WHEN: July 12, 2pm ET
WHERE: Online
REGISTER: Members can register here.
LEARN FROM THE BEST MINDS IN BACKYARD FARMING TODAY, LIKE CATHY LEVALLEY, IN THE SPIN ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANY SPIN GUIDE
Tag Archives: value-add
How to Get Big Sales of Big Onions
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon SK
One way SPIN farmers make bigger sales is by using a mix and match multiple unit pricing strategy – $3/unit, 2 for $5, 5 for $10. We sell our onions in mesh bags, and this fits this strategy well, with small onions making up about a half pound bag. But what do you do with large size onions that weigh a half pound or more? They can’t be plugged into this strategy.
What works for me is marketing them in braid form. The large onions sell at well at $10 a braid. Each braid has 5 onions and are about 3 lbs. per braid. I also test marketed an upscale version with garlic and dry peppers. Those go for $20. This customer bought one of each, for a nice $30 sale.
In addition to capturing more value from certain crops, braids make your stand more inviting and help differentiate you at market.
Some come to SPIN expecting hard and fast rules, like always following a set pricing strategy. But that’s not how farming works. When it comes to pricing strategies an important point to understand is that practice overrules orthodoxy. SPIN farmers are master rule breakers – especially rules of their own making! So be creative not just with your braiding, bu also in your marketing and pricing strategies.
GET MORE PRICING AND MARKETING TIPS FROM THE PRO’S IN SPIN’S ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP COMES WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY GUIDE.
Turn Too Much Spinach into Pesto
Courtesy of Abby P., Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Woolwine VA
What about making some spinach “pesto” ? You can make pesto with just about any greens including wild and weeds like young lambs quarter, sorrel, pigweed, purslane. Use a food processor to make pesto base w/ olive oil. Regular blenders do not work for pesto in my experience. You have to taste test and adjust proportions. Pesto base (just greens and olive oil) can be frozen to make pesto later..
Some people are going towards value-added so you can look into ways excess crops can be dried/dehydrated, frozen or somehow preserved for selling in slower months or made up on a day with more time.