Richard

I agree with Joe that there is a lot of room for improvement in pesticide products. When a farmer looks at the flagship products from major manufacturers, they see products priced at a wholesale price of $300 per gallon applied at a rate of 1 fluid ounce per acre. Now, you might think that is concentrated but in reality it is just exceedingly toxic. In fact, depending on what county you farm in you'll also need to have or hire someone with 4 to 7 health and agricultural permits to apply it. So a farmer that has lived with that situation is much relieved with Joe's product because it costs less and depending on the county farm in, you'll need 0 to 2 permits to apply it.

Now as for the price, one can base it on current pricing of competitors products or simply calculate from "the bottom up". By this I mean you add up the real cost of materials, labor, operational costs, etc. including your own time and come up with a number. I prefer this method because in the long run customers realize there is real value in the product, and I personally couldn't sleep well thinking my products were at some usary price.

From what Joe has said, I believe he is also calculating his price bottom up, and his dominant material cost is melaleuca oil. It is his choice to use it and he might be correct that it will be a tremendous selling point. If it were my project -- which it is not -- I would use a different plant source costing far less, but still approved for certified organic farming. I'm sure Joe is aware of these alternate materials and sources for them, so more power to him. It is not something I will sell in the forseeable future, especially since I do not yet have the state licensing to sell anything labeled with a pesticide function.

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