Selling Vegetables

Once you have found suitable land in a good location, you must decide which market or markets you would like to supply with your products. There are three main types of markets: public markets, including street markets and small grocery stores; private and specialty markets, such as restaurants, cafés and delicatessens; and large retail outlets, such as supermarkets and overseas buyers.

The market that you sell in may be decided by matters over which you have little or no control.

For example, you may have no choice but to buy or rent land that is best suited for a particular type of market.

If there are other market gardeners in that area working similar types of land, it is probably wise to sell to the same markets that they do, based upon their experience.

Public Markets

When you are growing crops for a public market, your goal is to grow large amounts of the crops that are best suited to your land.

You can usually make the most profit by making certain vegetables your specialty.

If your land is far from the market, it is best to grow vegetables that give you high value for little bulk, and to grow crops that do not have to be sold as soon as they have matured.

However, if your land is close to a public market, you could make a profit by selling bulkier vegetables, since the cost of transporting them will be less than if you were further away.

If you specialize in only a few types of crops, you will find that is easier to cultivate them and to handle them.

It is more difficult to raise many different varieties of vegetables in small amounts.

When you sell to a public market, your vegetables may sometimes be sold by salespeople to whom you will have to pay a commission.

An advantage of this is that it will allow you to focus almost entirely on growing your crops.

A disadvantage is that your produce will be sold for whatever price it can get. You will have to ship your products to market whenever they are ready, and if there is a glut in the market, people will not be willing to pay very much for them. Therefore, the cost of growing your crops may not be remunerated.

Private and Specialty Markets

When selling to private markets, including delicatessens, cafés and restaurants, your strategy should be different.

Instead of concentrating on a few types of crops, you should be growing a wide range of products.

You will have to supply most of the different types of vegetables that an ordinary household will use.

Instead of restricting your crops to those that are best suited to your land and your soil, you will have to use your knowledge and your resources to grow many other crops that are healthy and appealing to customers. For example, you may have to spend more time working the land and you may have to apply more fertilizers.

You will also have to spend time procuring customers, who will expect you to send them regular, uniform stock.

Because the work that is involved in selling to specialty markets can take up a substantial amount of time, you may find that you can only procure customers and meet their demands if you employ paid labor.

Paying for labor, as well as intensively working the land, adding extra fertilizers, and so on, can greatly increase your costs.

However, because you are selling a wide variety of products, you will not have to worry about low returns if there is a glut in the market for a few products. This means that you will be able to sell at prices that will bring you a profit, despite your higher costs.

Large Retail Outlets

When you grow for a large retail outlet, such as a supermarket or an overseas supplier, you will make a contract with the retailer that spells out exactly which products you will supply, how much of them you will supply, and how much you will be paid for them.

As with private and specialty markets, you will be expected to provide a wide variety of crops of uniform quality on a regular basis.

Because these markets deal in large quantities, you will have to supply large quantities of produce, which means that your costs will increase, although your returns should be larger as well.