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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] consumer perceptions, was free range eggs

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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] consumer perceptions, was free range eggs
  • Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 08:03:25 -0500

I think consumer perceptions are the biggest challenge for local growers. In some areas consumers think the local grower does a much better job delivering quality. In other areas consumers seem to think the immaculate, well-lit, clean (usually), flashy environment of the big-box grocery is a better guarantee of quality (go figger). In some places local growers will have to work much harder to market their product. They may not get as good returns for their effort for a while either until they've convinced a consumer base that's large enough to develop the demand that will raise prices.
 
Bill Shoemaker, Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - St Charles Horticulture Research Center
www.nres.uiuc.edu/faculty/directory/shoemaker_wh.html
 
I think it's important to know your cost for production and to know when to quit trying to sell something with little/no demand. How much money do you make selling eggs @ $1.25 doz. when there's refrigeration, egg cartons, labels, feed and your time to be factored in along with non-production periods? 
 
Our small locally-owned grocery sells commercially-raised large brown eggs for $1.99 doz.  Farm-raised, confined brown eggs go for $1.50 doz when they go at all...
 
Barb Miller
Tioga County, PA



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