SHOULD FARMERS, GROWERS HAVE TO RETAIL THEIR PRODUCE?

[beardface]

There should be a lot more farmer owned processor/retail cooperatives.

 

[Highland Mule]

I did 10 beasts in 5 batches, first two I messaged a heap of folks and offered them a chance to get some, most said ok.
Big problem to get people to take mince to start with, then it was the first to sell out £9.90 per kilo.
Roasts were tough to shift.
Fillet £40
Sirloin and ribeye were £30
Rump £20.
Would stop and speak to people walking through the farm (did this anyway) they would comment on the animals and I would say you can try them if you want.
Stopped and chatted to a guy washing his Landy one afternoon, spoke to him about it for a bit and then said “you like beef”
“Aye”
Took him to the back of the welding landy and showed him what I had in the cool box balancing on an oxy bottle, he took £30 quids worth of stuff and went to get cash, came back out and said “I’ve only got 2 twenties, have you got change?” I lied and said “no, but I can give you a pack of mince and a pack of sausages!”
Deal done.

he was ex head of CID in Glasgow...

I quit doing it when the local slaughterhouse (75 miles away) closed, went to the one up north 80 odd miles away but they were more expensive plus they charged delivery (though much preferred going there anyway) then the local processing plant 40 miles away went under (or quit) wanted to carry on and set up a butchery place on the farm, but with a father who wants to shoot strangers as they enter the yard and not willing to move away I quit completely. I would rather give up than to sell at the market
Now I’m working on the remotest farm in Iceland where the guy built himself a hotel and restaurant so he could carry on farming. All his meat goes through tourists.

Always give change in meat - preferably something they haven’t ordered, so they get to try something new. Roasts are tough to sell, but topside can become minute steak, which helps a bit, and brisket is trendy these days.

The challenge these days is getting abattoir and butchery lined up - I keep thinking of putting in a cutting room, but don’t want the hassle.

 

[Still Farming]

 

[Courier]

A statistic I once saw suggested that one truck delivery to a Supermarket would result in at least 500 trolley loads going through the checkouts.

When you produce and sell your own produce the buck stops with you - As a retailer of others' products you can reject at will....

 

[DrWazzock]

I used to sell spuds in bags at the roadside.
Price of a bag in the greengrocers was about £6 to £10 depending on year, quality etc.
For people to be bothered to stop at my stall I had to price them at £3 to £5 per bag depending on year, quality etc. This price was more or less the same as wholesale price of bagged spuds where you could shift a small tonnage in one go, rather than have a steady trickle of customers knocking at any time and all hours of the week needing change for a twenty pound note or sat outside blasting their horn on a Sunday night expecting you to serve them.
Other than speciality niche markets i really don’t see much mileage in trying to sell already cheap commodities to a very limited local market. Such is the low value of the commodities we produce that they are best loaded by the 29t load from the comfort of a telehandler seat IMO. As much shifted in half an hour as a whole season clatting about at the roadside.

 

[deleted user 436632456]

I always had this romantic idea of raising my own grass fed only beef and trying to add value to it via selling them as calorie controlled ready meals.
But then you think about the butchery, kitchen, vans, marketing etc etc needed.... could sink a 1/4 easily.

 

[Highland Mule]

I used to sell spuds in bags at the roadside.
Price of a bag in the greengrocers was about £6 to £10 depending on year, quality etc.
For people to be bothered to stop at my stall I had to price them at £3 to £5 per bag depending on year, quality etc. This price was more or less the same as wholesale price of bagged spuds where you could shift a small tonnage in one go, rather than have a steady trickle of customers knocking at any time and all hours of the week needing change for a twenty pound note or sat outside blasting their horn on a Sunday night expecting you to serve them.
Other than speciality niche markets i really don’t see much mileage in trying to sell already cheap commodities to a very limited local market. Such is the low value of the commodities we produce that they are best loaded by the 29t load from the comfort of a telehandler seat IMO. As much shifted in half an hour as a whole season clatting about at the roadside.

You should have charged £10-£15 a bag. You made the mistake of trying to compete with the greengrocer, when you're selling "spuds from the farm" and they aren't.

 

[davieh3350]

Coop rates would work out about £25 per bag for roosters would they not?

 

[The Seeker]

We would all be alot better off if when the prices were poor we simply ALL stopped selling , we need some kind of Union. A farmers union possibly national? that acts in our behalf that works for us as a sellers groupie who will email everyone and say simply don’t bother selling until the price is right , supermarket would crap it in a week.

 

[Tarw Coch]

We would all be alot better off if when the prices were poor we simply ALL stopped selling , we need some kind of Union. A farmers union possibly national? that acts in our behalf that works for us as a sellers groupie who will email everyone and say simply don’t bother selling until the price is right , supermarket would crap it in a week.

I think that’s called price fixing and is illegal

 

[Highland Mule]

We would all be alot better off if when the prices were poor we simply ALL stopped selling , we need some kind of Union. A farmers union possibly national? that acts in our behalf that works for us as a sellers groupie who will email everyone and say simply don’t bother selling until the price is right , supermarket would crap it in a week.

I certainly wouldn't want to be part of your cartel - I work too damned hard selling my own produce to have others causing my customers any trouble. Seems many farmers think the customer is their enemy and their competitors are their friends - funny old world.

 

[JohnGalway]

I'm not a fan of his but he's right.

 

[The Seeker]

Who decides the price of milk ? Not us , who decides the prices of meat , not us. Ps all the cartels ive seen on tv make a lot of money

 

[betweenthelines]

Isn't the key being in control of what you sell (you only produce it to sell) until the end user buys it?

It's a trifle naive to say that car makers don't sell cars. True, they don't stand in the show rooms doing deals with Joe Public, but they sure as hell control who is allowed to sell their brand and at what price. So, the dealerships are, in effect, acting as their agents. In much the same way, your average pig keeper doesn't have a butcher's shop, but collectively they certainly "sell" their produce.

Dairy farmers missed a golden opportunity with the demise of the MMB by opting to go in totally the wrong direction by forming lots of small "co ops" getting involved in processing, distribution and other things they knew nothing about. Far better that they had combined into one or two very large brokerage groups selling to the (at that time) less powerful processing businesses on terms they (the farmers) set out.

 

[kiwi pom]

There should be a lot more farmer owned processor/retail cooperatives.

Yep. You don't have to sell stuff in a farm shop but farmers need to get together and control more of the processing and supply chain.
Own the flour mill, the packhouse's, the dairy processors etc. Work together to market your produce, be it in the UK or for export.

You don't have to work on the farm all day and then run a shop as well to be selling your own stuff.

Didn't see what he said but I'm guessing that's what Dyson meant?

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I think that’s called price fixing and is illegal

Holding goods back to obtain a better price is very different from price fixing I believe.

 

[S80RTE]

A farm near me started about 6 months ago selling their own cattle and pig products they banked on 1 of each a week they are now up to 3 of each and branching into sheep and poultry products. A small dairy farm nearby is in the final stages of getting set up to do local deliveries hopefully they will go to glass bottles rather than those useless plastic ones that are an environmental nightmare along with all the other good ideas from supermarkets in the 80's and 90's

 

[S80RTE]

Know someone who has 2 milk vending machines.
Its a full time job keeping them going!

Delighted to hear that I hope it continues to be a roaring success. Dairy Farms selling direct is big business in New Zealand

 

[davieh3350]

Who decides the price of milk ? Not us , who decides the prices of meat , not us. Ps all the cartels ive seen on tv make a lot of money

I didn’t decide the price I sold my meat at, I didn’t have a clue what to charge for it at the start, so I told the processors to put a decent price on it so that I could come down if it was too high and wasn’t selling. I did with some of it.
Go to the market and all you can do is take your beasts home... but you can’t do that for long.

 

[Highland Mule]

I didn’t decide the price I sold my meat at, I didn’t have a clue what to charge for it at the start, so I told the processors to put a decent price on it so that I could come down if it was too high and wasn’t selling. I did with some of it.
Go to the market and all you can do is take your beasts home... but you can’t do that for long.

I chose my own price, but benchmark myself against my competitors. I rarely have a customer ask before they buy, and most just get the total when they collect. I'm content with what I get, but many tell me I'm not asking enough, which tells me I've pitched it about right.