I have been buying from an auction.

I don't know if that will help you or not.

The prices depend upon how many buyers are there (demand) and the amount of produce that is at the auction (supply). I will not know how much I'll have to pay until the bidding stops.

Of course, at this time of year, nobody knows how the year will go.

I can tell you that at this auction, apples were going for $8-15 per 1/2 bushel and pears only came in 1-2 times and went for $8-14 per 1/2 bushel. All high quality produce

Marla

I'm not sure I want to do auctions. I was hoping to work together with some sellers that I already know. Sort of like when a neighbor has extra and you may sell for them. I may even take the left overs back or trade it for some of their produce. That way I get our apples sold at other markets and the seller doesn't get stuck with too many left overs.

I understand, but that was the only experience that I've had lately. I started off selling others 'extras', but it soon got to the stage that my customers started to count on having certain things and the 'extras' soon ran out.

If you were closer, I'd be interested.

Buying from someone and not being 'stuck' with too much at the end of the day, takes alot of skill and experience with your market.

Maybe you should think about running an ad, about 2 weeks ahead of ripening. There is a local orchard, peaches strawberries and blueberries, that just runs an ad. She used to come to the farmers market, but then stopped (I don't know why). She wasn't happy being at the market and not being able to get things done at home.

Does your local farmers market have a website that lists the vendors from the previous year? If so, contact some of the vendors to see If they would be interested and how much they would think they could sell.

This does not answer your question in regards to pricing, but how I price my produce is whatever the regular price is in the grocery stores plus 10-20%. What I would pay for that produce is 33%-50% of what I might have in total sales. I know that seems like a large mark-up, but I take the entire risk of spoilage and non-sales.

Marla

Marla, I appreciate your advice. Thank you. I should probably attend some auctions to see how those work. I'll also contact some vendors, I wasn't sure how to approach them but it seems like reselling is pretty common. I was afraid they would see it as a hassle, but if they are making money also it would help both of us. Thanks again!

At my auction, fruit usually goes reasonable to both buyer and seller, but NOT overload the auction. Take smaller amounts. We have had growers bring in 100s of 1/2 bushel boxes and of course, some of the boxes end up bringing very little. I have bought peaches for 50 cents a bushel 1 year. This grower was bringing his produce over 200 miles, so he thought he would bring PLENTY, unfortunately that is what brought his price down.

Speaking of finding vendors, some of the buyers at the auction might be interested in directly buying from you. But they may offer a cheaper price.

Marla thanks again. I'll take all the advice you can give me. I entered the Market scene in the middle of the year in 2010. I wasn't really sure what quality of apples we were going to have but by the time we were able to tell we had way too many and not enough places to take them. I'd like to be a little better prepared this year. Take care!

All I can tell you about selling apples that you've grown is what I've seen at another vendor's booth.

She sells her #1's per pound, individually. Ones that are alittle blemished but not quite #2's, she puts in bags of 3# for $3-4, and then she sells the 'true' 2nds in bags or boxes for those people that want to do some preserving.

She really seldom takes any home.

Marla

Sell it at market price for your market. I know how those Amish auctions work. Generally you get #1 produce at about half the farmers market price,s or less.But if a ton of people shows up, expect to pay more. BUT those cheap-cheap auction days are long behind. With all the joblessness everybody wants a piece of the action.This is driving the price of the auctions up.(By the way for those of you that feel sorry for the Amish, DO NOT-They could care less if you succeed or not. They know 90 % of their money comes from the Non-Amish.They don,t want to fight for the country that they profit from and live in, so as far as I am concerned they are takers,not givers. They love to make money off of us - but they hate to spend money on our products unless absolutely necessary.) So if you copy the market price nobody will hate you. If you paid too much and can,t compete
with the Norm, Good Luck. Mark

Mark, evidently you've had a bad experience with the Amish they you've met. I'm sorry for your experiences. No the Amish don't want your pity. They are just a group of people that believe differently than some others. I know there are people that believe as you do, but most have never met a "true" old order Amish, not just some of the newer groups.

Perhaps, I've been with them too long.

Yes, keep your market price in the same range of your fellow vendors, and IF you do buy from ANYONE, including the Amish, pay a reasonable price. Because they work just as hard as you would.

Marla

Marla, I don,t dislike the Amish as a whole, I am just wise to most of their B.S. At an auction you pay what your winning bid is. You do not feel sorry for the grower if you get a great price, just as you don,t get mad if you pay a high price . Auction,s are a complete gamble. If someone is willing to take a chance and auction their produce they get what they get, nothing more or less. Do you feel bad if the non-amish get a low price for their auctioned off produce.

We work with two produce auctions, both Amish run. Both have Amish and English growers and franky there is no difference in price (if I read your post correct Cowpie your saying that they bid up the Amish produce and bid down the English). Quality and availability determine the price and yes I have felt sorry for a seller that gets a really low return. There was a cantalope glut for a while here - we bought a bin of 100 for 5 cents each which is not even going to pay for the bin itself. They were nice melons but there were just too many for the market to bear (and yes they were from an Amish grower). We made it a point to make sure they got the bin back (along with a couple others we had laying around) to help out. At other times prices are pretty high so in the overall scheme of things prices tend to average out. It's all part of the game.

Henhouse, what do you mean by English? are you in in a English area. Our area has mostly polish and German .
Where did I say that they bid down the English?
my quote: use in proper context please (Do you feel bad if the non-amish get a low price for their auctioned off produce.)by the way who is they? You should be growing your own stuff and not buying from an auction unless you supplement your own lack of land as I do.

The Amish call anyone that is not Amish, "English". Not down-grading anyone, just what they call us non-Amish.

Some of us, CAN'T grow as much as we can sell. I know it's a problem that some people don't have or don't want to have.

I feel bad for anyone that brings in good quality produce and dont' get a reasonable price, because of either too much product or not enough buyers. But with auctions, and other markets, sometimes you get good prices and sometimes you don't. You just hope for a good average price throughout the season.

Henhouse, you're showing how much you work with the Amish when you start picking up some of the phrases (translated, of course, or do you speak?)

Marla

Cowpie, I am not sure why your scolding me for using auction resources to supplement our produce when you seems to imply you do the same thing. We have almost 3 acres in vegetable production and another 1.5 in orchard. It's not a case of us not growing our own but there are some items that we inevatably wind up with in short supply. None of the markets we attend have regulations against having produce that is not grown by us and we are up front with people about the sources of our crops. In fact one of our markets requires that produce that is not our be so marked. We also sell surplus through the auction when we have it. We find it a valuable tool and are pleased both from a seller's and a buyer's standpoint.

Marla - not of the order but have been around them my whole life. I consider many of them friends and hope they do the same. I guess one pick up colloquialisms and forgets that not everyone understands.

henhouse--I did not realize that you grew so much, i am sorry . i thought you might be a amish produce truck farmer. i have bitter feelings for non-growers that flood are markets with cheap bulk grown produce as our market has no rules to protect the growers from these types.i respect your type of operation you remind me of myfamilysfarm she grows 80-90% and buys a little like i do also, again sorry.

Hello,

I have a question, why would you sell your produce at a produce auction? I understand the buyers, but as a producer, I would want to make sure I have a market for my produce and know about what price I will be getting. The story of a nickle a melon, I would have left them in the field to rot.

The nearest produce auction is in Northern Missouri. It would be a 500 mile round trip and it would cost almost $100 in fuel to just go. So I guess selling at produce auctions or even buying at one is out.

Jay

Jay, sometimes you just have too much, and you never know what kind of price you'll get. We haven't had nickle melons for several years now, but we still get $1 box of tomatoes. Sometimes when you plant acres of tomatoes, something over the price of the box is better than nothing.

My auction is 50 miles away, and when I discovered them I was traveling 150 miles one-way, so 50 was much better.

Cowpie, I don't think there are many what you call 'amish produce truck farmers'on this forum. We have some broker/resellers that attend our auction, but everyone knows them. They usually take the produce up north and into Chicago. They are the ones that bring the semis in and load them up.

BTW, I inherited 28 acres, on which almost 10 are suitable for tillage. Until the last couple of years, I farmed between 3-5 without a tractor, unless I rented it per day. Just a front tine tiller. Even if I planted the entire 28 acres, it would not be enough for my market.

Marla

No offence taken Cowpie - I'm having a really good laugh that so many people think I'm Amish. Thought I hid the buggy better than that.

I appreciate all the great advice. That's why I like these boards so much, there are people excited and willing to share their experience with us newbies.

I was hoping to find a group of sellers that would be willing to take my fruit and sell at different Farmer's Markets in my area. I am not able to attend more that 1 market this new year. From last years experience (3 markets, 1 CSA, lots of friend buyers) I now know that the fruit I had was very well welcomed by customers and that I was the only one that sold. I know that having the fruit there also brought in some new interest in these small markets. So I think they were happy I was there.

I have in mind the sellers that I want to approach, I consider them friends, BUT being so new I don't know what is appropriate. I sold my best fruit at $3.00 pound My seconds/cooking/preserving went for $1 pound (mostly by special order). I had about 12 varieties that ripened at different times so the customers were excited to try new apples. I know of other places in my area that are both higher and lower priced - so I went middle. I took so much care in picking and presenting and also forming relationships with my customers that I'm actually sad that I won't be able to attend these markets.

I don't want to be big seller, but I'll have a lot of fruit. So I'd like to do something that would help my family out. We spent a lot of time and money fixing the orchard. Another reason for me not to sell too low.

If YOU were going to buy from me, what price would appeal to you? Would anything else make a difference, like me taking back what wasn't sold or making sure the produce was ready to sell - clean, polished, in bags etc?

Thanks again

Since, I have only been able to get $1-1.50 per pound, it would be an insult to offer. But what I usually pay is 1/3-1/2 of what I would sell for.

By offering to take back the unsold, you might be able to get more. More of a consignment. For me, my offer would be 1/2 maybe more.

Bagging some, but not all, also could add some. I don't sell my fruit in bags or boxes, except for berries.

Clean and polished is the only way I buy.

Marla

Henhouse, I don't think you're Amish, first of all, the computer/internet gives you away. Maybe you 'came out', but your bishop would have a 'cow' if he knew you were on the internet.

To tell the truth, I feel more comfortable with my Amish community than alot of the "English" out there. I found out this last year that some of my ancestors were from the PA Pennsylvania Dutch, maybe that's way. I just can't give up some of my English ways, like a car.