Aggrevated at Farmers Market customers complaining about prices

[aprophet]

Quote:
By buying chicken at WalMart, people have enough money left over to buy a video game.

Today I got corn at WalMart for $0.10 an ear.

I for one will not buy chicken at $3.50 a pound. That's way too much. I sell free range ducks for $2.25 a pound, and couldn't imagine charging $3.50 a pound.

Learn to trade and barter I raise quail for some folks who keeps chickens they cannot handle the processing part. I do this for them they pay me with chickens I take a few chickens to some who raises corn I love silver queen I have been putting corn in my freezer this week other then paying for gas and my time and feeding the quail, they feed the chickens we kina trade and I will probably take them a little corn next week

It is kina a shame most do not realize that most grocery stores average profit is only 2-5%. I am not sure what the poultry producers is, but it is kina funny when a small farmer tries to make a profit they realize why factory farms do what they do the way they do it, they do it so they make money, and you can show all the pictures you want at the inner city markets they don't care they just want cheap!

 

[Red Maple Farms]

Quote:
Last month these roadside stands were selling corn at $3 to $4 per dozen. Now, where in the heck were the getting the corn? A friend of mine who worked at one says that it was from California, and it was the same stuff found at the local grocery stores, including WalMart. Local corn won't be here until August.

Actually I like seeing high prices for chicken, especially $3.50 a pound. It means there is a window of opportunity for me to go in and sell it for $3.00 a pound off our farm.

I went to one of the natural and organic co-ops that I sell through yesterday, and saw that a free-range chicken egg producer matched my price on free range duck eggs. So, I asked the co-op today if I could begin selling free range chicken eggs through them at a significantly lower price.

When we applied to one natural and organic grocery to sell our duck eggs, we had to go through an on-site inspection and be approved by the board. It is too easy to go to WalMart and buy the $0.99 per dozen eggs, repackage them and sell them as free range. I also see WalMart has organic, cage free eggs for $3.39 per dozen.

 

[juliect]

Quote:
Obviously you've never had corn fresh from the garden or you wouldn't take corn from WalMart if it was FREE! They hate to see me coming. I tell everyone I see in there picking through their stale stuff to put it back and come to the Farmers Market for REAL food.

Amen, Karen! Once you've walked to the garden, picked some ears, & prepared for dinner, all in under 30 minutes...you can't go back to storebought. As soon as a vegetable is picked, it starts losing sugar content, nutrients, and flavor. The longer its away from the mother plant the higher the percentage of loss of flavor and vitamins/minerals. The ears of corn you see on the shelves at Wal-Mart have lost so much flavor and nutrients, you may as well purchase frozen.

 

[juliect]

For a fun, interesting, and informative look at the actual cost of the stuff we buy at megamarts, check out this video titled The Story Of Stuff...

 

[arcatamarcia]

I'm a suburban backyard gardener/beekeeper/chicken keeper and I don't sell my products. But I do own a small retail business and shop at my local farmers market for meat and the few things I don't grow. I think the education thing is really important. But also understanding that not everyone is your customer. Some people, even after all the education, will opt for cheap. When I was a young single mother with a very small income, I did too. I had no other choice if I was going to pay rent and feed my family. But now that I'm older, wiser and have many more choices, the quality of the food and impact on the planet is my highest priority. I would not have been your customer then no matter how much education I had. I would be now.

Also, as a consumer, I can tell you I'm much less interested in the dollars it costs you to bring it to market and much more interested in the difference in the lives of the chickens and the quality of the food. In my mind, part of the total cost of bringing your product to market is offset by the lifestyle you have chosen. In part you raise chickens so you don't have to go to an office every day. That has value to you separate and apart from the dollars it brings in and I think it's fair to throw that into the mix as well when calculating the cost of your product. I make a lot less money selling the products in my store than I might otherwise, but being my own boss is of huge value to me and makes it well worth it to me to make less money. The price of my products reflects that. I'm not saying you should not sell your product for what it's worth, only that what it's worth includes some intangibles both for you and for your customers.

Thanks to you all who make a living at producing food sustainably. I definitely am one of the people who believe you are a national security resource.

 

[PineappleMama]

In the PTA there are moms that sign up because they want to be a part of their kids lives... and then there are the ones who sign up just so they can say "Look at me I'm a member, therefor I'm a great parent."

Seems like maybe you've got that problem at the market too... there's the folks that shop there because they want to support you guys/get a GREAT product... and then there's the ones that "all their friends are talking about it so they have no choice but to join the craze or be considered out of the loop"

Just a theory of course, but seems plausible.

1 There isn't a market around here that offers birds... there is Kobe beef at the Arlington one, but that's a little rich for my blood... but 2 at that price we'd be hard pressed to afford it as well. I'd love to be able to buy only good stuff like that, but with our income I have to settle for getting the best I can, cooking it as best I can, and hoping for the best... one more reason for those Someday Plans of mine.

 

[agnes_day]

i dont think that there is necessarily anything wrong with buying meat from walmart.. i buy 2 cut up chickens and a whole chicken every week..i think they taste just fine, and i am not really concerned with the whole humanity aspect of it all. i think its truly wonderful that we live in a country where we CAN food as cheaply as we can.

 

[edensgate]

I'm sorry to hear that all you people think that money grows on trees, try living on ssi and see if you'll buy chicken for 3.50 a lb or more now don't get me wrong if you have the money spend it. This talk of if you knew where it came from stuff does not help the people who can't afford it. And by the way I'm in that boat right now and I started raising chickens to sell to supplement my ssi to buy extra thing like new clothes, fix thing around the house etc. Yes I know some people want cheaper prices because there just tite wades but it seems that the ones that have responded have forgotten that some of us have to go to wal-mart and buy sales and do with out something just keep a roof over our heads. So the next time you want to complain about the people want a good deal, maybe it's because they need to make that 20 dollars of there's go as far as they can and still buy quality food. And by the way if I had the money I would spend the extra money to buy the quality foods but I'm not there yet.

 

[agnes_day]

quality is subjective anyways. its like the people who insist that only organic food is healthy. which is completely false.

 

[kla37]

"Today I got corn at WalMart for $0.10 an ear."

If the corn doesn't taste sweet and tender raw, I won't by it. But, I grew up eating fresh from the garden corn, and have grown enough of it myself to tell the difference! It should taste sweet and have flavor right out in the field.

It's all about priorities. If some people think owning random "stuff" is more important than the food they feed themselves, that's their right. I choose not to do that. And that's OK!