Fruits & Vegetables
2025 NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan
The Fruits & Vegetables brief summarizes the unique opportunities and challenges that impact economically viable fruit and vegetable production in New Hampshire, including berry plants, fruit trees, and organic growing practices and considerations. The brief is one of 27 briefs created as part of the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan.
What's at Stake?
Fresh, locally grown produce, whether it’s from the farm stand, pick-your-own farm, farmers’ market, or grocery store, is a vital part of New Hampshire’s economy, a crucial part of ensuring community health, and is deeply rooted in our state’s cultural identity. Over 1,000 farms—a quarter of the farms in New Hampshire—grow fruits and vegetables, but it has become increasingly challenging to run a viable farm business while doing so. The USDA reports that, since 2012, New Hampshire farm expenditures have been greater than agricultural products sold1. To honor New Hampshire’s rich agricultural history and maintain its open fields, protect its undeveloped land, and ensure food security for its residents, New Hampshire fruit and vegetable growers must find a way to maintain profitability.
Current Conditions
Fruit production in New Hampshire includes both fruit trees and berries and can vary immensely in scale depending on marketing strategies, labor resources, production methods, and viable growing acreage. No matter the scale, most fruit growers need to have a diversified source of income due to the unique climate, geographic, economic, and regulatory challenges of the region.
New Hampshire fruit growers rarely run a single crop operation. Most operate a diversified farm and have multiple sources of revenue, such as selling value-added products, offering agritourism events, or income from an off-farm job. The average New Hampshire fruit farm’s yearly income from agricultural products is $63,131, nearly half of which is from value-added products.
This fruit grower model works well in New Hampshire because small scale producers can manage a small amount of acreage with minimal labor. To warrant the acquisition of technology that reduces labor needs, or the hiring of H-2A employees (foreign nationals temporarily admitted to the United States to work in agricultural jobs) and the time intensive process to recruit them, growers must be invested in scaling up production and entering into new markets.
Unlike perennial fruit crops, vegetable crops are generally raised in an annual system. However, vegetable and fruit growers share many of the same challenges, including labor recruitment, labor retention, market and regulatory uncertainties, and increasingly, unpredictable weather patterns due to a changing climate.
Although 96% of New Hampshire vegetable production acreage is in open field culture, more than 4% of vegetables sold, by dollar, are produced in controlled environment systems2. In 1987, Dr. Otho Wells introduced low-cost, season extending high tunnels to the state of New Hampshire3 to increase annual production of vegetables by lengthening their season and protecting them from the harsh climate. Now, most New Hampshire vegetable producers utilize some degree of environmental control, from row covers and high tunnels to high-tech climate-controlled greenhouses. This technology helps extend the growing season and can transition farms to more reliable and sometimes automated processes, decreasing labor inputs and making New Hampshire’s food production more resilient.
Challenges
> Labor shortages are due to the seasonality of growing crops in New Hampshire, as well as a lack of affordable housing, well-qualified candidates, and more.
> Adapting to changing climate patterns by building climate resilient business and production practices will be paramount to farm viability over time.
> Short seasons and harsh regional growing conditions limit opportunities for farms to create and maintain year-round market opportunities. Limited access to region-specific agricultural inputs and scale-appropriate post-harvest storage and processing further limit the capacity of growers to expand their markets throughout the year.
> Navigating federal and state regulations that are constantly changing. For example, new pesticide regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will require growers to adapt, learn to use new materials, and implement new and different practices as part of Integrated Pest Management systems.
> Accessing and applying for funding opportunities when available is complex, difficult, and time consuming when operating a diversified farm.
> Crop insurance is geared towards large-scale, monoculture operations. In the event of crop loss, New Hampshire growers are being paid out at a national average which is often not reflective of the true loss.
> Lack of public funding in the areas of infrastructure investment, support for farmers’ markets, distribution, and on-farm processing equipment.
Opportunities
> The NH Fruit Growers Association (NHFGA), the NH Vegetable and Berry Growers Association (NHVBGA), and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Hampshire (NOFA-NH) are three strong associations that strive to promote the interests of the state’s vegetable and fruit growers.
> UNH Extension and NHFGA have been working with the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) to address shortcomings in the policies that impact apple growers in New England, including those around pricing, premiums, record keeping requirements, risk identification, and insurance coverage levels.
> There have been, and continue to be, ongoing research efforts within the NH Agricultural Experiment Station and the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture at the University of New Hampshire to help provide relevant information to UNH Extension to help New Hampshire fruit and vegetable growers overcome challenges.
> NHVBGA is collaborating with researchers to explore disease and climate resistant varieties.
> UNH Extension has knowledgeable specialists and valuable resources pertaining to food safety, greenhouse management, and more. Their New Farmer School and outreach are a crucial system of support for fruit and vegetable growers.
> There is access to abundant direct-to-consumer markets that reach consumers with an interest in supporting local agriculture.
> The USDA’s Resilient Food System Infrastructure program grants are beneficial in strengthening the local food chain.
Recommendations
Organizations working on this issue
University of New Hampshire (UNH)
National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA)
Authors
Lead Author
Kyle Lacasse, Farm Manager, Moulton Farm; President, NH Vegetable and Berry Growers Association
Contributing Authors
Wendy Johnecheck, Associate Extension Professor, Extension State Specialist, Food Safety, UNH Extension
Becky Sideman, Professor, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire
Jeremy DeLisle, Field Specialist, UNH Extension
Madison Hardy, Brookdale Fruit Farm; President, NH Fruit Growers Association
This Fruits & Vegetables brief was developed through a participatory process led by the NH Food Alliance, a program of the University of New Hampshire. The brief content is comprised of the opinions, perspectives, and information gathered by the authors and participants, and does not necessarily represent those of the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food or the NH Food Alliance.
Head to the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan main page to read more briefs, browse recommendations and learn how the strategic plan was created.
References
1 USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. New Hampshire State and County Data, Figure 4: Farm Production Expenses: 2022 and 2017. Nass.usda.gov. Published February 2024. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_State_Level/New_Hampshire/
2 United States Department of Agriculture. National Agricultural Statistics Service Information. Agriculture Census, 2022. Table 39. Table 1. Published 2022. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_State_Level/New_Hampshire/st33_1_039_039.pdf https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_State_Level/New_Hampshire/st33_1_001_001.pdf
3 Wells O. Impacts of high tunnels on crop production in NH. HortScience. Published 1998. https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/33/2/article-p209a.xml?tab_body=pdf
