November 14, 2005
Talking turkey | This year's rainy weather has caused problems for turkey growers like Paula Stotts of Whispering Winds Farm
By Jeff Pike
When it rains, turkeys tend to look up. If you're a farmer raising organic, free-range turkeys that spend most of their time outside, that means heavy rains can drown your flock. That's what happened this year at Whispering Winds Farm in Mechanic Falls. "With all the rain in the spring and in October, we went from 170 to 27 turkeys," said Paula Stotts, the farm's proprietor. "We also lost some on cold nights when turkeys pile up against trees to stay warm and sometimes suffocate the one closest to the tree."
With Thanksgiving around the corner, the loss of so many turkeys has been a major setback for Stotts, a lifelong farmer who's run Whispering Winds Farm for five years. The weather and other factors have also wreaked havoc on the farm's vegetable and chicken production to the point where Stotts, 41, expects to lose $10,000-$15,000 this year. To keep the farm going, she relies on the income of her husband, Mark, a deputy sheriff for Cumberland County; their four teenagers work on the farm, too.
In addition to raising turkeys, Whispering Winds grows vegetables, raises chickens and pigs and sells eggs, goat milk and other farm products. While most of the farm's revenue comes from selling turkeys and chickens to restaurants, Stotts also utilizes a community-supported agriculture model to sell vegetables and meat to families. With the CSA model, the farm receives payments from customers up front. This locks in lower pricing for customers, and provides farmers with advance capital to invest in production. In addition, the CSA model helps the farm's profitability because Stotts knows exactly what to grow, and she benefits from a guaranteed customer base.
This year, though, the weather put a damper on Stotts' vegetable production. "We had so many days of rain that we couldn't grow an appreciable amount of vegetables," she said. "We refunded all the money to our CSA customers." This is unusual in that CSA customers normally share the growing risk with the farmer. Ten families had purchased $250 shares, so the refunds added up to $2,500. "The CSA model is similar to playing the stock market," Stotts explained. "But based on the weather conditions and our lack of vegetable production, we did not feel comfortable taking our customers' money."
The loss in CSA funds represents a small portion of the total revenue Whispering Winds normally generates; Stotts says the farm has the potential to bring in $50,000-$70,000 annually if all facets are running properly. This year, though, the farm suffered a significant loss from the chickens it raises for meat, but not because of the weather. "At the end of 2004, the only facility in the state licensed to process chickens for resale to restaurants, hotels and institutions was shut down," Stotts said. "We normally process 1,000-1,200 chickens per year. Last year we cut that back to 300 since the processing had to be done at a custom slaughterhouse, from which we could only sell chickens to the people that would consume them. We can't keep using this process profitably on a large scale."
Stotts hopes to form a co-op with other organic chicken farmers to open another processing plant overseen by inspectors so she can return to normal levels of chicken production next year. She is also optimistic that turkey and vegetable production will return to normal if the weather is better next spring.
But in case things do not go well, Stotts plans to add a maple sugaring operation to Whispering Winds' 20 acres. "For a small farm to survive, it's necessary to diversify as much as possible," she said. "We need to develop other sources of income so we can survive if problems hit one or more areas of the farm."
With Thanksgiving around the corner, the loss of so many turkeys has been a major setback for Stotts, a lifelong farmer who's run Whispering Winds Farm for five years. The weather and other factors have also wreaked havoc on the farm's vegetable and chicken production to the point where Stotts, 41, expects to lose $10,000-$15,000 this year. To keep the farm going, she relies on the income of her husband, Mark, a deputy sheriff for Cumberland County; their four teenagers work on the farm, too.
In addition to raising turkeys, Whispering Winds grows vegetables, raises chickens and pigs and sells eggs, goat milk and other farm products. While most of the farm's revenue comes from selling turkeys and chickens to restaurants, Stotts also utilizes a community-supported agriculture model to sell vegetables and meat to families. With the CSA model, the farm receives payments from customers up front. This locks in lower pricing for customers, and provides farmers with advance capital to invest in production. In addition, the CSA model helps the farm's profitability because Stotts knows exactly what to grow, and she benefits from a guaranteed customer base.
This year, though, the weather put a damper on Stotts' vegetable production. "We had so many days of rain that we couldn't grow an appreciable amount of vegetables," she said. "We refunded all the money to our CSA customers." This is unusual in that CSA customers normally share the growing risk with the farmer. Ten families had purchased $250 shares, so the refunds added up to $2,500. "The CSA model is similar to playing the stock market," Stotts explained. "But based on the weather conditions and our lack of vegetable production, we did not feel comfortable taking our customers' money."
The loss in CSA funds represents a small portion of the total revenue Whispering Winds normally generates; Stotts says the farm has the potential to bring in $50,000-$70,000 annually if all facets are running properly. This year, though, the farm suffered a significant loss from the chickens it raises for meat, but not because of the weather. "At the end of 2004, the only facility in the state licensed to process chickens for resale to restaurants, hotels and institutions was shut down," Stotts said. "We normally process 1,000-1,200 chickens per year. Last year we cut that back to 300 since the processing had to be done at a custom slaughterhouse, from which we could only sell chickens to the people that would consume them. We can't keep using this process profitably on a large scale."
Stotts hopes to form a co-op with other organic chicken farmers to open another processing plant overseen by inspectors so she can return to normal levels of chicken production next year. She is also optimistic that turkey and vegetable production will return to normal if the weather is better next spring.
But in case things do not go well, Stotts plans to add a maple sugaring operation to Whispering Winds' 20 acres. "For a small farm to survive, it's necessary to diversify as much as possible," she said. "We need to develop other sources of income so we can survive if problems hit one or more areas of the farm."
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