Aggrevated at Farmers Market customers complaining about prices

[bumpershoot]

I just negotiated the price per pound for some of the meat birds I am selling in a week or so. $3.50/lb is what it will be. Consider this: Whole Foods sells their chickens for $3 and change a pound. Those birds are not truly free ranged, fed milk, sprouted grains and alfalfa. They are just fed an organic grower feed and allowed fresh air. My turkeys are going for $4.50/lb and I am just about sold out. People buy when then know the source and the value.

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
People love to complain, and when they're in the market for something, they like to exercise that right. In my younger days I worked at an ice cream store and was cussed out by an angry customer because I wouldn't give him a free ice cream refill in his waffle cone that he had just eaten three scoops out of. Grumpy people love an audience.

 

[kcsunshine]

We sell vegetables at our market and a couple of weeks ago a customer complained because the corn was a little dry on the end. Usually my husband is so cool and collected, but when that happened he said, "You'd be dry on the end if you had to stand out in a field with no rain and 100 degree weather". I almost fell over, but the guy agreed and bought the corn.

 

[koop]

Why do you think the large farmers are raising chickens the way they do? People want cheap food, they don't want to know where it came from or how it was raised, they really would prefer not to pay for it at all. Yes that would mean the farmer wouldn't make a living, but thats no skin off their backs.

Another thought, when you buy furniture, do you expect to pay the same price for a solid wood dresser as you would one made from particle board? If someone wants quality they are willing to spend money on it.

 

[Jess N Jeff]

I went to a farmers market over here and there was a local butcher there with meats. It was awsome because he had a note book of different "mass processed" pictures. They showed the entire process of a cows life and death and the conditions they were kept in and killed in. This was the same for chickens, turkeys and pigs.

He also had the total breakdown of prices and why they are that way. This also included the type of feeds they used and why these animals where more healthy and better for human consumption then store bought meats. It was soooooo informative!!!

There are always going to be people that go for the cheapest thing around, but when you inform those around you, you will be surprised how many people turn around.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have some people come in to my print shop and complain about my color copy prices. I politely give them directions to Kinko's.
Funny, but they usually come back telling me that Kinko's costs more (duh) and the the people were not helpful (double duh...they don't pay these people enough)

 

[TimG]

Quote:
I've only raised chickens on a small scale, but it is my experience that it actually takes very little time once you're set up for it. I agree that building coops and pens takes time and money, both of which it will be hard for the backyard farmer to recover.

 

[scubaforlife]

I do not consider myself organic. I consider myself beyond organic. I don't allow synthetic chemicals to contact my birds, and the organic standard allows for that. I don't truck my feed in from 1000 miles away. I go to my local feed mill where the local grain farmers go. I give as much grass as they can take by putting them in pasture pens. Organic is owned by the government, I go beyond their standards. Like "Free Range" means access to the outside, not actually outside.

If you buy from me on farm I charge $12/bird. (12 - 8.50 = 3.50 net profit on variable costs) At the market I charge the same as the other chicken guys, we agreed to not snipe eachothers customers. I figure transport to the market and renting a booth is another cost I have to recover.

I have made an agreement with my feed mill for next season that puts me into less cost for feed. I also am going to get going with onfarm processing to limit the processing costs.

I just get mad that people go to farmers markets and think I can compete with a battery cage or "free range" mass producer.

 

[koop]

Quote:
I really don't like that idea of throwing mud on the "big guys", don't forget that these are still farmers with families to feed.
Plus, even though the butcher has all these pictures and tells you how it "really is", it still might not be "how it really is", not everyone does things the same. Too much of our "information" has been twisted to spin it to make you think "their way", it would be worth looking into how these animals are really raised for yourself.

I do like the idea of having a breakdown of the costs of raising the food, I think more people need to know where food comes from, and need to know there is a face behind the food they eat.

 

[Red Maple Farms]

Quote:
Is that the same as "price fixing?"