Profitability is a matter of how efficient and effectively a farmer operates, the Break Even Point (BEP) for a professional farmer under this system also depends on how much take-home income the farmer plans to generate, also if their operation is going to fully center on poultry or if the farmer is establishing a production unit, joint the system but their farm is centered on say cattle or vegetables. The profitability equation for this poultry system is generated by combining sales of chickens, sale of manure, elderberries, and hazelnuts, as well as income generated through services and apprenticeships provided on the farm. A chicken is expected to produce at least $1 to cover the farmer’s labor (or whomever does the daily labor if the farmer is hiring someone else to do this), and at wholesale generate at least 5% of actual profit margin. This means after all expenses are paid, including the farmer labor, and all kinds of other contributions to the cost of farming such as health insurance, retirement, etc. the chicken is expected to leave these margins. To this we add the hazelnuts, elderberries, and manure income. How well the operation is managed will define if the farmer incurs more cost or less, and the net margins that each chicken will deliver. The financial planning module in the training system will address these questions in full detail, but the above indicators should suffice for anyone to do their own back-of-the-envelope analysis. Of course if the farmer is going to raise small amounts of chickens and seek to direct sell them, they will have to do their own numbers, this system is intended to support farmers seeking to be part of a collective system where their products are sold at the farm-gate at wholesale prices to a system the farmer also owns, and from which there will be further income/profits generated if the collective generates such profits. This value added profits are only available to those who participate in the system not farmers who decide to go at it alone. For those going alone, factor the higher price you can sell your chickens and the higher cost of bringing the chicken from the farm to a form ready to sell, extra labor, transportation, insurance, meeting regulations, and other costs and risks that those in the collective manage differently. After these calculations are included a farmer may get a better sense of their final net profit margins. In the financial training section you will learn how these costs aggregate, the basic conclusion is that only collectively can profit margins be generated, the higher price of selling direct comes at a much higher cost than the lower margins generated through the collective. Including the cost of never being able to separate from the day-to-day aspect of retailing products.
