[Market-farming] The affect of economics on farmers markets
Joyce Paski
elderberrywine4u at yahoo.com
Mon Jan 21 21:41:43 EST 2008
I already live in a severely economically depressed rural area so people living "hard scrapple" is nothing new here. Even so, the economy has people really worried. (My Dad, who was a kid in the last Great Depression, came over to the house and told me I need to buy a hand grain mill and take my money out of the bank; the first I did, the latter, I won't). I have had people ask me if they could order chickens from me for their freezer (broilers), and if I am going to sell eggs at the farmers market. (I normally have Dominiques on a small scale for egg sales only from my farm, but I'm in the process of building a bigger coop and don't have any chickens currently). I've had people specifically ask me if I was going to grow garlic, potatoes, onions, and collards (which normally I don't sell a lot of). What I've noticed is that these requests are for food items that can be stored a long time. I've had people ask me if I would "barter for food", and I've said, "Yes, I
will." In fact, I am working on a barter list to pass out to people who might be interested in bartering when our market opens Memorial Day weekend. As I understand it, you treat a barter transaction as you would a cash transaction on the books. Many of our market customers are seniors and low income single parent families with small children who are on fixed incomes. My strategy? Last Fall I planted half of my small production area to wheat which I will grow to harvest and save for the next year's seed and use the rest to supplement feed for the chickens. The remaining field area will be more intensively planted to veggies, and I intend to plant veggies that have a longer storage life.
Joyce Paski
Swamp Creek Farm
Northern WI
Zone 3
"Andrew R. King" <andrew.king2 at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
There are predictions ranging from a major recession to a depression for this year. Do you think this is going to affect your markets and if so what are you doing to prepare for it?
Andy King
Sunflower King's Farm
PA Zone 6
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