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  • From: Lucy Goodman <goodows AT infinet.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] record keeping
  • Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 06:31:18 -0500


I do a non web based record keeping for the veggies I sell at market. I have made a dummy sheet that allows me to write down everything we bring to market, how many units, the size of the unit and the price. there is also a place to do the same with things we sell by the pound. Before going to market I fill this out by hand (and often do more filling out at market when i discover items that did not get put on the market tally sheet). At market we simply put hash marks for each item sold-this can break down when we get heavy sales and there is not time to mark what people bought but for the most part this works for us. 

This system tells us how much we brought to market, what we brought to market, how well things were selling and finally how much $$ we made from each crop. With the final number we can easily figure out how much we are making per square foot on each crop by figuring out how many beds we used for a crop and dividing the total square footage of land by gross made on a certain crop. For example, if we made $1000 on butternut squash and use 4 50' x 4' beds that would be 800 square feet divided by $1000 which means we made 80¢ per foot for the squash (these are not real numbers, just examples)

At the end of the week/month/season you get all the tally sheets together and start figuring out how much sold of each item and than put that information into your book keeping program.

If you had a hand held device like a blackberry or other pda that could be used at market for keeping track of each crop as it sells and that info could be input directly into your book keeping program with no data entry on your part. but I am enough of a Luddite to steer clear of such new fangled things.

if you want, Carla I can send you and example of what the sheet (in pfd form) I use, off list. Just let me know.

Lucy




Carla, I use http://www.owlsoftware.com/ these programs. Works good for me. 
Keep track of all my crops and how much I produced of each. As well as all 
(you set up your own items, water, fuel, ect.
I also use there invoice program. It is a single entry system and is simple 
to use once you get it set up. And you can download it for free to try. If 
you don't like it just delete it. or buy it. I think the price is maybe 
$50.00 I am using basic bookkeeping and the invoice program. Anyway check it 
out. Bill
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <cjmaness AT juno.com>
To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 11:28 AM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] record keeping


  
Hi,
has anyone come up with the perfect record keeping system? I've
bought the books, read all the articles and they mostly seem too
complicated for us. We just do farmers market, and only one market at
that. But, we grow everything from asparagus to zucchini. Some crops
we grow a lot of, and others just a small amount, and I find it
impossible to keep track of all of it. We don't sell by the pound so
we don't weigh our produce. We keep track of what we take to market,
and what we bring home. But, if someone asked me if we made money on
carrots for example, I wouldn't have a clue. We keep track of all of
our expenses of course. We know how much we made at the end of the
year, and how much we spent, but breaking that down into a per crop
number? I'm clueless. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Carla

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