Market Farming

[Willie McKemie <mckemie AT austinfarm.org>]

On Mon, Sep 30, 2002 at 08:59:09PM -0700, Kane, Tracy wrote:
> Hi, in regards to this thread, I've been hearing alot of complaints from
> other growers lately about one grower who is bringing in his friends
> tomatoes; of course, the current market is already flooded with tomatoes, so
> now the cash flow is dispersed even more so; the grumblings are that
> "customers don't want just more tomatoes, they want more farmers": I don't
> agree, as the customer seems to not notice the farmer as much as the produce
> sometimes.  Is there anyone else out there who has dealt with this issue,
> again and again, and has come up with an effective solution? Thanks, 
> 
PROHIBITING selling ANY product not produced by the seller is the 
solution, IMHO.  We have recently had several on the list allude to 
their roles as resellers.  "High quality", "neighbor can't be bothered 
selling his own stuff", "complement my offerings", etc, etc, etc.  
Prohibiting the reselling encourages more producers to attend the markets 
rather than just finding a reseller to handle it.  Allowing reselling 
discourages producers from attending.

The sellers that offer the widest selections are likely to attract the 
most attention of buyers.  Since resellers offer the widest selections, 
non-resellers are put at a competitive disadvantage.  MY experience is 
that the consumers can not be relied upon to distinguish between the 
resellers and non-resellers.  In the short term.

May I offer my observations on how I have seen several markets develop 
and decline over a period of years?

1) A new market gets organized and promoted.  In an effort to maintain 
good supply, reselling is allowed.
2) Resellers do good business, offering a wide selection of produce 
while non-resellers (farmers) are generally able to offer a few 
products at a time.
3) The farmers are gradually forced out of the market due to low sales 
or they become resellers.
4) As the resellers come to dominate the market, the consumers become 
more aware of the presence of the resellers.  And, the market declines. 
Though easily fooled in the short term, customers don't come to markets 
to buy from resellers.

I encourage others to worry less about supply in markets and more about 
honesty and integrity.

-- 
Willie  ONWARD!  Through the fog!
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