Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Newbie market farmers questions

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Joel Bush <jbush4 AT ipa.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Newbie market farmers questions
  • Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 20:46:11 -0600

Hi Judy, let me take a stab at this one.

At 03:28 PM 3/19/03 -0800, you wrote:

1.  Where do I go to ask for help?  Do I need a business licence for selling produce or herbs?  I am assuming that the moment I start into the canning items to sell there is a whole new set of rules.
If you haven't located your farmer's market, go to http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm and click on your state. Pick your market and email or call the market contact. You are looking for  your market manager. They can fill you in on their policies and local laws.

2.  Any advice on tracking, planting, how to determine pricing?  Wholesale places to buy seeds, supplies and most importantly those little pots to put my seedlings in. 

My best advice o n this one is to take your favorite search engine and give it a good workout. On pricing, your own market will pretty much determine what you can charge. I never go below the local supermarket prices. You may want to look at http://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/mncs/fvwires.htm, but these are wholesale prices.

As far as sources go, Johnny's seeds is good and you will find a bunch using that search engine.


3.  Are there different rules when selling plants to selling tomato's, veggies, cut herbs?  I would like to do both.

Check with your market manager.


4.  Greenhouse.. ok, so I already outgrew my dining room table with the hundreds of little seedlings, I need to build myself a greenhouse... I cant afford the fancy ones I see on the internet, with the automatic opening of glass to control the temp, nice but out of my league. 

Here is a good cheap hoophouse plan. http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/postharv/green/small_greenhouse.pdf
I haven't built it, but I'm thinking about it. They say it costs about $100 to build.

Read the list, there are a lot of knowledgeable farmer's marketers here.

Good luck,

Joel H. Bush, Division Chair
Information Technology
Rich Mountain Community College
Mena, Arkansas

  • Re: [Market-farming] Newbie market farmers questions, Joel Bush, 03/19/2003

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page