sC
Horti.Coun.try
, TimElkner
Lancaster County
HorticttUure Agent
PLAN YOUR SALES
STRATEGY NOW
I believe I’ve written this
before, but just in case you
haven’t heard it said, you
should be planning the sales
of your fruit and vegetable
crops now, before you’ve
even harvested the first piece
of fruit or planted the first
vegetable seed.
The markets for tobacco,
corn, and soybeans are about
as poor as they were last year
at this time. The current situ
ations in dairy and pork are
poor as well. As with last
year, this means more
growers will be growing vege
tables and fruit on their
farms. With so many choices
for a buyer, why should they
choose your produce over
your neighbors?
Max E. Brunk, formerly of
Cornell University, wrote the
following in an article enti
tled “What is Marketing?”:
“The size and strength of
your market is nothing more
and nothing less than what
you choose to make it. Suc
cess in this respect depends
on your ability to anticipate
the wants of buyers, packers,
processors and consumers for
both product and services to
anticipate your competitors’
actions and to play the game
within the rules prescribed by
government.”
The key here is that you
make your market. Yes, there
will be a certain demand for
many of our products such as
sweet corn but you need to
have the buyer choose your
sweet corn. How do you do
this? Marketing.
Max Brunk writes further:
“People want and can eat
just so much food. When this
basic need is met they begin
to search for better qualities
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Note that one item men
tioned here is better qualities.
There are many dozen ears of
sweet corn sold in the county
and I know that there are
many levels of quality within
those ears.
What are you doing to
insure the highest quality
possible in your produce?
Buyers, whether at a roadside
stand, auction or wholesale
operation will seek the high
est quality possible. Your
goal needs to be to provide
the highest quality fruits and
vegetables that can be pro
duced.
If you are in a situation
where you can directly
market your produce then
you have greater control over
prices received.
Brunk noted:
“Marketing and selling are
not synonymous. To sell
means to get rid of-to trans
fer ownership. Anybody can
do that. On the other hand, to
market means to create
value-to perform a service
for which someone is willing
to pay-to perform a service
on which a profit can be
made.”
If you sell at the auction or
to a wholesaler you can im
prove your returns somewhat
by having higher quality but
you are still going to be sub
ject to the prices of the
market. Anyone who has re
ceived $2 for his or her toma
toes at the auction in August
knows what I mean.
On the other hand, by
direct marketing you have
more influence over the
prices received for your pro
duce. This does not mean
that you will not need to be
aware of the current market
prices, but you can still have
a greater return as long as
you give your customers a
reason to pay these higher
prices.
Tree-ripened fruit, vine
ripened tomatoes, heirloom
tomatoes, fresh cut flowers or
melons fresh from the field
are items that you can pro
vide at a level of quality and
freshness that the chain
stores could only hope to
have. And consumers are
often willing to pay a reason
able premium for this im
proved quality.
Max Brunk also mentioned
creating services as part of
marketing. What are these
services? This could include
having preparation informa
tion or recipes for your pro
duce. Or this could include
educating your customers
about the unusual types of
melons you are growing or
the nutritional values of the
various fruits and vegetables
at your stand.
Another possibility would
be to have prepacked and
prepriced produce for con
venience. The list here is very
long and mostly limited by
what you will do. Once a cus
tomer is in your market there
are many factors affecting
purchases. The way produce
is displayed and located in
your market will affect sales.
One suggestion I recently
read was to have high
volume products such as
sweet corn in more than one
location or accessible from
two sides so more people can
be making selections at a
time. Key items in your stand
should have a consistent loca
tion so customers can find
them each week. Also high
volume items should be lo
cated at the back of the stand
so customers will walk by
other items and possibly add
them to their purchase. Color
is also important in your dis
plays. Break-up greens with
reds or yellows. Also be care
ful with colors in displays of
spring bedding plants. Fi
nally always use the appro
priate size container for the
volume of produce being dis-
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Grower and Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 11, 2000 —Page
played. The last few green
beans in the bottom of a large
box look like leftovers and
will not sell as well as the
same volume of beans that
appear to partially fill a
smaller box.
Another form of direct
marketing that is often over
looked is direct marketing to
restaurants. Here you can
receive premium prices for
high quality produce but you
will need to have the speci
alty items required by the
chefs. A long-term relation
ship will help you anticipate
required volumes and types
of produce needed through
out the season. A steady
supply and consistent quality
is critical in this marketing
method and you may need to
supply many restaurants in
order to be profitable. This
marketing method is defi
nitely not for everyone but if
you can make it work for
your operation then it can be
an excellent source of
income.
But what if direct market
ing is not for you? You must
then find ways to receive the
highest possible prices for
your produce. The quality of
your fruits and vegetables
will be the first determining
factor in price. There are
growers that always com
mand a premium price at the
auctions because their pro
duce has the reputation of
being of highest quality.
There should be no reason
that any other grower could
match their quality. If they
are growing too many types
of vegetables to really pro
duce a high quality product
in any one item then perhaps
you should reduce your vari
ety and do a better job with
fewer items. It will take some
time to develop the reputa
tion for high quality but
buyers remember where they
purchased a quality product
and will begin to seek your
produce.
Dealing with the wholesale
market has advantages and
disadvantages as well. You
generally deal with fewer
people (good if you do not
like to deal with many cus
tomers) but you will also need
larger volumes of produce
and almost always have to
have a consistent supply. You
will again be subject to
market pricing but a prem
ium product may again com
mand a slightly higher price.
With so many roadside
stands and the volume of
fruits and vegetables at the
auctions I feel that more
growers are going to have to
start moving produce out of
the county by wholesaling in
order to receive high enough
prices to stay in business.
Look at what overproduction
has done to milk prices. I
hope the high production po
tential of Lancaster County
does not do the same to fruit
and vegetable prices locally.
Making a decent living by
producing fruits and vegeta
bles is becoming more of a
challenge every day. Like
with most other businesses
there are many competitors
out there trying for the same
dollars as you are. I feel that
there are still opportunities
for the grower who takes the
time to grow the highest qual
ity fruits and vegetables and
then takes some time to
market them as well. Take
the time now to do some
planning in order to be suc
cessful this growing season.
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