What’s even harder than farming?
Selling the crops you produce!
If you don’t know how to sell your products BEFORE you grow them, it’s easy to end up in a tight spot. You absolutely don’t want to get stuck with a great harvest, but no way to sell it.
So how do you make sure your crops will sell? I could probably write entire books on the topic, but for today I just want to share three tips with you.
1. Use a mix of sales channels
Especially when starting out, the more variety in selling avenues you have, the better. As your farm becomes more established, you can narrow down who you sell to. But at the beginning it’s a good idea to try different ways of selling your product whether it be farmers markets, CSA, or even wholesale.
There are very successful farms that do all wholesale. There are also profitable farms that sell almost all of their products within a fifteen-mile radius! The type of produce your grow, your location, your competition, the volume of your production…there are so many factors that go into whether you should sell retail or wholesale. That’s why I suggest trying out both and discovering the best avenue to take through hands-on experience. It is also helpful to have more income sources when you’re starting out, so if one vendor quits buying from you, you can make up for the loss through other buyers.
2. Use tunnels to produce early crops
One of the simplest ways to beat your competitors and become a top source in your area is to produce early crops. Be the first in your area to start selling a particular crop!
To get an early start, we suggest using tunnels, which we’ve covered in a few of our podcast episodes. If you’re new to growing with tunnels, definitely give the following two episodes a listen:
3. Run a CSA to lock in local customers
Here at the Farm on Central we have always placed a huge emphasis on community and selling local. Running a CSA allows you to do just that, as you can really connect with the community and lock in customers that will stick with you for years to come.
You do need to watch your profit margins carefully with a CSA, as this is something we have struggled with in the past. Don’t give away too much produce to make it a “good deal” for your customers. If you create a CSA of your own or join a CSA partnership, definitely build a connection with the community, but don’t sacrifice your profit margins for it!
