Suggested guidelines to aid small farmer crop selection : the case of peaches in Tennessee

Small farmers world-wide have historically suffered from a lack of advice and information from governmental and marketing institutions pertinent to their particular situation. This has been a source of much uncertainty and the subsequent reluctance of small farmers to produce nontraditional, more profitable specialty crops. This uncertainty might be diminished by a procedure with which a small farmer could answer for himself, given a set of opportunities and constraints, the two primary questions of (1) What crops can be successfully grown? and (2) Where and by what means can these crops be sold in a profitable manner? As its first objective, this study suggests such a small farmer self-evaluation procedure which examines historical, natural resource, management, cost and return, and marketing considerations.

The second objective of this study, an example of the implementation of this procedure, is conducted by examining the feasibility of small farmer participation in an expansion of the Tennessee commercial peach industry. It is determined that while physical production of peaches is feasible in large areas of Tennessee, crop damaging spring frosts are not uncommon and market outlets are limited, particularly for small farmers. Peaches would appear, however, to be an attractive side enterprise for small farmers provided the presence of direct marketing opportunities.