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Retained Ownership ? It's Not Just for Calves |
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Media advisory
issued July 9, 2002, effective immediately. Retained Ownership — It's Not Just for Calves ARDMORE, Okla. — The words "retained ownership" most often refer to keeping calves through another stage of production, such as a stocker-growing or finishing phase. At the Noble Foundation, however, the commodity being referred to in this case is pecans. "Many of you can probably remember hunting up the ol? flailing pole about this time of year and heading to the creek bottom with a few buckets, tow sacks and maybe even a tarp to gather pecans," said Dan Childs, an agricultural economist at the Foundation. "At the end of the day, you might have had a few hundred pounds of pecans in the back of the pickup to show for a hard day?s work. The next morning, or after the final harvest day, the pecans were delivered to a favorite feed store and sold for something less than 25 cents per pound." Today, pecan harvest is much more mechanized. Heavy, metal tree shakers powered by hydraulics have replaced the flailing pole, and PTO-driven mechanical harvesters can make a few hours work out of the days it took with buckets and tarps. However, once the pecans get in the bag, there is considerable resemblance in how they are marketed today compared to how pecans were marketed back then. "There are many opportunities available to help ourselves receive a better price for the pecans we produce," Childs said. "There are several programs and grants available for producers to establish value-added cooperatives. The shelling sector of the pecan industry is ripe for investment, and attractive tax incentives are already in place." If adding value is too much of a stretch, there are other things producers can do that may increase their bottom lines. Selling pecans in truckload lots (about 44,000 pounds) gives a producer more market options. For smaller producers, truckload lots can be achieved by teaming up with other small producers. Also, the timing of the sale may generate a higher price. "Remember, however, that any time the potential for profit increases, the risk of loss also increases — there are few sure deals," Childs added. Last year, the Noble Foundation harvested about five loads of pecans from its Red River Farm pecan orchard. There were basically two lots — improved, which graded 44.42 percent, and native, which graded 41.01 percent. At the time, the market was near 80 to 90 cents per grade point. The decision was made to send the pecans to cold storage. Eight months later (August 2002), the pecans were sold for $1.50 per grade point. Cost for storage was 7.5 cents per pound shipped. The Noble Foundation was able to receive an additional 16.5 cents per pound for its pecans by having at least one truckload and by delaying the timing of sale by eight months. "Some long-time producers have relayed stories of days gone by when they lost money by retaining ownership of their pecans. It is not a sure bet — you will have to determine if the wait is worth the risks," Childs said. ?But I strongly believe the survivors in production agriculture will be those producers who retain ownership through a value-added process and market the food they produce as close to the consumer as reasonable." ###
The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a non-profit organization conducting agricultural, forage biotechnological, and plant biology research; providing grants to numerous non-profit charitable, educational and health organizations; and assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs. To learn more, visit the Noble Foundation Web site at http://www.noble.org. More news releases available at www.noble.org/Press_Releases |
| © 1997-2008 by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc. |