Thanks for posting the hard numbers. Plenty of people like to garden and think they will strike it rich by growing and selling garden stuff - the truth is that it is hard way to earn an income. It makes a great second job though!

Personally I think that produce being sold at open air markets should be categorized by who is growing it and who is selling it. If you didn't grow it, then you sell in the "Produce Market" section. If you are the grower, then you sell in the "Farmer's Market" section. It gets tricky when you have the farmer's wife or children doing the selling, and they have nothing to do with the growing or harvesting of the food. And expecting a farmer to be good at marketing AND growing is asking a lot of one person. Around here we have state run Farmers Markets that allow reselling, very few vendors are selling stuff they actually grew. It is supposed to be in-state only produce but you can buy citrus and no one grows citrus commercially in this state. All in the name of "keep the market going" which I agree with I just wish they would label things so that the public was not being misled.

I know people that operate market farms of over an acre, that sell at multiple markets and have other avenues for their produce. They work very hard and don't make as much money as you would expect. But different people need different amounts of income and people can get by on less in different parts of the country. Its all relative.

Congratulations on your success and I hope the future gives just what you are looking for.

"...It gets tricky when you have the farmer's wife..."

Or the farmer's husband, lol!

Interesting thread!
:)
Dee

Kritzmicrogrow, how many square feet or acres are you using for your market garden?

steve22802: steve i plant 12000 row ft. at 2 foot spacing avg.
some things are tighter spacing- some wider. i plant on about 35000 sq. ft. some areas are early and late planted.
i start out with onion, spinach,radish,gr. onion. brassica,s-kohlrabi-(potato around may 15)
misc. lettuces , beets followed by warm weather crops then a early august planting of more gr. onion, beans and beets and spinach.
everything gets rotated pretty well.
i cover crop in most areas in late september.
thanks for asking,mark.

Just curious, before or after expenses?

Kritz, do you plant many specialty type crops? Do you think that might increase your income?

I started selling at the farmers markets 3 years ago.
I grow flowers and lots and lots of dwarf conifers.
I had been selling loads of hostas on line, but it seems everyone And thier uncle is selling hostas!
I sell at 3 markets a week and my wife sells at a smaller one on Saturday (I sell at our biggest market on Saturday).
At our markets you must grow your own to be able to sell.
If you are selling for someone else, you must be registered with the county Ag department to sell for the other person. You can only sell for one other person.
I am the president of a small market association, and last year we meet with the Sate Ag folks and Boy! do they have a lot of new rules!
I found as long as we followed the rules, the Ag department backed us up when we had problems.
I made about $12,000 selling at the markets last year.
It now tops our on-line sales. We now have 4 small kit-greenhouses purchased from Farmtek.
We have expanded into fruit trees and blue berries this year, so I am quite anixous for the selling season to begin.
We have been growing Christmas trees in pots for 3 years, and this past season had our first sales. We hope next year to be able to make around $2,000 from christmas trees and compainion plants.
This past year we actually made money!
Steven

Hi Norcalconifers:

I'm interested in your potted Chistmas trees. How big were they this year when you sold? I think that's a great way to make market more "year round"

What kind of labor is involved in the potted trees? Thanks in advance....

The trees that sold best were 3 feet tall, and almost as wide. The Noble Firs and Fraser Firs sold best. We did sell some dwarf Alberta Spruce as well, but not the run of the mill type, true dwarfs.
I buy them as year-old seedlings from Lawyer Nursery in Wash. We grow them 3 years then sell them. We grow all of them in pots.
Watering is the biggest issue. They require more than you think so the first year we lost about half of them. Fertilizing is another issue, they burn if you use too much, look yeallow if you forget the iron.
Overall they are pretty easy. We hope to sell 100 this year. that will make December a lot better month for us!
Steven

We have a two acre lot with one acre in garden divided half in raised intensive beds and half in lower alleyways. We have two nearly full-time family workers. For the past 13 years we have grossed an average of about $24,000 in one of the poorest areas of California. Presently we market twice a week, year around at one market location. It's real lean in the winter. When it comes to figuring expenses I find that quite a bit qualifies such as a portion of the mortgage, property taxes, interest on mortgage, market rent, publication expenses, office expenses, mileage to markets and for picking up supplies. Also utilities are a big expense as we keep a walk-in cooler going all year and pump water 24/7 in the summer months. There are lots of tax advantages that farmers share with other small businesses. In the end expenses come out to about 1/3 of gross income but last year I had to put in an expensive new well that I'll amortize over a few years so expenses will be more. More information at our non-commercial website below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Whole Systems Agriculture

thank you to all & who responded to this post. there is lots of great info in all of these post,s that we all can read, share , and put to use in our market garden endeavors.
with the power of all of our minds working together, as market gardeners, there are no limits to our growth. mark!

I would have to see what you are doing wrong guy.First it is a lot of work and you are not going to get rich, but it is a buss. and has to be treated like one.I have two 100x120 garden areas for produce other areas for berry production. I have one garden in cover crop and use the other.But I have 1000 tomato plants a year that clear about 8,000 a year forget the rest of the garden.I'm using about a 4th of an acre ,an acre is 43,560 square feet.
There is a book that ,got me about 10 years ago "THE SMALL COMMERCIAL GARDEN", he shows what you must do to make $ 10,000 0n a 9246 square feet in the 1980's. Today prices are higher and people are educated about local produce.
I hope you study and learn to market your produce, so you can make some income to keep you enjoying market growing.Good luck!

tulsacityfarmer,

You do $8000.00 with 1000 tomatoe plants? Are you selling plants or tomatoes? So you only use 1 bed, 100ft.x120ft. at a time? Also do you know if the book is still available?