FROM FARM TO MARKET: SELLING PRODUCE WITH A MOBILE MARKET TRAILER
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
- Filmed on June 1, 2024. In today's video I will show you a detailed look at our produce trailer that we set up in a parking lot at a busy intersection to sell our produce. You will see how I pack it and get it set it up in Marysville Ohio at Eda's Italian Ice.
Then I make the short drive from the trailer location to visit the Worthington Farmers' Market in Columbus, recently voted the Best Farmers Market in the country by the 2024 USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice Awards.
5 years ago we gave up farmers markets. We now sell out of our farm store and wholesale we lost half of our sales 80% of our headaches. I have one employee and a bunch of retirees that work for vegetables and always show up without their phones. Best thing I ever did.
Hey Mike, I appreciate the comment and I love hearing stories like this. Not sure how old you are how long you’ve been farming but I’m only 50 and I know I have a few good years of hard Farming left in me so I’m trying to make all I can to top off my retirement funds, and waiting for the right person to come along to fill my shoes. If this person does not come along soon, I will definitely be cutting way back but boy is it hard to give up all of that cash from doing farmers markets they are huge for us!
Our home farm market has declined over the years because of the emphasis I have put on farmers markets and also because there are two other roadside stands in our county that have huge markets that I can’t compete with. Now if everything hit the fan and I couldn’t get diesel fuel to go to farmers markets then I would absolutely be opening up my home farm stand year around to be able to make a living. Thanks for watching Mike!
@@wishwellfarms I just hit 60 the reason im watching all your videos had emergency gall bladder surgery not supposed to do anything for a week. Vegetable farming for 40 years. I love your operation we are very similar.I am not a patient person and the employee thing got to be too much. Our farmers market $40000 when we put a pencil to it after everything we cleared about $18000. In Colorado Chilis are a big deal they have green chili festivals here. A very good friend of mine has taken a big share of that market ,Last year he sold 80000lbs of chilis in 4 days. they sell roasted bushels for $40 so I supplement his operation with an extra 1500 bushels at $25 a bushel drop off CASH. Alot of plastic and labor to plant then harvest all of september. NET $26000. Not everybody has that option we were fortunate. Thanks
Hi, I watch your videos regularly. I am 35 year old living in Ottawa Canada, I Worked for 10 years as a CPA in accounting and finance role. Don’t want to do it anymore. Recently started a vegetable farm. Just in few months I have realized that cost of running a farm is very high with farm workers wages and expensive tractors and implement, seeders, transplanter etc. farming as a small farmer is no joke. Big corporations farms making small farm out of business.
Your videos are always inspiring and I try to follow the practices that you are showing in your videos
When I hear farming is not a job it’s a lifestyle. I am getting a taste of it.
We watch most of the farm channels. Your channel is hands down the best and you farm is so immaculately maintained with beautiful plants and produce. Kudos to you.
Thanks Becky that is a very kind comment! I bet you are learning a lot by watching all those channels!
Thanks mate enjoyed the tour.😃👍
Thank you!
Finally, my wife and I aren't crazy! We're originally from NW Ohio (just up the road, Findlay/Toledo area) and moved to Charleston, South Carolina 2yrs ago. We've tried and tried to find good sweet corn but it doesn't exist here. It's far from the stuff we were used to in Ohio. Love the content, keep up the good work!
Yes, Ohio does grow some of the best tasting corn around! But it also makes a difference on what varieties you plant and I feel we plant the best tasting varieties available on the market today and that’s coming from 30 years of sweetcorn planting experience behind that! Thanks for watching and commenting, I appreciate it! Btw, we love the Charleston area!
God bless you
Thank you
Just love your idea of having a trailer and selling out of it. Wish for you to have a great season.
Thanks! It’s a great way to take produce to the people, sometimes they can’t come to you.
19:51 Tip: Turn the van hazard lights ON to attract attention during the sale. Replace the rear taillights with LED lights, they're brighter and use less electricity from the battery. Prices should be low on eBay and Amazon.
Already have been replaced to LED fortunately
Good video! Thanks for taking time to make it good luck this year in sales.
Thank you I really appreciate that Michael!
16:57 Install a large trailer-length PRODUCE vinyl sign on top of the trailer. Keep it simple, White Text on a Red Background like a stop sign color combination. No images.
I’m sure that would really draw attention!
Really awesome operation. I am so glad you get to sleep in till 4 on market days. :)
To be honest with you, vegetable farming is harder than dairy farming but at least I get a little break from it in the winter, didn't have that luxury with the dairy cows
Jason really interesting video. Very cool. I'm really enjoying this channel. 👍👍
Thanks Tom!
Another great video. I never realized how diverse u r. The amount of work u put in is amazing. Congrats on the success on your markets and the channel. Doubled the subscribers in the last couple of months. Big things r coming.
Hey Eric, yeah the channel has really been gaining some traction lately. It is actually providing nice additional revenue stream for the farm! I really enjoy doing it and I hope it shows and I’m gonna continue to Vlog our entire season with two or three videos per week and maybe even a few more live streams here and there and of course lots of shorts when things slow down a little bit.
At One time we attended 14 farmers markets, but have whittled it down to about eight now and that mobile market trailer location does absolutely amazing and would like to have a second location just as good but we’ve tried numerous times over the years and they always end up flopping. I have some friends in southern Ohio that do 19 of those trailer stands all over Ohio and northern West Virginia, they are a huge outfit of three family members.
Thanks again for being a loyal supporter of my channel. I really appreciate it Eric.
gooday tim from australia great vid good work mate
Thank you all the way from the land down under!
Your channel should have millions subscribed. Great content!
Thank you so much for the kind words! I will keep on cranking the videos out!
In the farmers market up north, the local organic free range meat purveyor. They charcaol grill thier hot and mild beef sausage, and hot dogs. They use all parts of the cattle. So you asked where do they get thier bread, there is a local montain bakery, wholesale and retail. They feed most of the resturaunts in the area. Now how about the suarkraut, there is a loacl kimchee and surkraut farmer. They grow cabbage and pickle it ot make those jarred products. After the cabbage harvet there is leaves on the ground, you would say send out the tillers. Nope the call thier friend the pig framer fence it off, and let them clean up dig the soil and fertilize. LOL Then replant
They also sell the meat from the cattle frozen to take home. North Plain Farms, and Hosta hill. Host hill and the bread has thier own stands.
Nice video. Some farmers market say you have to bee the producer, but the trailer is anything grows. Tthe best to you and your farm.
Thank you for the great comment. I really appreciate it!
😊😊😊😊😊
We appreciate the information and the hard work it takes to get a video out. I've heard of other content creators use another company to edit the videos. It may not be in your budget at the moment but I'm sure your page will take off. So it might be something to look into in the future. Thanks again.
I've been running another channel about backpacking and kayaking since 2016 and have several friends in that space who do content creation full time and many of them have hired a videographer and editer to film and edit everything for them....titles and thumbnails probably take just as long as the editing process so that is something I will definitely source out at some point. Thanks for watching and commenting!
It's interesting to hear the farmers market science. It's not a class they teach, only learned. We are a 1 truck farm, just 2 of us, selling a 26 foot truckload at the market on Saturday. We don't ever resell anything.
Yeah, back when I was in school I never even heard of a farmers market. I knew they existed in the bigger cities, but many of them were just places for Farmers to pedal Someone else’s Produce with no limits on where it came from, I even heard of pineapples and bananas being sold in Columbus, Ohio at the North market back in the 80s. My very first farmers market in my hometown started 30 years ago and it was the first one I ever attended. The buy local movement really helped farmers markets blow up in just about every suburb now and they caused us to change our business model. Peaches and potatoes are the only things we buy to resell throughout the season once we have all our own veggies but like I mentioned in the video, it’s not allowed at the farmers markets only at our own roadside stands
I used to deliver Wheat Midds to a place in Maryville a lot!
I’ve heard of wheat mids, but I’m not really entirely sure what they are?
I saw a trailer set up like yours in Ripley West Virginia a few years back.
It’s very possible those are my friends from the Marietta Ohio area, they have 20 roadside stand set ups just like my trailer, but there’s are on flatbed wagons all around south east Ohio and northern West Virginia. The name of their farm is Witten’s.
@@wishwellfarms I said Ripley but actually it was Ravenswood right near the bridge across the river into Ohio it was very similar to your setup...there's a huge tomato farm right across the river on the Ohio side on Rt. 33
im a new sub, from Denmark.
loving your videos, im in the process of starting a first generation fruit and vagetable farm here in Denmark.
very good content, and very informative.
hope you will proceed doing this. :)
Thank you so much, Kim! I will definitely continue filming everything on our farm, the season has just begun and there’s a long way to go and so much to show! Hoping the best for you as you start your first generation farm there in Denmark, that is very commendable because it can be very difficult to be a first generation farmer and coming up with the capital to get started.
love your video's! In another life I would love to be doing exactly what you're doing.
Thanks Brad for watching and commenting! Back in 1998 when I started doing this after getting an animal science degree from OSU, I never thought in a million years I would be where I am today. It’s a lot of hard work and sometimes I’m not sure I made the right decision, it has its good weeks and bad weeks. I do know that I could never work for someone else and I really enjoy my downtime in the winter time but summers are really tough and I miss out on a lot of outdoor activities and enjoyment during the summer that others get to participate in.
Another good video. It's amazing the work that farmers have to put in to make a living. So many expenses and tight margins. It is my opinion that farmers should be millionaires instead of "entertainers".
I truly appreciate your kind words! A farmer that does make $1 million in a season could call himself a millionaire but the problem is his expenses are probably close to 800,000 to 900,000 lol so there’s just enough left to earn a living wage and maybe put a little bit of away for retirement and upgrade some equipment.
@@wishwellfarms Exactly. And when you consider the amount of hours put in (24/7), that is pennies.
all the things I wish I could find closer to home!
Don’t you have any good roadside stands or farmers markets near your area?
@wishwellfarms no farmers market doesn't start till the end of this month. Could drive to Des Moines but haven't had a free Sat to do it yet. Need some non store bought tomatoes! Been too long. I call store bought tomatoes color for tacos! 0 flavor.
I didn't know that ZZtop frontman moonlights at Worthington market.What an honor to meet a legend !
All right, I’m a little confused by this comment lol, can you elaborate?
@@wishwellfarms you passed by a geezer with long,long beard,who was playing on guitar.That instantly reminded me about ZZTop and their ridiculously opulent beards.
Lol I was also thinking ZZ Top while watching the video and then noticed this comment. 😂
@@wild_insomnia Oh yes! He was pretty good! opulent 🤣🤣
I subbed on today, just a backyard food grower from central /northeast Pennsylvania. I've been watching your videos for a couple days and figured i might as well ckick on the bell.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! I hope I can continue to put out content that is interesting and informative for you to watch!
Thank you again for showing us your farmers market and how you set it up. Did you always know that you would expand when you first started? Also, do you need to grow all the vegetables or produce you will sell at the farmer's market? I noticed that you're loading the trucks and trailer by yourself? How often do you do this by yourself? Keep posting this great content. Love your content, and Thank You so much again.
Thank you very much for the kind comment. I really appreciate it! When I started out back in 1998 I went to one farmers market and also sold a little sweetcorn out of my garage. By 2021 I decided to get out of dairy farming and make a full-time go at vegetable farming. I was pretty confident I could do it because I was young and driven, and willing to do whatever it took, 16 hour days every day all summer long. We added a little bit each year and expanded slowly to get where we are today, we’ve actually downsize just a little bit over the last five years.
When my wife married me in 1998, she thought she was going to be a dairy farming wife so neither of us at the time knew we would be doing this full-time. I plan to do an in-depth video of my farming history this fall or winter.
At most farmers markets, you can only sell what you grow especially worthington and Clintonville, but we also attend a few that allow you to bring neighboring Farms Produce if you happen to be a little short on your own product. But buying wholesale produce at a terminal is prohibited.
Yes, it is just me that loads every truck and trailer, all seven locations on Saturdays and an additional 9 during the week. My brother takes care of the salsa and syrup and garlic, but I am in charge of everything else. Sometimes I’ll have the kids do some of the heavy lifting but for the most part, it’s just me.
Thank you you for watching and I appreciate the great questions!
Thank you so much for your time. Till next time.
I always thought the stuff at the farmers market came directly from the farmers selling it.
You are right, but this trailer is not going to farmers markets, it’s our own retail location that we can sell whatever we want and we supplement our produce with southern produce until ours is ready.
At our 8 Farmers markets we attend we only can sell what we grow.
@@wishwellfarms gotcha, makes sense.
Loved the video. How did the markets do for the weekend? Loved getting the results
Lets see, that video was the June 1 markets and yes, they did very well, just as I had hoped! We sold a lot of product that day! Are you wanting to hear specific numbers? Sometimes a little hesitant to disclose that information just because so many viewers just don't understand farming and how many expenses are involved and that huge gross sales numbers don't really mean much other than being able to pay of the operating loan faster lol! Glad you enjoyed the video!
@@wishwellfarms well I do understand the concern about the money but maybe just show the empty trucks or better yet have your teams give us a run down on how well the market did and how they went overall
Another interesting video and look into farming and selling of product.
Far be it from me to tell you how to run your business, but as someone who does graphics and designs menus and logos for restaurants, may I suggest that you consider painting your trailers yellow? You have those lovely red and white canopies which attract attention, but the color combination of red, white and yellow subtly makes people hungry. People who are hungry buy more food - even if it is to munch on while walking around.
While the influence of colors seems weird and you may be laughing, look at the logos of McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Red Robin, and a host of other places. All of them have red, yellow and white as a color scheme.
Obviously you don't want to run out and repaint everything for this season, but you might want to consider it for the next time you are repainting and refreshing the trailers.
If this is out of my lane, I apologize. Just trying to help.
I really appreciate the suggestion and yes, I have heard that before. It is not a bad idea at all and it’s something I will consider in the future, thank you!
Where do you purchase the canvas and frame for the trailers? Love your videos! My wife and I are going to be adding vegetables to our meat sales!
Rainbow industries in Springfield Ohio they’ve been around for a long time and ship all over the country.
Thats totally equal to Brazil. Here its the same the market, but its full year and have a lot of tropical vegetables and fruits. But its no beautyful as that street
A lot of beautiful markets around the country and the world. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to travel and see many more in the future. Thanks for sharing!
When you'all go to new england this fall go to lancaster penna. ???????
Thanks for the suggestion but been all over PA and Lancaster already, will probably spend more time in NY on the way there and back.
I was thinking you might be an ex dairyman like myself . I know lots of ex dairymen that now have fresh market farms like myself [ Kallstrom Sweet Corn ] It seems like fresh market farms feel a niche for the dairyman . A dairy is full of activity with all kinds of challenges and once the cows are gone we look for other types of things that will take the cows place to stretch ourselves . LOL
I used to love taking on all the challenges that came with this business, but it is more than I want now at this point in my life, we are scaling back about 50% next year. The challenges I take on now are much different, I run ultra races which are 31 or 50 or 100 miles and run FKT’s which stands for Fastest Known times, I hold the fastest time on the 350 mile Sheltowee trace in Kentucky and Tennessee . I also love long distance backpacking and kayak camping. I may even try to make a living of all these things someday when I get done with Farming.
@@wishwellfarms WOW you have a full life
Howdy from New mexico . How much are you getting for honey rock cantaloupe? Just asking because I converted my whole 1 acre field over to melons.thanks
Hello from NM! We retail our cantaloupe at several different price points depending on how big they are, how much they cost me and whether I had to buy them or grew them myself. Generally we get $3.50 per melon for really small ones and up to $5 for really large ones and the average is about $4.
Just a little more and you will become a millionaire! 🎉
That would be nice!
@@wishwellfarms let me know ! and I'll be your neighbor)
yeah,they let cucumbers grow as much as it gets ! In Europe such specimens would be considered as not sellable. Hope you can get rid of those giants.
Those were extremely large cucumbers, a little bigger than normal. We never let ours get that big and they will typically be nice and long too.
Not sure why you don't have your name on the box trucks.
That's a great observation! If I was wholesaling to groceries or auctions I would for sure but since we set up at farmers' markets we just make sure to put up our large banner on our pop up tents so customers can spot us. It would be nice but each year I keep telling myself I'm goin to trade in our trucks and update them and don't want to sink a bunch of money into signage if I am going to trade them off. Thanks for the comment!
Hi, do you feel that strawberries coming from California are lowballing you?
I used to think that but most people around here know how much better Ohio grown berries are and willing to pay a premium to get them especially since it only last about three weeks. I stopped growing them after 20 years for two reasons; having to hire 25-35 kids just to pick the berries and then not having enough work for them after berry season was over, and the second reason was because I felt that I was taking care of them and doing things for the crop year around just to have a 10 day good harvest window...just not worth the headaches for me, probably the best decision of my life getting rid of them, other than selling my half acre high tunnel after using it from 2009-2017.
Do you watch the Veggie Boys?
When I have time I do. Planning on visiting their farm this fall maybe we will even do a collaboration video who knows
I'm ready for some corn and fresh veggies. Thanks for the video 😊
Absolutely! I can’t wait to share all the Content of us harvesting and selling everything that we grow, thanks for watching!
Dadgum newbie mixing up cash boxes 😂
Lol, that’s what I get for trying to film everything I’m doing and worrying more about the shot than getting the farm work done correctly
How can I be a member of farmers market
Most farmers markets have a website, so just go to the site and fill out an application. In Ohio and other Midwestern states the deadlines to apply is normally in January or February and you find out if you are accepted by March or April. Many of a good ones have a huge waiting list especially on Saturdays, it’s not always easy to get into the ones you want to get into. Newer markets that are less established and on weekdays are the easiest ones to get into. Thanks for the question.
If you don't like buying and selling products from Georgia why do you "dog" them so bad in your videos? Of course your "own LOCAL" produce sells better in Ohio because it really is local. It just doesn't go over well on your videos. Just my thoughts.
Unfortunately if I want certain items on my produce trailer early in the season I’m forced to buy Florida, Texas and Georgia produce. I don’t like to buy it but my customers expect it. I didn’t realize I dogged it that much.