BUSINESS
The tangerines sold well — so why was there no money left?
Our first tangerine sale kept us run off our feet for a whole week. But when we did the math, there was hardly any money left.
FROM THE ARCHIVE · 2023
(Written in 2023)
At last we harvested our tangerines and started selling. Within a week, orders from family and friends poured in and we were run off our feet. But no matter how hard we grew and how hard we sold, there was hardly any money left.
A clumsy first week
Friends from church helped us pick, which got us through the rush, but after that the two of us had to handle the harvesting, packing and shipping ourselves. Everything was new, and we were so worried about keeping up with orders that we were packing tangerines even in our dreams.
Harvesting still takes a lot of hands, even now.
Our first year in numbers
We sold a 5 kg box for KRW 19,900 (shipping included). But after taking out KRW 2 million in orchard rent, farm machinery such as a brush cutter and sprayer, fuel, fertilizer, compost, pesticides and all kinds of supplies, even if we had sold 700 boxes, our calculation at the time left less than KRW 2 million. And that didn't include any pay for the two of us.
Even selling 700 boxes of tangerines wouldn't leave KRW 2 million.
FIRST SEASON · 2023 FIELD RECORD
- 700 BOXES — assumed sales (not actual sales)
- KRW 19,900 — price per 5 kg box (shipping included)
- KRW 2 million — yearly orchard rent
- Under KRW 2 million — what was left by our calculation then (excluding our own labor; our own estimate)
That winter, the first tangerine boxes we packed and shipped.
What we gained anyway: a plan for next year
Looking back on the year, we began to see a direction.
KEY NOTES
- · Cut costs: make as much of our own pesticide and fertilizer as possible, take more eco-friendly and microbial farming courses, and make full use of support programs
- · Cut labor: replace spray nozzles and hoses, feed liquid fertilizer automatically through drip hoses, shred branches after pruning, use Tyvek mulch and weed mats, and ask about renting a sorting machine
- · Add value: raise sweetness with Tyvek mulch and consider a price increase next year; join a tangerine study group in Namwon the following March to grow more even-sized fruit
Looking back now — this first year's profit-and-loss math led straight to what we realized later: that it's hard to make a living from raw produce alone (Farming turned out to be a business).
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