[Market-farming] How do you determine market/wholesale price?
Road's End Farm
organic87 at frontiernet.net
Tue Mar 31 10:59:01 EDT 2009
On Mar 31, 2009, at 12:40 AM, Marcy wrote:
> This list is a great place to ask if you've got something different
> that you
> haven't sold and others around aren't selling.
This is true. Thanks, all!
When trying to determine market prices, don't only check the wholesale
listings. You're not selling wholesale at market, you're selling
retail; you're doing the job, not only of the grower, but of the
produce manager, the people who package the produce, the stock clerk,
the checkout clerk, etc. Check also the retail prices in your general
area. Note that they may vary widely within as little as an hour's
drive, depending on market area and also on packaging -- I've seen
potato prices *at the same store* ranging from ten cents a pound to
over a dollar a pound, depending not only on the size of package but
also on the package presentation as well as variety of potato.
If you have genuinely better quality, and/or other advantages to the
purchaser such as, for instance, a willingness to deliver split cases
and small lots or specific desired mixes in a pack, then don't price
your stuff (even your wholesale pricing) according to the lowest
possible wholesale price. That's not the product you're delivering, and
it's not the price you should get. (If that is the product you're
delivering, of course, then you'll have to compete on that basis. But
the small grower can rarely compete with the big guys on price and stay
in business; it's usually much easier to compete with them on some
other measure of quality.)
Bear in mind also what your own costs are. These can be really hard to
figure for the person growing a little bit each of dozens of crops, but
try to have a general idea.
-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale
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