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8/7 -8/13 Farmers Market Price Summary E-News
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Many farmers choose to market and sell their products directly to consumers. While some set one price for the duration of a market, others change their prices according to their costs of production or to match prices of other vendors in the market. All of these strategies present challenges in maximizing revenue for the producer, often times resulting in missed opportunities to realize more income.
In response to this pressing issue, Cornell Cooperative Extension has designed a project seeking to provide vendors across eastern NY with timely farmers market price data summaries that examine regional variations in the pricing of the same seasonal products.
To fulfill the goals of this project, Cooperative Extension staff will be travelling to markets each week to record the prices of products. Aggregating these prices will then allow staff to determine regional differences and opportunities to increase price. This data can be used by farmers to adjust prices and, therefore, increase revenue and profit.
CCE's Farmers Market Summary Reports are merely one of many ways vendors and farmers, such as yourself, can receive this information in these upcoming months! Look for CCE staff at your local market to receive flyers, or follow us on Facebook and other social media sites based off your region!
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Important Notes About Project Data
- Check out some of the price averages for new products being tracked in August! Price averages for these products are now being released! New products include...
LEG OF LAMB
SHOULDER PORK ROAST
RIB-EYE STEAK
CHICKEN LIVER
HONEY
- Products labelled as NC determine that those are the average prices for products produced using non-conventional methods. This includes organic, natural, grass-fed, etc.
- Spaces left blank conclude that not enough data was available for that product to provide an accurate average for the week
- Regions are defined as the following! Find your county to see where you fall!
CAPITAL REGION:
This region is defined by counties including Schenectady, Albany, Rensselaer, Columbia, and Greene.
MID-HUDSON REGION:
This region is defined by counties including Putnam, Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange.
SARATOGA LAKE GEORGE REGION:
This region is defined by counties including Washington, Saratoga and Warren.
NORTHERN REGION:
This region is defined by counties including Clinton, Jefferson and St. Lawrence.
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Vegetable Summary
This summary includes pricing data on eleven varying vegetable products. These products are tracked and recorded depending upon the growing methods used during production: Conventional vs. Non-Conventional.
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Capital
Region
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Mid-Hudson Region
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Saratoga/ Lake George
Region |
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Northern
Region |
| Product |
Unit |
Average Price
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Average Price |
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Average Price |
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Average Price |
Beefsteak
Tomatoes
|
lb. |
3.00 |
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3.00 |
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4.33 |
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| Beefsteak Tomatoes NC |
lb. |
3.58 |
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2.38 |
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3.00 |
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Carrots
|
bunch
|
2.25
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2.00 |
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| Carrots NC |
bunch |
2.92 |
|
2.75 |
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3.38 |
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| Cherry Tomatoes |
pint |
3.38 |
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2.75 |
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3.00 |
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| Cherry Tomatoes NC |
pint |
3.92 |
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3.42
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3.40 |
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| Heirloom Tomatoes |
lb. |
3.00 |
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3.50 |
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3.00 |
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| Heirloom Tomatoes NC |
lb. |
3.88 |
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4.13 |
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3.67 |
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| Red Potato |
qt. |
2.80 |
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4.50 |
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2.63 |
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| Red Potato NC |
qt. |
3.61 |
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3.33 |
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3.75 |
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| Russet Potato |
qt. |
5.00 |
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| Russet Potato NC |
qt. |
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3.00 |
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| Salad Mix |
1/2 lb. |
3.00
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3.00
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| Salad Mix NC |
1/2 lb. |
4.97 |
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6.00 |
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5.67 |
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| Shelled Pea |
pint |
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| Shelled Pea NC |
pint |
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| Sugar Snap Pea |
pint |
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| Sugar Snap Pea NC |
pint |
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Sweet Corn
|
dozen |
6.44 |
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5.76 |
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6.14 |
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| Sweet Corn NC |
dozen |
5.94 |
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6.50 |
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6.75 |
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| Yellow Potatoes |
qt. |
3.00 |
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4.50 |
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3.00 |
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| Yellow Potatoes NC |
qt. |
3.78
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3.33 |
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3.75 |
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Fruit Summary
This summary includes pricing data on three fruit varieties and honey. These products are tracked and recorded depending upon the growing methods used during production: Conventional vs. Non-Conventional.
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Capital
Region
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Mid-Hudson Region
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Saratoga/ Lake George
Region |
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Northern
Region |
| Product |
Unit |
Average Price
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Average Price |
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Average Price |
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Average Price |
| Blueberries |
pint |
4.50 |
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4.00 |
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4.00 |
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| Blueberries NC |
pint |
3.96 |
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4.50 |
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4.17 |
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| Honey |
lb. |
9.06 |
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7.50 |
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8.13 |
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| Honey NC |
lb. |
8.50 |
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7.00 |
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6.00 |
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| Raspberries |
1/2
pint |
3.75
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| Raspberries NC |
pint |
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4.00 |
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| Strawberries |
pint |
3.00
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4.00 |
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| Strawberries NC |
pint |
3.75 |
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5.00
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Meat Summary
This summary includes pricing data on six varying cuts of meat.
These products are tracked and recorded depending upon the growing methods used during production: Conventional vs. Non-Conventional. Be sure to check out our new cuts of meat now released for the month of August! Looking for eggs? They're here too!
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Capital
Region
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Mid-Hudson Region
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Saratoga/ Lake George
Region |
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Northern
Region |
| Product |
Unit |
Average Price
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Average Price |
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Average Price |
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Average Price |
| Chicken Eggs |
lb.
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3.25 |
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4.25 |
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Chicken Eggs
NC |
lb. |
4.67 |
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5.38 |
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4.83 |
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| Chicken Liver |
lb. |
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3.49
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| Chicken Liver NC |
lb. |
5.06 |
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4.99 |
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3.66 |
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| Leg of Lamb |
lb. |
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12.99 |
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| Leg of Lamb NC |
lb. |
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12.33 |
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10.25 |
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| Rib Eye Steak |
lb. |
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14.99 |
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Rib Eye Steak
NC |
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16.71 |
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16.50 |
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15.40 |
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| Shoulder Pork Roast |
lb. |
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5.99
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Shoulder Pork Roast
NC |
lb. |
8.48 |
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7.00 |
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8.75 |
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Take Our Survey Today!
Dear Vendors,
As August nears its end, our Farmers Market's Research Project is concluding. For the past three months, various staff members have travelled to markets attended by yourself, your friends, and neighboring farmers to collect the prices of specific products. These prices were then aggregated each week according to region to create price summaries for your viewing. The individual offices and dedicated staff of Cornell Cooperative Extension strive to provide valuable educative material and research to farmers just like you each and every day. Help us ensure that we continue to succeed at this goal by taking our brief survey. This survey reviews the quality of our project and allows us to take a deeper look into strategies utilized by vendors. The survey may be completed at the following link
https://cornell.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_57ivb2VrwD5cWRDÂ
.
We
thank you for your time and cooperation.
Sincerely,
Associated Farmers Market Pricing Project Staff
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"'Whole Foods Effect': When Small Food Makers Get the Call to Go Big"
April 20, 2016- Amy Haimerl of the NY Times discusses the many unique ways local food businesses have become "big" players in the industry with the help of Whole Foods Market. In this article, Haimerl interviews several small business owners and industry professionals to tell their individual stories.
"There is a ton of interest out there, but passion for a product doesn't make for a good business," said Ally DeArman, the director of the
Food Craft Institute in Oakland, Calif. "What we were seeing was businesses poised to succeed if they had the right resources or fail if they didn't. We wanted to cut that off at the pass and give people the resources they need."
Check out the whole article at
http://nyti.ms/23ZS99f to travel through the journeys of small food producers just like you and potentially gain ideas of your own!
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Anu Rangarajan, Director of the Cornell Small Farm Program
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A Farewell Note
The Cornell Small Farm Program's mission is to
help farmers get expert assistance to facilitate all phases of farm business development, from initial growth to optimization to maturity. At the center of our approach is collaboration with CCE educators, Cornell Faculty and other agriculture service providers to create information and training programs to help farmers enhance skills, knowledge, networks and profitability.
Many of our NY farms market directly to consumers through farmers markets, farm stands or CSAs. Yet, one of the main challenges that we hear from farmers regardless of the market channel is the difficulty in setting product prices. While pricing ideally should be based on costs of production and marketing, setting prices for farmers' markets can be challenging since communities vary in what they desire or can afford. Unlike wholesale markets, there are few places to look for pricing information or benchmarks beyond the other farmers at the market.
For this reason, I was thrilled to serve as the
Cornell Campus faculty mentor for Lindsey McMahon. As a Cornell CCE Intern, she worked closely with Steve Hadcock, Jesse Strzok and other CCE staff to help farmers understand the variability of price by farmers market by collecting weekly prices of a broad range of products. All of this takes a tremendous amount of time to collect the data and then present it in a way that may be useful to farmers. What we really want to understand is if this price information helps our farmers make price adjustments to improve profitability. If prices are higher in one region than another- is this based upon history or habit? Which markets are more lucrative? Are some farmers pricing too low? What is the range of prices for a product and is there room for change? If the results of this research do help with farmer decision making about price, we can explore alternate ways of collecting the information and presenting it.
Cornell student interns like Lindsey bring energy and enthusiasm to testing new ideas. In return, our students gain practical extension experience and deepen their appreciation for our diverse agriculture in NY. They return to campus invigorated, inspired and often change the focus of their study or career. Thank you again for making her feel welcome and supporting her project!
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For More Information About the Project Please Contact....
Lindsey McMahon Steve Hadcock
Summer Intern CAAHP
Market Development Educator
(518)828-3346 x205 (518)828-3346 x106
Jesse Strzok
ENY Production Economics Specialist
(518)746-2419
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