Can you make money selling at farmers markets

But go above and beyond. Like Save March 10, My farmers markets were 35 miles away.

For more information, you can contact Nina ma,e planck rcn. The first market opened with 16 farmers selling fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, cheese, bread, plants and wine. These suggestions for marketing farmefs farmers markets were originally written for the farmers selling at the London markets. Most had no experience with direct marketing. These ideas, revised for American farmers, rely on my experience selling at farmers markets in the Washington, D. My parents still make a living selling vegetables at farmers markets .

Selling at Farmers Markets

Show less Farmers’ markets have grown in popularity and become important places for people to buy their food. Shoppers enjoy having access to fresh food and meeting the people who produced it. If you run a farming or agriculture business, you can expand your business considerably if you become a vendor at a farmers’ market. Investigate the different markets around your area and determine which is best for you. Then submit all your application materials.

For more information, you can contact Nina at planck rcn. The first market opened with 16 farmers selling fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, cheese, bread, plants and wine. These suggestions for marketing at farmers markets were originally written for the farmers selling at the London markets.

Most had no experience with direct marketing. These ideas, revised for American farmers, rely on my experience selling at farmers markets in the Washington, D.

My parents still make a living selling vegetables at farmers markets. Inwe attended 14 farmers markets each week. My mother is a demon farmers marketer and I learned a lot from.

I also look at markets as a customer, cook, journalist, farm advocate, and market manager. The Plancks are very good at marketing now, but we used to be hopeless. Farmers markets were new in our area in We had to figure out how to do. It was years before we displayed our produce attractively see archival photos.

Many of the examples below are about fruit and vegetables, but the principles apply to everything you see at farmers markets, including plants, flowers, and bread. I also include specific comments for meat, dairy, and poultry producers. You are welcome to distribute this to market organizers, farmers, and food producers—or anyone else who is interested in the market for local foods.

These are things we know work. We are still learning. Do what works for you. Customers love signs and explanations. You must label everything with a name and a price. Many people are too shy to ask directly about prices. But there is much more you can say. How much does it weigh? How do you cook it? What is it called? How hot are the chilies? How is it different?

Where is your farm? Why is it scarce? Why do the apples have spots? Better food is worth. When you have a superior product better than the supermarket or even the farmer next doorcharge.

When you give away good produce at rock-bottom prices, customers often buy the same amount. The refrigerator is only so big, and a family only eats so. If your product is organic, price accordingly.

Customers do expect value for money. When you do have a bargain price, promote it with large signs, visible placement, multiple locations, and polite suggestions.

Offer discounts for volume. We move a lot of squash that way to price-conscious shoppers who like squash. We still get top price from the people who want just three zucchini.

A good market—and a can you make money selling at farmers markets stand—has high-end treats, less expensive foods in larger quantities, and items in. Your prices may change during the market, from week to week, and throughout the season. When you do, you must change the sign immediately and tell all your staff. It helps to make an announcement about a price reduction as you change the sign.

People like to know. People love to try things. Teach them about your favorites. Twenty years ago, we started to teach people that pickling cucumbers are wonderful in salads.

They have thinner skins and better flavor than standard American cucumbers. We kept searching for new varieties. Now we grow Armenian, European, and Middle Eastern types which are better.

I often give away a new variety, such as the fluorescent purple eggplant Neon, just to encourage customers to try unusual things. Tell them how you like to cook it. They often want to try something new, especially with familiar, well-supplied vegetables like zucchini. You must give them more ideas. Such as:. Go beyond zucchini bread! Try zucchini soup, zucchini pasta, zucchini frittata, grilled zucchini.

For a simple and beautiful dish, peel zucchini with a vegetable peeler and dress with olive oil, lemon, parmesan and pepper—zucchini carpaccio. Here you tell them how to preserve things easily and on short notice.

For example, when I come home with more fresh herbs than I know I can use in three days, I toss them in the food processor with olive oil and salt. Thick or thin, the herb paste is great on vegetables, bread, fish, poultry, and meat.

All staff—those who work on the farm and those who only sell at farmers markets—should eat the food. You must be able to answer objective questions—is this apple sweet or tart, does this onion store well, is this cut of meat good for the grill? However, customers also appreciate personal comments. If you have favorites, say so. The customer will admire you for it. No one likes to waste good food or flowers. For example, make a sign saying:. Wash, spin dry, and wrap it in a damp kitchen towel in the fridge for several days.

Ultimately, farmers markets will not succeed simply because we are farmers and the folks down the road are not. They will succeed because the produce is superior to what consumers can buy elsewhere and the price is right. Taste your products. Do they measure up? No other answer—not meeting the farmer, not saving family farms—came close. Customers did cite these and other considerations, such as organic foods.

Value for money was also at the top. But freshness and quality were tops—and freshness is really a form of quality. Which means that quality and value for money are the main reasons people come to market.

But with regular exposure to fresh, seasonal, high-quality produce, they will become more discerning, not. You cannot give them the same old apples week after week, or uneven quality, or bad prices—and expect them to come back simply because you are a farmer. They will shop. Supermarkets offer the same cosmetically perfect bland foods, from apples to bread to cheese.

We need to offer something better, and different. The sweetest strawberries, handmade bread, pastry with real butter, raw honey, fresh eggs, marbled, well-hung beef. It is smaller than other commercial varieties, and its season is early, but we charge more for Earliglows than most farmers do for varieties I find sour and watery.

Explain it. Flavor is the most important quality in food. But there are other ways to distinguish your product from the supermarket’s. It should be exactly the right maturity and texture—something supermarkets often get wrong because of transportation needs hard pears, mealy tomatoes.

Rarity itself can be a virtue. Grow traditional and unusual varieties and breeds. This is especially critical for fruit and vegetable farmers.

To make a good return from markets, you need to have spring, summer, autumn and winter crops. Extend the season with covers, by growing cold weather crops, or by planting several batches of carrots for a steady supply of young carrots if they are popular. If you want to sell seriously at markets, you may need to change your growing patterns. Sell a variety: many different vegetables even in small quantitiesflavors of juice, cuts of meat. Customers will stay longer and spend .

Hartman cites one of the most common ways for farmers to fall short of cn undervaluing their products. Farm Favorites. We would like to know. Good Luck and happy planting! The increase in local markets has caught the attention of major food-store chains, according to Pat Conroy. Which sells better at your market. It is a lot of work but can be .