Corn and Firewood=Big Bucks

Traditional Farmer · Oct 10, 2014

I guess its all in the marketing the other day I saw
6 ears of corn bagged up in plastic for $6.99 that beats the Heck out of even the $14.50/bushel for Organic corn.And at Tractor Supply they have a bag of firewood thats labeled as 3/4 of a cubic ft for
$3.99.

Donald Lehman · Oct 10, 2014

Yeah, around here every third house down the road and about every place of business has the "camp firewood" bundles for $5-$6. About enough wood in the bundle for a SMALL fire for maybe 2-3 hours. It most definately is all about marketing.

Ivan in Mich · Oct 10, 2014

I like how TSC sell hay. Here they take 3 flakes of hay from a bale and shrink wrap it. They had an add a while back that it was on sale for 16.95. I was in the store and there was a woman ahead of me that had 7 or 8 of these on a cart.

mkirsch · Oct 10, 2014

Yeah, but even at those prices nobody is getting rich purely from the sale of that corn or firewood.

By the time it hits that retail stores it has passed through so many middlemen and each one has to have his piece of the pie, the store HAS to sell it for that much just to keep the lights on.

Dave H (MI) · Oct 10, 2014

Doesn't seem to move real fast though. I guess if you were down the road from a campground the firewood would be a hot item. The ear corn is a novelty but after watching squirrels demo an ear in about 5 minutes I think most people look for alternatives. If I could come up with a good market for either of those two things I could retire early.

Billy NY · Oct 10, 2014

Smaller quantity, higher profit. I see the local convenience store, which is a regional chain, has carried shrink wrap bundles of firewood for years, I forget the price. Camp firewood, it does sell, friends son made a summer job out of it, they had a lot of pine to get rid of, location plays a role, he's in the mountains west of here, lot of campgrounds in the area.

RodinNS · Oct 10, 2014

Actually... in terms of firewood... I wouldn't waste my time for those kinds of dollars. TO start with you need a bag that will cost you 50-70 cents... then you're paying someone to stand there and hand place the stuff in a bag filler, then manually tie the bag off... then go deliver it somewhere at wholesale price...
Real numbers... the guy bagging the stuff is realizing about $3.00 per bag. Extrapolate that out you have a little over 500/cord for the finished product. Take out 100 for the bags. You have 400/cord. This is all short wood that costs more to produce... Then you've paid a wage probably in the 50/cord upwards range to do the bagging... so now you're down to 350/cord.. then you have the extra delivery costs of going out jobing around 20 bags of wood to every gas station and corner store. There goes another 50 bucks. At 300/cord... there are people getting that wholesale this year for bulk firewood.
I mean... there is some money in bagging it... don't get me wrong... but don't plan on getting rich at it.
I would expect the corn would be a similar deal...

Rod

tractorguy2 · Oct 10, 2014

The firs wood is for the campers. Not for heating your home. Down by the lake there are two stores that sell fire wood by the chunk. $3.00 each I think.

The campers don't want to mess up there clothes cutting there own fire wood.

it's not a big money maker. The camping season is'nt that long and the wood is not free. you have to saw it up and haul it to town and then unload/stack it and wait for a camper!

Anonymous-0 · Oct 10, 2014

Another money maker is in the spring, places sell pots of corn plants to be transplanted.
I haven't added up what that would be per acre, but a yuppie probably don't care.

Eric in IL · Oct 10, 2014

The problem is that you have to market these products to a customer who knows what they are and/or what they are used for.

Finding that type of a customer is becoming a rarity.

gtractorfan · Oct 10, 2014

Our neighbors have a camper. He gave me firewood he intended to take with them, saying they're not allowed to bring their own wood. I suppose the emerald ash borer is still the excuse but there aren't ash trees left to protect anymore around here.

Cliff Nelson · Oct 10, 2014

They could probably get twice that for the firewood if they labeled it as organic. lol

pete 23 · Oct 10, 2014

That is one I haven't run across. Potted corn plants.

Clodbuster · Oct 10, 2014

Those in the know call those bundles of wood s e x wood, as folks just want enough for a fire in the fireplace while they....... lol.

GordoSD · Oct 10, 2014

I ran my NI picker through my food plot a couple passes. Sold 8-10 50 dog food bags full to a local farm store he gave me $10 a bog. He sells as squirrel food and chicken feed.
I always have one ear about 10 feet from the garage. Squirrels, gophers, mice eat that rather than come in and forage.It lasts about 4 days.

showcrop · Oct 10, 2014

around here people have to have an "autumn lawn decoration". They normally consist of a bundle of a half dozen stalks of corn, 2-3 pumpkins, and a bale of mulch hay. My friend who has a vegetable operation and farm stand uses an old horse drawn binder behind a tractor to make the corn bundles. The mulch hay sells for about $10.00 a bale, pumpkins for about $4.50 each and the corn must be at least $14.00. I'm sure that they give a discount for the whole package.

Russ from MN · Oct 10, 2014

In MN campfire wood that is going to be used in a state or federal park has to be certified, to reduce the spread of all the tree diseases. I sold some home heating firewood for about 1$ a cu foot this fall, too cheap, ever since then they have been talking about a firewood shortage and the price has gone up. I was going to be cutting wood about this time but we have been too busy shooting grouse and catching walleyes to cut much wood. 4 birds and 6 fish in the freezer tonight!

sammydwm · Oct 11, 2014

high prices for that autumn stuff.
Around here it's like 3 for the pumpkins and the corn shocks and 3 or 4 for the bales.

oldtanker · Oct 11, 2014

(quoted from post at 18:43:12 10/10/14) In MN campfire wood that is going to be used in a state or federal park has to be certified, to reduce the spread of all the tree diseases. I sold some home heating firewood for about 1$ a cu foot this fall, too cheap, ever since then they have been talking about a firewood shortage and the price has gone up. I was going to be cutting wood about this time but we have been too busy shooting grouse and catching walleyes to cut much wood. 4 birds and 6 fish in the freezer tonight!

Yea the wife's cousin sells "certified" fire wood. He has a couple of Cstores that lets him put a rank in. Without a middle man he does pretty good at it. Have to have each species of tree certified.

Rick

showcrop · Oct 11, 2014

(quoted from post at 04:25:56 10/11/14) high prices for that autumn stuff.
Around here it's like 3 for the pumpkins and the corn shocks and 3 or 4 for the bales.

We have a lot of people in the area that commute to the Boston beltway area and work in high tech and finance and make very high incomes, so stuff like that will sell for more here.

Corn and Firewood=Big Bucks

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