Tim Campbell

Identified an opportunity for the organization to capitalize on current trends by launching an agritourism business. The new farm owners were extremely hesitant to invest in an unknown market and did not align with the vision.

First, convinced the owners to grow the U-pick business. Next, visited other successful agritourism businesses. Then, physically built out a storefront and stocked the store with custom branded goods, such as jellies, jams, syrups, honey, drinks, hats, and shirts to accompany the blueberries for picking and purchase. Eventually, added strawberries and blackberries to the U-pick business as well.

The new U-pick berries business was thriving within a short amount of time, generating $160,000 in a five-week season, and attracting more than 1,000 visitors each day.

The farm had outgrown the building space that housed its packing operations. The company needed an updated packing facility, but it would come at a notably high cost.

Visited several packing facilities in the same industry to learn about the latest features and options. Then personally developed the plans, submitted bid requests, hired laborers, and oversaw the building of a new 10,000-square-foot cooler and packing facility.

By performing the contracting work in-house, saved almost $300,000 in costs in building a new state-of-the-art packing facility.

A significant portion of the farm’s profits were spent on harvesting costs. These expenses equated to $1.20 per pound on a 1.5-million-pound berry crop. However, the owners at the time had always done things this way and were not receptive to change.

Proactively conducted extensive research, performed calculations, and created charts and graphs to demonstrate the pros and cons of mechanically harvesting fruit. Then, visited other farms across the country and spoke with farmers who had implemented mechanical harvesting into their farming organizations. Finally, presented the findings to the owners.

The farm purchased two mechanical harvesters that year and immediately began seeing the benefits. The new equipment reduced harvesting expenses by 90%. Within three years, the plan is to machine harvest 80% of the farm’s berries, which is projected to save $3 million in annual costs.

The farm owners decided it was time to sell the organization, but they did not have a buyer. In most cases, this would require the need to find a new position with a different company after the sale.

Took the initiative to assist with the sale of the farm by gathering all needed documents and financial records. Learned about and produced EBITDA documents to determine the business’s valuation. Played an instrumental role in the marketing of the sale and identified a prospective buyer by proactively calling other farmers in the business. Last, conducted farm tours and delivered business presentations to the buyer. The entire process took approximately 12 months.

The farm was sold for millions, and the new owners offered a position to lead their Florida operations. Ultimately, the ownership transition was as seamless as possible.

It is challenging for a marketing company to pre-sell a crop without knowing the size and timing of it. However, crop size and timing are difficult to forecast due to environmental factors, such as cold units, heat units, rain, lack of rain, or chemicals used properly or improperly timed. Therefore, the farm’s marketing label decided to conduct a nationwide competition to see which farm could best forecast its crop.

Applying years of experience and teamwork, led the company’s participation in the contest using an effective estimation process.

As a result, the farm won the nationwide competition, which included over 1,000 participants. Afterwards, shared the highly successful estimation process with other growers to help the co-op as a whole.

Domestic labor had become untrustworthy and unstable with employees rapidly leaving for other work when nearby states would come into season. This was a trend that only worsened year after year. The alternative to domestic labor is the federal H-2A program, but with its numerous regulations and red tape, it is quite difficult to comply. Consequently, the H-2A program typically costs more than normal labor.

First, attended informational classes provided by the state’s fruit and vegetable growers association to learn more about the H-2A program. Then, generated a plan to implement the program at the farm. Finally, contacted federal investigators to inquire about the pitfalls of the program and discovered that the most effective way to participate in the program was by utilizing a H-2A labor contractor.

The H-2A program has been a tremendous success for the farm, which has passed every federal inspection since its implementation. Furthermore, hiring a labor contractor has allowed the farm to harvest its crops without the fear of not having a solid labor force.