Market Farming

["Liz Pike" <liz AT laughingbrookfarm.com>]

> What's the point of all this?

There are so many "why's"...just to cover a few...

When you sell to a reseller, who'll expect to haggle on your price because
he's buying quantity which means less profit for you, the end customer may
not get the quality of product you originally produced, which may reflect
badly on you as a grower if the customer ever finds out where the product
came from.  A lose-lose situation for the farmer & customer.  Reseller
doesn't care--he's got his money and doesn't have to face those
highway/market customers again.

Just because you had a large reseller buy all your stuff this year doesn't
mean they'll be back next year.  Where does that leave you??

One of the aspects of our farms is that we don't want to rely on a few large
sales, which is why many/most farms "direct" market.  Farms who wholesale &
retail understand the necessity of  scrupulous dealers who handle the
product as if they grew it.

Direct marketing allows you to build up a loyal customer base who will bring
you repeat business, spreading out the risk of failure if any "one" customer
starts buying elsewhere, a risk many farms don't want to take so they don't
do wholesale.

Fwiw, when I sold to florists or restaurants, they paid full retail and were
happy to do it because their prices were set to absorb those costs--a
win-win for them & me--and since all were/are still in business, customers
didn't balk.   Just consider the florist or the chef as "value-adding" to
your produce.

Liz Pike
Laughingbrook Farm
Westfield NC
http://www.marketfarming.com
http://www.laughingbrookfarm.com