vegetable marketing
TRANSCRIPT
Fruit &Vegetable Marketing
AG BM 102
Introduction
• Must have a market first
• Some important PA fruit & vegetables
• Potatoes, tomatoes, processing vegetables
• Fruits – apples, peaches, cherries, plums, grapes
• Some farmer’s market and wholesale production
Consumption trends
• Canned in long-term decline, except tomatoes & applesauce
• Frozen stable
• Fresh growing
Important factors
• Perishability
• Price/quantity risks
• Seasonality
• Alternative product forms/markets
• Product bulkiness
• Geographic specialization
• Quality and grades
Leola Produce Market
Fresh Marketing Channels
• Shipping point markets – Leola - Buffalo Valley Produce Auction (Mifflinburg)
• Wholesale terminal markets – Philadelphia – New York - Baltimore
• To supermarket chain – local foods
• Farmer’s markets
• Roadside markets
• Community Supported Agriculture
Ag Tourism
More channels
• Tomato broker
• Green bean broker
• Cooperatives – Tuscarora Organic Growers
• Southwestern vegetable cooperative
• Apples have a scale advantage from regional specialization that carries over to other tree fruit
Processed markets
• Potato chips• Furman Foods - tomato products• Hanover Foods – frozen & canned vegetables• Knouse Foods – applesauce - coop• Contracts usually required – very specific• Economies of scale• Length of season• Small-scale processing – Tait Farm
Vinnitsa, Ukraine
Grapes
• Table grapes – are there any in Pennsylvania?• Concord grapes – National Grape (Welch’s)• Wine grapes – make your own wine or sell to
winery – Wine marketing – many local wineries
• Very long bearing period and high up-front costs
• Can you get a contract?
International trade
• Sinaloa and Nogales
• Chile and Philadelphia
• Hanover Foods and Costa Rica
• Broccoli and Guanajuato
• Four Seasons Produce
• Lots of exports of apples, but imports of apple juice
Marketing Costs
• Leola – 8% commissions, box costs 67 cents
• Direct marketing – very expensive – Scale important– Length of season – try to broaden product mix,
flowers, ice cream, corn maze, produce from others
– Erie peach grower
Concluding comments
• How will you sell it?
• Is there a local buyer?
• Can you direct market?
• Can you satisfy the requirements? – labor, quality, timing, management
• Can you get a contract?
Concluding comments
• How will you manage the growing season?
• How will you ensure continuing relations?
• What do you do with your low quality production?
• What do you do with what you can’t sell?