Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.
Matching pepper variety to a named buyer
Scotch bonnet, Moruga scorpion, West Indian red and the Caribbean superhots each suit a different buyer: exporters often want uniform yellow or red Scotch bonnets, sauce makers care about heat and volume, and local markets pay for colour and freshness. Choosing the variety after you know who will buy it is the single decision that most often separates a profitable pepper crop from a field of fruit nobody wants.
First tasks
- List every sauce maker, exporter and market vendor you could sell peppers to
- Call two of them to ask which variety, colour and heat they buy
- Choose a main buyer and a fallback outlet for the first crop
- Write the variety decision and its reasons in the record book
Pepper plot site assessment
Peppers hate wet feet: a plot that holds water after a heavy shower will lose plants to root rot and phytophthora within a season. The ground's history matters too, because land that grew tomato, eggplant or peppers recently carries their soil diseases and nematodes. Walking the site in a rainy spell and asking what grew there before saves a crop you have not yet planted.
First tasks
- Walk the plot after the next heavy shower and mark where water stands
- Ask the landowner or neighbours what grew there in the last three years
- Check the water source and how far it is from the planned rows
- Write the site decision and any drainage work into the record book
Cost of production for a quarter acre of peppers
Knowing what one pound of peppers costs you to grow tells you which buyer's price actually pays and how low you can go in a glut. A quarter acre is a sensible unit to cost: seed, trays and media, land preparation, drip line, mulch, stakes, inputs, picking labour, crates and transport all land on one sheet. With that number you can negotiate with a sauce maker instead of accepting whatever is offered.
First tasks
- Write down every input, tool and labour cost for one quarter acre
- Price picking labour from the number of rounds you expect
- Ask an experienced grower or extension officer for a realistic yield range
- Calculate break-even price per pound at three yield levels
