184. Michael and Savannah Kilpatrick on U-Pick Strawberries

Today on the Thriving Farmer Podcast Michael is joined by his wife, Savannah, to discuss their first season of offering u-pick strawberries at The Farm on Central. The Farm on Central is a small family farm located in Carlisle, Ohio and provides the community with a wide array of vegetables, mushrooms, and horticultural products. In this episode, Michael and Savannah talk about the benefits of offering a premium product and running a profitable value-added program. They also go over how they manage their fields of annual bed strawberries, their ticket system for scheduling u-pick, things that worked well, and lessons learned for next season. Join us today to hear how Michael and the team ran a successful first year of u-pick strawberries!  You’ll hear: How many strawberry plants they planted this year 1:50 How their strawberry growing system differs from others 2:09 What type of ticketing system they used to sell slots for u-pick 5:24 The options people had at u-pick 6:49 How they created a buzz 11:28 U-pick management and organization 14:02 The rules they set for customers 17:16 Learning opportunities from the season 23:51, 26:26 Field Management 27:13 Products used: 28:29 How they spaced their sections 29:39 A huge takeaway 31:48 How many people came to the farm for u-pick in just three weeks 34:15 About the Guest: Growing Farmers is led by Michael Kilpatrick, a farmer, educator, and inventor who lives in Ohio. He is the host of the top-rated Thriving Farmer Podcast and Thriving Farmer Summit series, which has been viewed by over 50,000 farmers. He has managed large farms and businesses, consulted for industry experts around the world, and spoken at dozens of conferences. Michael believes that anyone can farm by following the simple business and management skills that he teaches in Small Farm University, a community he founded for thriving farmers. Together with his wife, Savannah, they are raising their three young children at The Farm on Central.   Resources: Website: https://www.growingfarmers.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growingfarmerswithmichael Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growingfarmers The Thriving Farmer Podcast Team would like to thank our amazing sponsor! At Agrigro, we know that in today’s modern agriculture, our efforts can deplete life or add life. When you look for ways to add life, it’s sustainable and makes everything work better. The result is enhanced plant and soil health for crops, gardens, and turf, as well as improved animal health and environment for livestock and wildlife. Our products are all-natural, easy to use, and friendly to the soil, the plant, as well as the grower. AgriGro’s® formulations deliver essential plant nutrition along with an advanced prebiotic concentrate, which significantly increases the multitude of beneficial native microbial species already residing in the production environment. Through these environmentally sound technologies, we’re adding life to crop production, livestock, home, turf, and wildlife markets. You don’t have to be dependent on crop production efforts that deplete life…Just Add Life with AgriGro®.