Survival Of The Smartest

9 ways to deal with competition at farmers markets

The countdown to first farmers markets is accelerating, and for may new farmers, so is self-doubt. Here’s an example:

““Hi! I just got final instructions for my first market. Hurray! However, with this dream I am now panicking!!!! This is only my second year farming, and my first year at market! The scary part is that now I’m official! I’m a REAL farmer! I’m pretty confident in my farming skills, and I’m PASSIONATE about this, but here’s the thing: why should I take my carrots to the market only to sell them right beside another farmer with the same carrots who’s been there for years?”

This question never goes away. Farmers face competition from established growers in their early years, and they face competition from new growers once they’re the ones everyone looks up to. It’s just the nature of any business. Here is one don’t and plenty of do’s that small plot intensive (SPIN) farmers have developed over the years on how to compete.

✔ Underpricing: The Big No-no
Smart farmers learn that underpricing works against them. Some have seen markets collapse under competitive price-cutting. A market has to work for all the farmers. Customers will not come to a market with only one farmer still standing after a price war. Price-cutting to make a quick grab for customers is ultimately self-defeating. It goes against the cooperative dynamic that distinguishes farmers markets from other retail experiences. Cutting prices is the lazy way to compete, and a farmer who thinks that for them to succeed, everyone else has to fail will not last long.

✔ Fill Gaps
Smart farmers use cropping strategies to grow against other farmers by having certain crops when others don’t. Pioneering urban farmer and SPIN-Farming creator Wally Satzewich calls it using the small grower’s advantage. Being SPIN-scale allows you to be more adaptable than larger growers, he says. “Larger growers have one time plantings of crops. They sell them, and they are done. Being small means you have the time for frequent, even weekly plantings of certain crops, such as salad greens and fresh herbs, when they are in short supply at market, especially mid to late season.”

✔ More Isn’t Better
Smart farmers don’t sell based on volume or stack ’em high. Scarcity confers higher value: Other vendors may have larger quantities of produce, but lower volume creates exclusivity, which supports premium pricing. People will feel great that they scored that last bag of arugula from you. They might even start pre-ordering certain items, so you can come to market knowing you have guaranteed sales.

✔ Be Above Average
Smart farmers look closely at what others are offering and aim for higher quality. How is quality defined? Sometimes it’s obvious. SPIN farmers take time and care in prepping their produce so it is very clean and unitized and presented in an appealing way. They tout their “clean” growing methods too — no chemicals and healthy soil, which means better taste and nutrition. Taking SPIN’s high road by cooling produce quickly after it is harvested is another way to deliver quality. by locking in freshness and long shelf life.

✔ Mix Up Markets
Smart farmers are always scouting around for other markets. If SPIN farmers are great at growing some crops and become oversupplied at one market, they sell at another one. The more markets they supply, the more choices they have, and the better they will know what sells where, what competition they can beat, and what their niche is.

✔ Find Niches
Smart farmers differentiate themselves at market with a different take on a common crop, or by selling novel, hard-to-find ones. They can go small, when others are offering standard-size beets, carrots, leeks, melons, onions, potatoes, zucchini. squash. Baby-size crops are attention-getting, and also highly practical for one/two person households who appreciate smaller serving sizes. A niche can also be colorful — rainbow beets and carrots, purple potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, or novel — edible flowers, tomatillos, padron peppers, white radishes.

✔ Outsell
Smart farmers perfect their presentation. It used to be called marketing. Now it’s branding. What it means is better signs, strategic farm stand design, creative, eye-catching displays, offering information about your farm, and how you grow. They use descriptors for their produce — Wicked Awesome Salad Mix, Really Fresh Garlic, Hot Sauce Peppers. They provide attentive and quick customer service and cashless payment options. They use what Wally calls mix and match pricing schemes. It also means going high tech. Get email addresses and maintain a contact list. Stay in weekly contact with who is on it. Building relationships digitally works, and kept many farmers’ businesses going and even expanding when farmers markets were disrupted during the pandemic.

✔ Provide Quick Checkout
Smart farmers do not have lines at their stand. “A line can mean several good things,” Wally says. “It does mean you have something people want, and that they are willing to stand in line to get it. It can also be good for your ego. SPIN farmers work hard and they need to feel popular and well received.” But look at it from the customers point of view, he says. “Nobody wants to have to wait in a line.so many customers will avoid stands where there is one. That means lost customers.” Wally’s SPIN-Farming system is based on unitizing and bundling produce prior to market. “That means no need to weigh anything. Customers can just grab and go.”

✔ Use Mix and Match Price Tiers
Smart farmers use what Wally calls mix and match pricing — a unit price that can be combined with other items at the same price to receive a discount. Examples are $3 per item or 2 for $5, or $5 per item and 5 for $20. This gets people focused on their choices, instead of how much is in each unit, and encourages them to buy more.

Selling at market is not a zero sum game. When one business wins, another does not have to lose. “We play off of, and in some ways, pay homage to, other growers, our peers,” Wally says. “SPIN-Farming is competitive, but cooperative also. We raise the bar for each other, and that’s how we get better and our businesses get stronger.” As small plot farmers and entrepreneurs continue to reshape the local foods scene to their own ends, competition drives innovation and professionalism. It is a healthy and welcome part of the local food scene.

SPIN stands for s-mall p-lot in-tensive.
SPIN Farming is a commercial production system designed specifically for growing spaces under an acre in size. It was developed in the mid-90’s by Canadian farmer Wally Satzewich. Those who practice it use gardens, community plots and vacant land to start and operate moneymaking farm businesses that serve the needs of local communities.

Related posts:

Rumour has it that Grand Theft Auto 6’s gameplay may include a cryptocurrency reward program. According to recent leaks, it will allow players to earn and exchange in-game cryptocurrencies…

I just wanted to send a note to our friends in New South Wales, Australia, some of whom are suffering a once-a-century flood, that our thoughts are with you. We hope you are safely out of harm’s way…

Let me tell you the lessons I’ve learned since 2018, I think it’s time to see how I’ve growth. In the past two years I have been fortunate to attend three concerts in three different cities, and…