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  • From: Willie McKemie <mf AT austinfarm.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Anyone want tomatoes?
  • Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:41:21 -0500

On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 08:46:15PM -0700, jay sleichter wrote:
> Well it seems that this year is the best tomato year in Kansas.? I have so
> many picked and ready to sell, but not enough customers.? Even large
> quantities at a discount price!? I am afraid to know how much I have, (at
> least 400 pounds!) I know I need to pick probably another 200 pounds
> tomorrow.
>
> What do you do when you have too many tomatoes when lowering price doesn't
> work??? I guess I will be canning salsa and tomatoes tomorrow or my
> chickens will be happy!

Do you have supermarket connections? Most chains will require that you
become an "approved vendor" which is likely to be a time consuming,
tedious, and perhaps costly process and is best done long before your
crops mature. To get started, talk to the produce manager at a
convenient store and ask for direction and contacts. Doing that now is
not likely to help you with this crop but will put you in a better
position to deal with future crops. Smaller chains or independent
stores are your best bet right now. I would guess you should be
willing to accept around $.80/lb for 50lb or more. Vendors that sell
directly to stores (rather than deliver to a warehouse) are known as
"DSD", direct store delivery.

Are you now selling #2s? Do you have good demand for them? If so, you
can raise your grading criteria to generate more #2s and fewer #1s. Do
you have an email newsletter list? If not, you should. Have you tried
craigslist? Craigslist seems to be populated with bargain hunters, so
don't expect to receive a decent price via that route. Maybe $5-$10
per half bushel box of #2s. $.20-$.40/lb.

The above are likely to result in lower prices than you would like.
They are likely to give you more experience (which is highly desirable)
than good results. Selling, especially cold selling, is time consuming
work. Sometimes, it is not worth it. Except for the experience and
contacts.

Right now, we are selling #1s to grocery stores for $.80/lb.
Amusingly, we get around $1/lb for #2s at farmers market. We also
offer #1s for about $2/lb, but the cheaper #2s are more in demand.
All our tomato sales at farmers market are in $3 baskets, about 1.5lb
of #1s or about 3lb of #2s; we do not allow customers to modify the
basket contents. We are selling #2s, "canning tomatoes", to
on-the-farm customers for $6/box, about $.25/lb.

--
Willie, ONWARD! Through the fog!
http://counter.li.org Linux registered user #228836 since 1995
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