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market-farming - Re: cheapskates and corn

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Subject: Market Farming

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Brian and Jacqueline Potzkai" <potzkai AT hotmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: cheapskates and corn
  • Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 19:16:55 -0700


From: marc AT aculink.net

Another thing to consider is selling in bulk.

So you want $3.60 a dozen? How about discounting to $10 for
three dozen?

Last year a large corn growing community had set their prices at $5/doz, when corn in our area was ready prices at the Farmers Market were down to $3 - $3.50/doz. I found this to be very discouraging to grow corn for market as the amount of space it takes (we had 1/2 acre in corn but we only have 5 acres) does not equal the value of the land for what we could get with other crops. Same thing happened with strawberries this year, in town strawberries went up to 2 -2.50/lb picked, as soon as the areas outside of town opened for strawberries prices were driven down to 1.50 - 1.75/lb picked 1.00/lb u-pick. The prices for some produce seem to hang on for several years. Yet increase in utilities, oil, etc. have driven up the prices for purchasing nursery stock or starting our own seedlings. When doing the books I have noticed a tremendous change in costs this year, the sales have to reflect this.

We mostly sell in bulk at the farm, but our farm price remains the same, so far this hasn't been a problem. For the Farmer's Market I admit that our prices are quite a bit higher, but then weighing out smaller quantities (time), packaging, transportation, etc. are part of the price. If someone wishes to order bulk from the Market they pay farm price + .25/lb more for transporting to the market. The problem we've seen with dropping prices is that you will get the same customer over and over again as well as all their friends expecting the same low prices. We have refused to undercut yet we still do well at market and at the farm, and we get the same repeat customers and their friends at a fair price. Jacqueline

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