We live in a world where consumers want to feel a connection between the products that they are consuming and the origin of that product. Being it lamb from the Karoo, feta cheese from Greece, olive oil from Italy or salmon from Norway. The consumers are however, not only interested in where these products came from but also in the way in which they were grown, produced and processed. Some of the words that come to mind here are organically grown, naturally produced, fat free, hormone free and preservative free to only name a few. And even though consumers are well aware of these trendy words only a few know what exactly are meant with these words.
The aim of this project will be to introduce learners to a world where the consumer dictates what happens to his product from the farm, right through the production and processing stages up the point where the consumer picks the product from the retailer’s shelf and pays for it. Learners will be exposed to producing (in a controlled environment tunnel), packaging and labelling organic as well as conventional strawberries. During this time they will have to record all chemical and biological products as well as the cost of each product used in the production of both lines of strawberries.
The objectives of the project will be to:
- Produce marketable organic and conventional strawberries
- Label the organic and conventional strawberries to indicate all products used in the growing process
- Map out the supply chain for strawberry production
- Do a break even analysis for both organic and conventional strawberries to determine the potential asking prices
- Thereby determining if the premium asked for organic strawberries are justified through potential higher production costs
- Calculate profit margins for both organic and conventional strawberry production
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