Introduction

More and more vegetables are being grown and sold during the winter in New England. We're trying to determine what the biggest issues are for growers with respect to production and marketing to guide our future research and programs. We also want to get an idea of the impact that the addition of winter sales has had on farmers' incomes overall.

Your answers to this brief survey will go a long way in determining what the state of winter growing is now, and how our organizations can assist you in the future.

The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete.

All information is confidential, and will be released only in aggregate.

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* 1. Did your farm sell vegetables during the most recent past winter (December 2013 to April 2014)?

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* 2. Thinking back to 4 years ago (winter 2010-11), how did you market your crops? For each outlet, indicate what % of gross sales income came from this outlet.

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* 3. Over the most recent winter (2013-14), how did you market your crops? For each outlet, indicate what % of gross sales income came from this outlet.

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* 4. In the last 4 years, how has the volume of crops you market in winter changed?

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* 5. In the last 4 years, how has your income from winter sales changed?

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* 6. What % of your farm's annual gross vegetable sales income is made during the winter months?

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* 7. Over the next 3 years, what are your plans for winter sales?

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* 8. What is your main reason for doing winter sales?

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* 9. What is the one biggest challenge to selling your products during winter?

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* 10. If you use season extension, what type do you use? Check all that apply.

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* 11. Where do you store your crops for winter sales?

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* 12. What % of your winter sales is from each of the following areas?

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* 13. Which ROOT & STORAGE crops do you grow for winter sales?

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* 14. Which OTHER crops do you grow for winter sales?

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* 15. For crops that benefit from washing, how do you handle washing for winter markets?

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* 16. What is your biggest challenge in managing products for winter markets?

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* 17. On which issues would you like to see more local research done?

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* 18. How else have your winter markets, your production for winter sales, or your knowledge changed over the past four years, and how have these changes impacted your farm?

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* 19. Over the last 4 years, did you attend any meetings or workshops related to winter vegetable production, storage and/or sales hosted by the following organizations?

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* 20. If you would like to be kept in the loop about upcoming workshops, farmer-to-farmer meetings, farm visits, and other winter production and marketing resources, please provide your contact information.

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