Test PB Collection: FTE

September/October 1994 David T. Handley, Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist, University of Maine. Reprinted with permission from the May/June 1994 issue of Maine Farms & Forests.

If you need a loan to launch a new farming enterprise or refinance an existing one, researching your options is key to finding the loan that's right for you. To help you get started, we're presenting the following USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) information as one option you might consider.

Look for more specialty crop information in the Small Farm Program's Specialty and Minor Crops Handbook - Second Edition Capers are native to the Mediterranean area and the tropics. The plant, a deciduous dicot, has a very deep root system, grows about two feet tall and has vines 7 to 10 feet long.

Updated and expanded from the first edition, the Specialty and Minor Crops Handbook contains 63 crop profiles, a comprehensive bibliography, a glossary of Asian vegetables, and an index to common and scientific crop names. Cost: $35 plus tax and shipping.

Excerpted from the Small Farm Program'sSpecialty and Minor Crops Handbook Cichorium intybus is a member of the Asteraceae (sunflower) family. Radicchio varieties include "forcing" and "nonforcing" types.

By Etaferahu Takele, Area Farm Advisor, Farm Management Economics, Southern Region Jose Aguiar, Farm Advisor, Vegetable Crops and Small Farms, Riverside County Paul Zellman, Staff Research Associate, Farm Management Economics, Southern Region Detailed costs to produce chili pepper in Coachella Valle...

Table 1. COSTS PER ACRE TO PRODUCE CHILI PEPPER Coachella Valley - 1995/1996 Labor Rate: $6.70/hr. machine labor $6.70/hr. non-machine labor Interest Rate: 11.

Table 2. COSTS AND RETURNS TO PRODUCE CHILI PEPPER Coachella Valley - 1995/1996 Labor Rate: $6.70/hr. machine labor $6.70/hr. non-machine labor Interest Rate: 11.

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