The Common Market Feasibility Study - Agricultural Marketing Service

THE COMMON MARKET FEASIBILTY STUDYSupply Analysis48The Penn St. Ag Map and Fair Food Project databases contain 363 produce farmers in the 14 countyregion surrounding Philadelphia. These farms are of varying size and product type, all classified underthe heading “produce,” which complicates understanding the total quantity of production, as individualproducts grown are not differentiated. Nonetheless, ag census data and the two supplementaldatabases can provide some insight into specific products:Apples: According to Ag Census data, 169,500 tons of apples were grown for fresh market sale in theregion surrounding Philadelphia on 662 different farms in 2002. These figures translate to 256 tons ofapples per farm per year, but we can assume many of them are sold out of the state via largedistribution channels. The Fair Food database offers a sub-category of “tree fruit,” Based on the numberof growers classified in that group, only 55, about 14,000 tons of apples (and peaches, nectarines, etc.)would be in production to potentially serve the Philadelphia marketplace.Sweet Corn: Ag Census data shows that the average yield for fresh market sweet corn in 2006 was5700 lbs./acre. With 17,400 acres harvested, Pennsylvania produced almost 50,000 tons of fresh marketsweet corn in 2006. Clearly, not all of this corn would be available for the Common Market. Further AgCensus analysis shows that 11% of PA sweet corn is produced in Lancaster County alone, totalling 5,500tons. The Ag Map and Fair Food Databases contain 52 produce farmers in Lancaster County, with noindication of what each produces. Estimations of fresh market sweet corn production for Lancaster canbe projected by applying the state average to a range of producer numbers:• If 10% of the 52 produce farmers from Lancaster grow sweet corn at the state average yield,then 14.82 tons annually are produced,• 15%= 22.23 tons,• 20%= 29.64 tons.These extrapolations may not present an exact assessment of produce supply for the Common Market.Nonetheless, they do show that Pennsylvania has ample production to serve wholesale markets ingeneral, either via large distribution channels, the auction system, or smaller distributors.PoultryPoultry is the second largest agricultural commodity produced in Pennsylvania, accounting for $600million of farm products according to the 2002 agricultural census. Recent statistics from the NationalChicken Council indicate that Pennsylvania ranks 16 th among U.S. states in poultry production.According to agricultural census data, the 14 county region surrounding Philadelphia produced 86million broiler chickens in 2002, and the average chicken farm produced over 68,000 birds that year. Forthe purposes of the Common Market, this data provides little significance, as farmers who produce68,000 birds per year are almost exclusively selling to one of the six corporate poultry processors in thestate.The poultry farmer best suited for the Common Market has a combination of the following traits: