Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK
With selling season almost upon us, one first year urban SPIN farmer writes:
“At this point I am taking a stab in the dark and estimating 5-10% of my local farmer’s market 3,000 weekly customers might pick up a 1/2 lb unit of salad mix or baby greens = 75-150 lbs. of greens a week. I have been shopping at this market for 15 years and it has grown very popular. Most vendors have fairly conventional fair and I haven’t yet seen microgreens and baby salad and greens mixes, which will be our focus. We are aiming for the ‘instant salad’ niche with salad mix, sunflower shoots, herbs, small table bouquets and tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, carrots and baby roots as the season progresses. Is this a realistic range or way off?”
I never think in terms of market share because it is too hard to pin down. There are too many variables in play for a projection like that to be made. These variables include:
> > what your produce looks like – quality and packaging
> > what your stand looks like
> > how well you connect personally with customers
> > the appeal of your niche crops
> > how successful you can be at capturing early season sales– customers stick with
who they buy from first
> > how well you differentiate yourself from other growers at market – if most aren’t city-
based that could be a huge selling point for you
You just have to go in ready to compete.
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