” says Paterson. “Chefs are at the top of the consumer chain,” says Hofer. “We have really come to enjoy working with them. It’s not so much that the produce is organic, they tell us; they don’t know what we do, but our vegetables taste amazing.”


For 200 years and counting, BMO’s dedicated team of local professionals has been serving the BC agribusiness community.


Talk to us today.


Diane Murphy Vice President Commercial Agricultural Markets 604-504-4980


Lynn Lashuk Agriculture Manager 250-979-7827


Iain Sutherland Agriculture Manager 604-504-4978


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