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market-farming - Alternative lists, table locations, Profitability, Packaging

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: "gutierrez-lagatta" <gutierrez-lagatta AT charter.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Alternative lists, table locations, Profitability, Packaging
  • Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 05:19:37 -0500


Re: Alternative Lists
Laurence,
Funny, you never explained those important reasons to the group, most
of us who feel that you bolted for other reasons and frankly, left us
"high and dry" for a while there...
> I started a second one for the reasons listed below (archives access
&
> messsage body/quoted text size limits)
I appreciate the extreme efforts on the part of Liz to come to the
rescue and keep this one going under difficult, awkward circumstances
which were completely avoidable. If she decides a change of server is
to our advantage I will be happy to follow.

----------------------------------------------------------

Re: Table Locations:
I work at a market where most if not all but our booth have the table
right up at the front edge of the tent. Who gets the shade? The
seller, who stands in 95 degree sun? The buyer. Who moves on
quickly? The buyer. Our booth, on the other hand has the able as far
back under the ten as practical, with tables ina U-shaped arrangement
which invites buyers in out of the sun. We try to have at least one
person out on the customer side helping and engaging the customers,
holding goods for them, etc. It makes a huge difference in the
amount of time customers spend looking at our offerings.
> But the other vendors seems to have their tables flush with the
outside of
> the umbrella.

----------------------------------------------------
Re: Profitability and optimal scale of market farming operations
Del,
I'm sorry you're closing up shop. One topic I have been thinking
about lately is what is the correct size or "scale" or of a market
farming operation.
> "Just one small market grower whose little farm goes up for sale
next June.

I think there is a minimum size required for profitability and there
are big jumps in cost to move to the next level which require serious
investments of capital for equipment and a jump in the amount of
manpower/womanpower :>) required. I'm operating my 3000 sq ft
greenhouse at a level of production which produces what I consider a
supplemental income for our family. To take it to the "livable
profit" level I would have to double or triple my greenhouse space
($$cha-ching!!), add at least a half-time or full-time employee (vs
the part-time helper I have now) and triple my headaches. Right now,
this is the level I chose to operate at, since one of my important
objectives is to have the fleibility to be home when my children come
home from school, a second one is to limit my investment/exposure. A
big drawback of small scale, however is that a lot of costs are fixed
or require substantial chunks of money which can seriously impact cash
flow. A couple of examples.
1. My legal-for-trade scale broke a couple of weeks ago. This
required an immediate expenditure of close to $300 for a replacement.
This is a good chunk of my weekly take and if my family was depending
on the full week's income to survive we would have been in trouble.
2. I decided to order a special size zip closure bag for my cut
herbs which offers major advantages in packing in terms of labor and
less wear and tear on the product. Well, most bag manufaturers have a
10,000 unit minimum which I estimated was about 18 months of
production and close to $1,000. Ouch! I was able to find a supplier
who (for a premium) would cut the minimum in half, but still, it
requires a chunk of cash to put out all at once.

What is the "right"" size operation for the rest of you and what are
the issues associated with growth? Will doubling the size of your
operation require the addition of a full-tiime person, resulting in a
small increase to the bottom line?

What is the cost of staying too small? Will illness basically shut
your operation down, making your customers go elsewhere, maybe
permanently?

-------------------------------------------
Re: Pre-Packaging vs bulk
I couldn't agree more - I sell salad mix and cut basil at a market,
which I bring prepackaged in clearpack containers. They are sold by
the unit and there is no weighing involved. I wouldn't consider going
the bulk sales route because of the time and effort involved and the
wear and tear on the product.
>Using the pre-packaging allows the seller to handle many more sales
in a given
> amount of time.

On the other hand, I am happy that another vendor allws me to "mix and
match" - this week I didn't need 8 tomatoes and 6 peppers, but the
vendor graciously fixed me up a 50-50 bag for the same price. She has
the time and flexibility to do this because, since her customers have
to stand in the sun they don't crowd into her booth the way they do
ours...
>It also discourages customers from over handling the
> product and switching items in sale batches; no more "I don't like
this
> tomato, can I swap it with that one?"

There is a middle range somewhere between convenience and service.

Adriana





  • Alternative lists, table locations, Profitability, Packaging, gutierrez-lagatta, 09/02/2002

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