Prices for organic produce

[Guest guest]

"Samba (das) SDG (Mauritius)" wrote:

 

> Can anyone tell me if there is a formula for pricing organic produce?

 

Supply and demand - whatever the market will bear. We sell organic but

because we are selling in an area where the consumers are educated to the

benefits of organic, we price pretty competitively with chemical growers

and figure are edge is that given a choice between the chemical and organic

some consumers will buy ours instead. We avoid crops that are heavily

dependent on chemicals, as they have a more competitive advantage in

yield.

 

Things like tomatoes we can compete pretty closely with, as although it is

more labor intensive for fertilizing, really after that the labor is

roughly the same and with organic methods no pesticides are really

necessary, so we are not at that much of a disadvantage.

 

You might try a 10% surcharge as a rough rule of thumb, but it may also be

necessary to be competitive initially until you get market penetration and

develop and educate a market.

 

>

>

> Is it purely based on cost of production or is there a link between the

> prices of ordinary vegetables and the cost of the organic alternative?

>

> For me it is very difficult to price my produce, because there arent any

> other organic products to compare to. How does one place a value on 100

> square feet of beds planted with courgette?

>

> How is it done?

>

> Your servant

> Samba das

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the suggestions. While we are on the subject i'd like to get your

feedback on my plan of action, to see if you think it is viable.

 

Seeing as we are the only people even trying to produce chemical free

produce, I was thinking of trying to supply as wide a range as possible (say

about 4 different vegetable types, maybe more) of organic produce weekly so

that people can actually have enough variety to have completely organic

meals, or at least the fresh veg part. I want to be able to provide a box

with the 4 veggie types, and a fruit or two weekly starting off with about

10 regular customers and working up from there.

 

I still dont have all our two acres under crops, and so far have been having

sporadic success with certain veggies, but I am seeing that the potential is

there to do well.

 

I know that in the west many people do box programs, but generally they

source their produce from a number of producers. Is it feasible for one

person on two acres to continually (weather permitting) have harvestable

produce, and be able to maintain a steady supply to keep the customers

happy, or is this just an unworkable idea?

 

In theory it seems easy, but can it actualy be sustained practically?

 

I have been considering that Prabhupada gave us the idea that business means

producing what you need and selling the excess. In the self sustaining

model, a householder, especialy one with a year round growing season, would

naturally grow produce to ensure he always has fresh food on the table.

Today in my situation, I dont have the support of a village of like minded

people so I have to deal with the outside world, and that requires a fairly

large cash requirement, so I figured that I would extend the principle to

feed me and sell to ten or more families.

 

Of course in a village I would not necesarily need to have my lands under

ever varying degrees of maturity. There would naturally be people with

produce at varying stages of growth and I could simply barter with them for

what I need when I need it.

 

I am worried that it might be unrealistic of me to be able to manage the

simultaneous sowing, harvesting, maintaining etc of a variety of crops at

different stages of development.

 

Any ideas or comments?

 

> Things like tomatoes we can compete pretty closely with, as although it

> is more labor intensive for fertilizing, really after that the labor is

> roughly the same and with organic methods no pesticides are really

> necessary, so we are not at that much of a disadvantage.

 

I'm having a real problem with tomatoes. We get a lot of rain, and it is

very humid, so all my tomatoes have succomed to blight. Is there an organic

treatment for blight? Or are there resistant species?

 

I have some 'Matts' cherry tomatoes from Johnnys seeds, and they have been

completely resistant, but cherry tomatoes are not much in demand here.

 

Another question. As I mentioned before I dont have all the land under

crops, and two thirds of it is fast becoming a jungle of weeds. Getting

mulch is a problem. I am now one person alone, and I cant cope with it all

at this point. When I can earn enough from sales I can hire some people and

that will make it manageable.

 

I think it is better to have weeds than bare earth, but when I see all them

weed seeds ready to fly, my heart sinks. When I had my brother in law

working with me we once spent four weeks weeding. I just cannot spend that

much time weeding. I figured I just have to get tons of mulch and spread it

everwhere. I plan to put in an acre of peanuts. It is taking me ages to get

enough compost together to get all the land under crops, so the barren land

is just getting all weeded up. I feel so helpless when I see all those

weeds. But I am trying to be Japanese, and stick that worry into a mental

compartment to be worried about some other time. what else can I do, I have

to try to get some sleep at night!

 

This is my second sadi sati period, and I dont see any releif in sight!

 

Should I just develop a zen like affection for weeds.... spontaneous

plants.... or should I get on the offensive and rip em out before they all

go to seed? I mean clearing weeds when I am ready is much easier than it was

to uproot the tea that was there.

 

I still have so much to learn and I am remembering those stories you warned

us about of the folk all rosy eyed after reading Fukuokas books, who later

abandoned their plots which had become weed infested. I think weeds were

developed by the nazis as a psychological weapon!

 

Which reminds me. Once a nazi officer addressed his prisoners thus; "Today

ve vill practice mind over matter. You vill all march over zis cliff. Ve

don't mind, and you dont matter!"

 

Your servant

Samba das

[Guest guest]

>

> Seeing as we are the only people even trying to produce chemical free

> produce, I was thinking of trying to supply as wide a range as possible (say

> about 4 different vegetable types, maybe more) of organic produce weekly so

> that people can actually have enough variety to have completely organic

> meals, or at least the fresh veg part. I want to be able to provide a box

> with the 4 veggie types, and a fruit or two weekly starting off with about

> 10 regular customers and working up from there.

 

Subscription gardening works successfully in many cases, not in others. The

hardest part of growing is marketing, so where ever you can efficiently sell,

sell.

 

4 seems way too few veggies. One book recommends 10 niche crops, but if you

are going to be a supplier to customers, you would also want to have some

more

major veggies also.

 

Don't overlook flowers. We sell an equal amount of flowers as we do

vegetables.

 

 

 

 

>

>

> I still dont have all our two acres under crops, and so far have been having

> sporadic success with certain veggies, but I am seeing that the potential is

> there to do well.

 

We have given up growing some veggies because for seemingly unfathomable

reasons, the potential is always thwarted. Others, like watermelon, we

stopped growing because they don't come into bearing in our northern clime

until

after the hot weather has passed and watermelon is best eaten in hot weather.

 

>

>

> I know that in the west many people do box programs, but generally they

> source their produce from a number of producers. Is it feasible for one

> person on two acres to continually (weather permitting) have harvestable

> produce, and be able to maintain a steady supply to keep the customers

> happy, or is this just an unworkable idea?

>

 

I suspect it is very workable but you might be thinking 40 fruit and veggies

rather than 4 in order to have something in bearing at all seasons and with

enough variety to keep customer interest high.

 

In USA zone five, I have always recommended rhubarb, strawberries,

blueberries, grapes and apples as a base for supplying year round fruit,

with some fresh variety apples and others for storage. In the tropics you

need

to look at bearing seasons and select types that give you a backbone of year

round harvest and then flesh out from there.

 

I would really hope you would grow fresh figs. They come into bearing early,

are very productive for the space, and fresh figs are not easily shippable so

a

local grower with immediate delivery has an advantage. Surplus can be dried.

They are about the most healthful fruit that can be eaten.

 

>

> In theory it seems easy, but can it actualy be sustained practically?

>

> I have been considering that Prabhupada gave us the idea that business means

> producing what you need and selling the excess. In the self sustaining

> model, a householder, especialy one with a year round growing season, would

> naturally grow produce to ensure he always has fresh food on the table.

> Today in my situation, I dont have the support of a village of like minded

> people so I have to deal with the outside world, and that requires a fairly

> large cash requirement, so I figured that I would extend the principle to

> feed me and sell to ten or more families.

>

 

That is like nothing really. I grew up on a farm that produce about 100

tractor

trailor loads of potatoes a year. How many families is that? What you are

talking about is well within the scope of Srila Prabhupada's instuction.

 

>

> Of course in a village I would not necesarily need to have my lands under

> ever varying degrees of maturity. There would naturally be people with

> produce at varying stages of growth and I could simply barter with them for

> what I need when I need it.

 

Nice theory. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

 

>

>

> I am worried that it might be unrealistic of me to be able to manage the

> simultaneous sowing, harvesting, maintaining etc of a variety of crops at

> different stages of development.

>

 

Will take you about 5 years to get it under control. Learn from your

mistakes, which will be one abundance you can be assured of.

 

>

>

> I'm having a real problem with tomatoes. We get a lot of rain, and it is

> very humid, so all my tomatoes have succomed to blight. Is there an organic

> treatment for blight? Or are there resistant species?

 

there are resistant varieties but you may give up more in taste than it is

worth. Site the tomatoes where they can catch breezes as it is the constant

moistness that is the enemy. We use baking soda as an antifungal and it works

reasonably well, probably as well as most of the more expensive chemical

fungicides. It doesn't cure blight, but slows down its progression.

 

You must have some seasons that are a little drier than others, so maybe then

would be a better time for trying them.

 

>

>

> I have some 'Matts' cherry tomatoes from Johnnys seeds, and they have been

> completely resistant, but cherry tomatoes are not much in demand here.

 

And time consuming to pick :-)

 

>

> I think it is better to have weeds than bare earth, but when I see all them

> weed seeds ready to fly, my heart sinks. When I had my brother in law

> working with me we once spent four weeks weeding. I just cannot spend that

> much time weeding. I figured I just have to get tons of mulch and spread it

> everwhere. I plan to put in an acre of peanuts. It is taking me ages to get

> enough compost together to get all the land under crops, so the barren land

> is just getting all weeded up. I feel so helpless when I see all those

> weeds. But I am trying to be Japanese, and stick that worry into a mental

> compartment to be worried about some other time. what else can I do, I have

> to try to get some sleep at night!

 

There must be some kind of smother cover you could plant. In zone 5 buckwheat

in the summer or rye are good crops, planted at a thicker rate than if you

were planting for grain.

 

At least try to mow the weeds before they seed out. Or borrow some animals to

graze it.

 

>

>

> This is my second sadi sati period, and I dont see any releif in sight!

 

What is sadi sati?

 

What is greater than God?

More evil than the Devil

Poor people have plenty of it

Rich people need it

[Guest guest]

Samba

Haribol my friend. The street market prices of organic produce is difficult

to gauge. However in a large metro area charge what the big markets are

charging plus about ten percent. If selling in a farmers market, you may

sell for less or more depending on if it is early in the season or if the

market is glutted with that product. That said it is important to know how

much it really costs you to produce your crops. Figure a fair hourly wage

for your self + the actual cost of water, seeds, packaging et. Then divide

by the amount you are selling (it gets easier with time) That is what it

actually costs. I try to sell to a unique market you can charge more and get

less hassle if you establish a back door cliental. For instance if you sell

to fancy expensive restaurants you can charge more if you can bring a

consistent and superior fresh picked that day crop to their tables. I like

to tell people about farming prices and consumer prices. Best example a loaf

of bread. If you take one slice of bread from a loaf of bread. That is the

actual cost of the material in the loaf AND the farmers cut. The rest of the

price is the middle men and suppliers. Pretty frightening isn't it?

Try to grow a different cash crop than every body around you. If every

one is growing corn you should try strawberries or whatever is exotic and

expensive. The reason is simple if every one in the community is growing

corn and you grow organic corn you will get the same price for a superior

product. If You are going to become a farmer get a market before you plant

your first seeds. Line up potential buyers before you start. If you don't

have a market for your produce you can have a fantastic garden and still go

broke. One year I had a stupendous tomato crop and so did every body in the

area. As a results we could only sell our produce for 16 cents a pound. So

we would barley break even. I whipped up a ramshackle tin shed and made

drying racks and sliced the tomatoes and made "sun dried tomatoes" I sold my

by now useless crop for 6.00 dollars a pound. I did not sell them to the

processor (green giant) but to gourmet shops and health food stores and very

expensive hotels. I did not sell my entire crop but I still made more money

than if I had when tomatoes were 40 cents a pound. I also dropped my washed

tomatoes into my kitchen blender and made hundreds of gallons of tomato

puree. I let the puree sit for a day until it separated out and then

siphoned the water off and used it for soup stock for my self I then placed

plastic sheeting in the drying shed and poured the puree sludge on it very

thinly then let it dry. When dry I crumpled the plastic sheet up and sold

"tomato powder"/ flakes. Again for big bucks. Packaging by the way is

everything. I placed the flakes in small spice jars. I paid alas too much

for, twenty-five cents for each jar. I sold the flakes for three dollars a

jar advertising that there were ten tomatoes in each jar. They sold like

hitchhikes.

One year when every body was selling corn I planted "Indian corn" that

red/yellow/blue colored corn. We sold them as individual ears or in braided

bunches to hang on their doors. We sold them for two dollars for three and

one dollar for a single ear. I made a killing and my fellow farmers were

just getting by.

If you have enough money place adds in some very expensive magazines

offering a fruit of the month club and for twenty-four dollars a year or what

ever you will send a small box of say six perfect pears one month then apples

and what ever I had growing in season. I found it very rewarding but It was

a pain in the butt. So I dropped it. Even so I did very well for the two

years I did it. If a crop fails you still have to send them something. That

is something else you have to take into consideration.

Do not undervalue your labor! Charge what it is worth not minimum wage.

Try not to compete with your more experienced neighbors Farm for love and

money. If possible set up a road side stand and sell produce next to your

fields. That is another money maker. I used to leave five dollars worth of

change in a jar and a pile of bags list the prices and ignore the stand. I

found I was making about twenty-five dollars a day with that stand. Yes,

several times my money jar was stolen but only twice. Often I found that I

had run out of produce and potential buyers had hopped the fence and picked

the corn and left money and drove away!

Carol