Page 24 - The Valley Table - November/December 2020
P. 24

 JOSH MORGENTHAU
“Fishkill Farms | Fishkill
I’m a third-generation farmer. My grandfather started the farm in 1913. The core of our business is on-farm sales, centering around pick-your-own, but also lots of value-added products in our farm store. This year, for all small businesses, it’s been difficult and nerve wracking. We are lucky to be a farm that is selling direct to customers and not to restaurants as our primary means of sales.
In March, we pretty quickly decided to close our store, but, as we realized that supply chains were being affected, we wanted to continue
to provide for the community. So, we started rudimentary pre-orders. It’s a very slow time of year for us, but in March, April, and May, our sales were double what they normally would be.
Then, getting into pick-your-own [season], we had to figure out a way to limit the number of people visiting the farm. In the past, folks could just show up, pay admission, and pick whatever they like. [This year,] we developed a reservation system to spread the flow of customers so we didn’t have everyone showing up at noon on a Saturday, and, to make sure our crop is picked, we made the reservations a picking package.
In the summer, we’re normally serving food and we have a cider bar. We were not able to open those until August. So, we took a pretty big hit
on the auxiliary sales. But, I’m very thankful that [infection rates] seem to be staying under control. We’re now in apple season, which is by far the biggest time of year for us. Probably 60 percent of our revenue comes in two or three months. The fact that we’ve been able to continue to operate has been huge. If we weren’t able to do that now, I don’t even like to think about what it’d be like.
We’ll have to see how it nets out. By the end of the summer sales were quite a bit down, but apple season started off really strong. I’m optimistic that we’ll close out the year on par with previous years.”
People have wan online, and now, are figuring out
                             22 THE VALLEY TABLE NOV – DEC 2020 PHOTOS BY GRANT DELIN (TOP), BY KATIE ROSS (BOTTOM)
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