Market Farming

[Debbie Moore <caverdjmoore AT hotmail.com>]

> How do you convince people to pay more? 

Hi Lynn -

The short answer is that you can't. I understand your local economy. Only 20% 
of my income came from our *local* farmers market last year. Two tricks to 
earning a profit: sell where the money is, and upscale the products. I am 
fortunate to live 1.5 hours from metropolitan areas. May sound like a lot but 
they enjoy the "small family farm" stories and will pay for it. I have 
learned from my husband (who is in sales professionally) to sell the STORY. 
Sales is extremely difficult for me, as is driving in traffic, but it's that 
or go back to the corporate cubicle which was slowly killing me.

I guess what I'm suggesting is can you supplement with sales in a more 
affluent area? When I have the opportunity to travel with my husband, we 
always go to farmers markets. The larger the city, the further the farmers 
travel, and it is not unusual to find farmers traveling 3 hours one way. They 
make decent profits, even with the high price of gas, and the high booth 
rental. Can you sell through the internet? Even if your passion is eggs and 
veggies, is there something you can add that you can market over the 
internet, or wholesale via shipping to stores somewhere etc? This does take 
time to develop...

Very rural cultures such as yours are very set in their ways. There is not a 
lot of money to go around and quality food will never be high on the list. 

Deb
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