What is the future for profitability in farming vegetables for harvest?
North Carolina farmer Alex Hitt will deliver the conference keynote address. Since 1981, Alex and his wife, Betsy, have worked to turn their five-acre farm in Graham, N.C., into an environmental gem and profit center. Over the years, Hitt has reduced acreage and labor by improving their soil with cover crops, concentrating on high-value crops that grow well in the area. What he hasn’t reduced is profits, thanks to direct marketing through the Carrboro Farmers Market and Weaver Street Market, a cooperative grocery store. Each acre returns a minimum of $20,000 annually, while four high-tunnel greenhouses bring in $1,000 per crop. The Hitts embrace their small scale, growing 80 varieties of 23 vegetables along with164 varieties of cut flowers on just three acres. In 2006, they won the Patrick Madden Award for Sustainable Agriculture from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Pre-Conference Seminars Going Grazing: Real-life economics and production methods of m
