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  • From: Thamnophis <thamnophis AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Business models: Market specialization
  • Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:23:09 -0500

Thanks Rob, I'm trying to gauge market trends and opportunities - a
risky undertaking I know :-)

But I see a marked increase in demand that we highly diversified
growers can't meet, especially at the price point the bigger markets
tend to pay - maybe half of retail.

Meeting that demand would entail costs: irrigation, a truck, renting
some equipment to lay plastic, etc. And, as you said, there are risks
to putting all your eggs in one basket. A storm like the one we had
last week with 100mph strait-line winds would wipe a guy out in a
couple minutes.

Question: Why are you back to farmers markets - what didn't work as
well as you hoped when specializing a bit?

Joe
Boone County, IA

On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 10:06 PM, Rob Wallbridge <rob AT songberry.ca> wrote:
> Hi Joe,
>
> Great question - I'm surprised there haven't been more responses. It's a
> balancing act I'm continually playing with here on our farm. I started off
> doing the full variety, but as other demands on my time increased and other
> factors came into play, I backed away from the CSA and farmers' market model
> and focused more on supplying stores and box programs (and a few
> restaurants) with a smaller variety of produce. In the past two years, I'm
> back into the farmers' market game and have been increasing my variety in
> response. So here are my observations:
>
> - diversification spreads risk but it also increases management
> requirements; you still need to prioritize taking care of your "staple"
> crops and let less significant ones fall by the wayside if you must
> - all buyers (stores and individuals) appreciate the concept of "one-stop
> shopping" for as many of their needs as possible; you may lose a commercial
> account to a competitor if they can deliver more variety than you can on a
> consistent basis
> - the efficiency gains in specialization vary a lot from crop to crop and
> for certain crops, you'd need to scale up in a huge way to compete on price
> with the really big players
> - transportation and marketing take up big chunks of time that too often go
> unrecognized by growers; spreading these costs over a number of crops at any
> given time is a bonus
> - knowing your cost of production on a per-crop basis (even if it's just a
> rudimentary calculation) is key to knowing what to grow more of or less of
>
> Hope this gets the ball rolling a bit more!
>
> Cheers,
> Rob
>
> Rob Wallbridge
> Songberry Organic Farm
> 24 Sixth Line, Bristol, QC J0X 1G0
> rob AT songberry.ca
> www.songberry.ca
> facebook: "Songberry Organic Farm"
> twitter: @songberryfarm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Thamnophis
> Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 9:58 PM
> To: Market Farming
> Subject: [Market-farming] Business models: Market specialization
>
> Hello all -
>
> I'm interested in your thoughts about the benefits of specialization
> VS the more common generalized market farming business model. It seems
> the most common business model I see is a farmer trying to produce
> many crops over the course of the year, thereby taking full advantage
> of their space and the time available in a growing season.
>
> There are obvious inefficiencies in this model, but depending on your
> target audience, may still be the most profitable over all.
>
> But I'm seeing an expanding market - institutional buyers, grocery
> stores, etc. So it seems that specializing in a few crops may produce
> an advantage over your competition. Specialization would (maybe) allow
> me to sell at a lower price point and still make a profit.
>
> So my question: Are you weighing the costs/benefits of specialization
> and if so what conclusions have your musing (or even research) led to?
>
> Joe
> Boone County, IA
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