A debit-type CSA works well at farmers’ market I have attended farmers’ markets since 1983, yet the whole idea of a CSA has always fascinated me as a practical method to market my farm’s produce. Having customers get a box of food each week that they paid for at the beginning of the season seemed […]
Blog entries by Tom Roberts
Creating customer bonds with presence, abundance, and generosity
June 22, 2015 CategoriesTraditional retailing wisdom says it is of the utmost importance to give customers exactly what they pay for. Any less, and you are cheating the customer; any more and you are cheating yourself. Being rather non-traditionalist myself, allow me to offer an amended view. Many markets and farmers have a budget for what they refer […]
The Shō of Market
June 22, 2015 CategoriesIn many Japanese martial arts, there is a differentiation between the SHŌ (say ‘show’) of the art and the DŌ (say ‘dough’) of the art. Basically, the DŌ is the functional part of the art, how to make the movements and what they are useful for, both in terms of spiritual centering and self-defense. On […]
Setting prices synthetically rather than analytically
January 30, 2015 CategoriesAnalysis tries to understand things by breaking them down into their components. Synthesis tries to understand a thing by combining and processing information in its surroundings. Do you determine your prices by building them up from their component costs? Or do you look at how your prices will fit into the entire market ecology that […]
The role of subsidies in determining the price of produce
January 30, 2015 CategoriesFirst off, it is important to note that pricing of our products is probably third or fourth (or even further!) down the list of why most of our shoppers buy from us. Nevertheless, discussions about pricing tend to bring out the economists who are willing to provide us with a lesson in Economics 101. Often […]
Videos to learn from
December 18, 2014 CategoriesVideos about farmers’ markets, small scale food production and the new economy arising around these. Video Series on subjects of interest to farmers’ markets. Farmers’ Market Management Video FAQ series, from the Farmers’ Market Coalition Growing Fresh Food series, from Cooking Up a Story. Peak Moment TV, “Locally reliant living for challenging times.” Although the website sells DVDs […]
Marketing advice to beginning farmers
December 17, 2014 CategoriesDon’t put all your eggs in one marketing basket. There are many places that today’s small farm can sell their productions. You might try an on-farm CSA, sell to your local food buying club, a multi-farm CSA or a Food Hub, grow for a string of retailers and/or restaurants, or sell to a wholesaler or […]
Displaying prices: On a blackboard or on the produce?
November 28, 2014 CategoriesDetermining what price to put on your produce is certainly hard enough, but putting some price on your produce is itself an important aid to selling. No matter how appealing your display, how luscious looking and tempting, by not displaying a price on it you are losing sales. There are shoppers who may like the […]
Who says, “Eggs is eggs?”
November 28, 2014 CategoriesThat was my response in 1987 when a customer remarked that my eggs were too expensive; that supermarket eggs were less than a dollar a dozen, and that, after all, “eggs is eggs.” I marveled at the wisdom embedded in this homily, not for its truth, but for the comfort it provided the speaker when […]
To tent or not to tent
November 28, 2014 CategoriesI’ve been offered a raincoat more than once while setting up on a rainy morn. Many market members protect their stands with some kind of sun and rain protection, or “tents” as they are generically referred to. You may be using one, or you may be considering getting one. For five years I set up […]