Self-study
P1
The prevailing trend in agriculture toward massive and highly mechanized production, with its heavy dependence on debt and credit as a means of raising capital, has been linked to the growing problem of bankruptcy among small farms. ███
Problem ·
Modern agriculture has bankrupted lots of small farms
Solution ·
Watley: guidelines for small farms
Watley proposes guidelines which, in addition to smart management and hard work, can help small farms become profitable again.
P2
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Solution Details ·
Grow a variety of crops
Grow at least 10 different crops to hedge against crop failure and generate year-round cash flow.
Solution Details ·
Clientele membership club
Instead of loans, get consumers to pay first. Get them to harvest the crops for you. Grow only what your consumers want. Grow it how they want (e.g. pesticide free?).
P3
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Solution Details ·
Decrease costs
50% of costs are from harvesting so outsourcing that to your consumers allows you to lower your price.
Solution Details ·
Sell direct to consumers
Eliminate middle man (distribution) costs.
Solution Details ·
Estimates
25 acre farm needs about 1,000 people from metropolitan areas.
P4
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Solution Requirements ·
Location
Locate farm near big towns. Have your consumers travel to you to get the food.
Solution Requirements ·
Irrigation and liability insurance
Some crops don't be drought resistant. Someone is going to fall and hurt themselves on your farm.
Main Point ·
This solution will enable small farms to operate profitably
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
3.
According to the passage, "pick-your-own" ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
Customers are given ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████ █████ █████ ███████ █████ █████
This isn’t mentioned as a reason “pick-your-own” farming is necessary to the operation of small farms.
b
It guarantees a ███████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ ███ █████
This isn’t mentioned as a reason “pick-your-own” farming is necessary to the operation of small farms. Although Whatley does believe small farms need year-round cash flow, he never suggests that his approach “guarantees” year-round cash flow.
c
It allows farmers ██ ████████ ███████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ████████████ ███████
d
Only those varieties ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████
This isn’t mentioned as a reason “pick-your-own” farming is necessary to the operation of small farms. (D) is an aspect of Whatley’s approach, but it isn’t mentioned as a reason his approach is necessary.
e
Consumers who are ███████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ████ ████████ █ ██████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████
This isn’t mentioned as a reason “pick-your-own” farming is necessary to the operation of small farms. Although Whatley believes the market described by (E) exists, it’s not presented as why Whatley’s approach needs to be adopted by small farms.