[Market-farming] Lettuce price?

Road's End Farm organic87 at frontiernet.net
Wed Jul 1 21:06:26 EDT 2009


I plant six to eight varieties of lettuce per planting, sell most of it 
at farmers' markets as 3 different lettuces to a gallon bag, young to 
nearly full sized but not baby lettuce; weight of bags vary, usually 
half to three quarters pound; and get 3.00 a bag for it in a generally 
low-priced area. I wholesale it, sometimes, (not bagged), at $3.00 /lb. 
It is not triple-washed, just rinsed off with a hose (to sell as washed 
ready to eat in NY my understanding is that you're supposed to have a 
processor's license); and again it is usually not baby lettuce, unless 
the next planting's not up to size yet but I need to take from it 
anyway to have any.

There is no way in the world that I'd sell what you're describing for 
fifty cents a bag, wholesale or not.

I second trying the honor system for the farm stand -- but set up a 
locked chamber that most of the money falls down into, just leaving a 
little change available on top of the stand.

Do you know what's wrong with your local farmers' market? Do they 
usually have a decent selection of high quality stuff? Do they do any 
advertising? -- Of course, trying to take over an existing market and 
shake it up into shape may make you unpopular with the people now 
running it; even if you have the time.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



On Jul 1, 2009, at 1:58 PM, Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:

> What do you all get for mixed baby lettuce? I raise Johnny's Wildfire 
> mix;
> pretty red and green leaf lettuce. I cut it young, triple-wash and bag 
> it in
> 1/2 lb. bags (that mix goes for $3.99/half-pound in the grocery store).
>
> In the past, I've had an on-farm stand, but I'm a one-person operation 
> and a
> farm stand took too much time away from farming. I decided this year 
> to try
> selling through someone else's farm stand here that features 'local
> produce'. She offered me $.50/bag for my baby lettuce (she sells it for
> $1/bag...I was getting $2/bag 2 years ago). I also have early green 
> beans
> (probably the only local ones available this early...I start them in 
> cell
> packs and transplant under row covers), and she offered an insulting 
> price
> for those, too..
>
> Our farmers' market in town has 2-3 vendors, and they mostly just sell 
> stuff
> to each other..some weeks they don't make the $5 vendor fee.  I don't 
> raise
> enough to justify taking it 50+ miles to the nearest decent farmers' 
> market.
> Is selling in my own farm stand, at my own prices, spending more on
> advertising than I make some weeks, the only answer? Sheesh...no wonder
> farmers need day jobs!
>
> Lynn Wigglesworth
> Tioga Co. PA
>
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