Figaholics
Member
I hope this post is okay.
Our farm was listed for sale with a broker from December 2023 to June 2024 and he primarily brought us parties that contacted him because they already knew about our operation. Our farm is unique and I don't have confidence in a broker reaching out with the type outreach needed for our unique operation. Most farmers don't get involved in marketing their crops but harvest them and sell to brokers, packing houses, etc. We did have an offer in April 2024 below our asking price in April 2024 which we accepted as we were eager to retire. Unfortunately, he was unable to close as he had some folks that didn't pay some large obligations they owed him but he is still hoping to work things out eventually. We've had a few very wealthy people come visit our farm who were interested but they didn't know anything about farming and would only buy if I stayed around to run the farm for them and that doesn't help us reach our goal of retiring. We have had others contact us with interest but we haven't heard anything from them for a few weeks other than one individual who decided to buy a smaller farm close to where he already lives.
In 2024 our yangmei crop became our largest source of income and it has continued to increase and is expected to increase for many more years. Fig cutting sales is our second largest source of income. Chestnut production has declined, partially to a mistake in 2022 with a faulty meter I used with a year of bad drought that increased salinity in our river water (we would have resorted to using our well water if the meter had recorded data correctly). Demand for our chestnuts greatly exceeds our supply and acreage devoted to chestnuts should be increased by new owners on some of the 25 acres of land we have rented out on a verbal lease to an alfalfa grower. Fig cutting sales were good in 2025 but could have been greater if we had returned from vacation in Madeira earlier than January 13th since many trees were already breaking dormancy after our sale had been underway 2-3 weeks and that prevented us from replenishing some of the sold out varieties.
Most of our 2025 income has already been earned with chestnuts still to come in October and November along with a little bit of alfalfa rent. We estimate our 2025 net income will exceed $250,000 which is up about 60% from 2024 because of increased yangmei income and fig cutting sales (we let our sale run longer in 2025 than in 2024). Using fairly conservative forecasts, we expect income to increase at least 16% in 2026 but continuing to increase as more of our yangmei trees get larger and more of the rootstock trees are successfully grafted (grafting yangmei is challenging so we must repeatedly try to graft rootstocks with failed grafts). The sales of fig fruit has been minimal because we have not made a big effort to market the fruit and it's not something I want to devote more time to. I'm 68 and Linda is 67 and we need more free time, not more earnings.
My wife and I have already purchased a home in town 10 minutes away from the farm where we plan to live once the farm is sold and we plan to be available to help new owners transition into the operation. We envision helping more the first year but then in a decreasing role in the next couple of years. We also have a home in Madeira, Portugal where we plan to spend up to half of the year but I am available still to answer questions.
Our asking price has remained the same. It is higher than the offer we accepted 16 months ago but I believe the asking price is still fully supported by the profitability of our farm (I had 27 years of experience in agricultural lending, including some appraisal work). However, our price is negotiable, particularly if it looks like something that doesn't have a lot of contingencies.
There are always some people who say they would never move to California because of politics, crime, homelessness, etc. I understand all of that. The politics have little impact on my day to day living unless I keep watching the news. Our rural area is pretty good and void of the big city problems that make the news headlines. We can get very hot sometimes but the humidity is almost always pretty low on those hot days.
Some more information and photos are available at this web page. If this is something that you believe you can buy and operate, please contact me by email: harveyc@gmail.com
Our farm was listed for sale with a broker from December 2023 to June 2024 and he primarily brought us parties that contacted him because they already knew about our operation. Our farm is unique and I don't have confidence in a broker reaching out with the type outreach needed for our unique operation. Most farmers don't get involved in marketing their crops but harvest them and sell to brokers, packing houses, etc. We did have an offer in April 2024 below our asking price in April 2024 which we accepted as we were eager to retire. Unfortunately, he was unable to close as he had some folks that didn't pay some large obligations they owed him but he is still hoping to work things out eventually. We've had a few very wealthy people come visit our farm who were interested but they didn't know anything about farming and would only buy if I stayed around to run the farm for them and that doesn't help us reach our goal of retiring. We have had others contact us with interest but we haven't heard anything from them for a few weeks other than one individual who decided to buy a smaller farm close to where he already lives.
In 2024 our yangmei crop became our largest source of income and it has continued to increase and is expected to increase for many more years. Fig cutting sales is our second largest source of income. Chestnut production has declined, partially to a mistake in 2022 with a faulty meter I used with a year of bad drought that increased salinity in our river water (we would have resorted to using our well water if the meter had recorded data correctly). Demand for our chestnuts greatly exceeds our supply and acreage devoted to chestnuts should be increased by new owners on some of the 25 acres of land we have rented out on a verbal lease to an alfalfa grower. Fig cutting sales were good in 2025 but could have been greater if we had returned from vacation in Madeira earlier than January 13th since many trees were already breaking dormancy after our sale had been underway 2-3 weeks and that prevented us from replenishing some of the sold out varieties.
Most of our 2025 income has already been earned with chestnuts still to come in October and November along with a little bit of alfalfa rent. We estimate our 2025 net income will exceed $250,000 which is up about 60% from 2024 because of increased yangmei income and fig cutting sales (we let our sale run longer in 2025 than in 2024). Using fairly conservative forecasts, we expect income to increase at least 16% in 2026 but continuing to increase as more of our yangmei trees get larger and more of the rootstock trees are successfully grafted (grafting yangmei is challenging so we must repeatedly try to graft rootstocks with failed grafts). The sales of fig fruit has been minimal because we have not made a big effort to market the fruit and it's not something I want to devote more time to. I'm 68 and Linda is 67 and we need more free time, not more earnings.
My wife and I have already purchased a home in town 10 minutes away from the farm where we plan to live once the farm is sold and we plan to be available to help new owners transition into the operation. We envision helping more the first year but then in a decreasing role in the next couple of years. We also have a home in Madeira, Portugal where we plan to spend up to half of the year but I am available still to answer questions.
Our asking price has remained the same. It is higher than the offer we accepted 16 months ago but I believe the asking price is still fully supported by the profitability of our farm (I had 27 years of experience in agricultural lending, including some appraisal work). However, our price is negotiable, particularly if it looks like something that doesn't have a lot of contingencies.
There are always some people who say they would never move to California because of politics, crime, homelessness, etc. I understand all of that. The politics have little impact on my day to day living unless I keep watching the news. Our rural area is pretty good and void of the big city problems that make the news headlines. We can get very hot sometimes but the humidity is almost always pretty low on those hot days.
Some more information and photos are available at this web page. If this is something that you believe you can buy and operate, please contact me by email: harveyc@gmail.com
Last edited:
