Selling Food Locally

[tylerrr]

I live in Boston....

I've had a small fantasy of starting to grow crops in the city and selling them locally in the city.

Can you give me any advice? Is this possible? Have any of you tried it?

There are some successful city gardens sprouting up all around....I don't know how much money they make....

I like the idea of being able to bicycle the deliveries around the city.

Is it difficult to find customers?

I have a pension starting next year and I will be quitting my IT job with the government. So starting a local food business has been an interest of mine.

thank for any opinions....

[jacob]

http://www.amazon.com/CA-H-Square-Foot- ... 0967986613

The model is selling "picked the same day/a few hours age" to local restaurants.

[sky]

http://www.greenspiritfarms.com/about.html

Hydroponics using the Omega Garden

[tylerrr]

thanks...I'm surprised more ERE folks aren't selling crops to make extra cash. Or maybe I just haven't read about it much.

[slimicy]

thanks...I'm surprised more ERE folks aren't selling crops to make extra cash. Or maybe I just haven't read about it much.

I have no experience in this, but I have to assume there are some barriers to entry. Licensing, USDA or state health inspections, etc. Restaurants aren't going to just buy off of some guy down the street, and farmer's markets aren't going to allow anyone to pop up a table. I think a lot of people growing on a small scale revert to near-community bartering/sharing.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Restaurants aren't going to just buy off of some guy down the street, and farmer's markets aren't going to allow anyone to pop up a table.

In some places this might be true but restaurants in larger cities are more and more looking for local ingredients. Where I'm located the names of local farms and foragers are proudly displayed on menus. If you go to the farmer's market early in the morning there are lots of wagons with restaurant names on them buying their ingredients for the week.

Anyone can set up a table at the market if they pay the fee. Some people avoid the fee by setting up a table across the street, especially for a one time harvest like morel mushrooms.

Whether or not farmers and foragers make any money is an issue. I really don't know. I suspect that the $/hour is very low for the families that have four people sitting behind their market table and are selling the same vegetables that all the other tables are selling. People who are selling something with more value added, like organic prewashed salad or salsa or grass fed beef are probably doing better.

Here's a video about the life of a forager (though it never shows him foraging?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sJ6IJZJhUU

[thebbqguy]

The barriers to entry for this activity are something you can overcome. My wife managed two CSA's for a local non-profit. There are processes you can follow to obtain the proper credentials.

You need to decide whether you want to be "organic" or not. If yes because you can sell your product for a little more money then you are going to have some more hoops to jump through, but you can start without the organic certification. Also, contrary to what some website may lead you to believe you can get hydroponics certified as organic, but it's a little more difficult. You need to do a business plan for this activity because there are expenses that probably haven't considered yet.

You will need a food handlers license appropriate for your state and local requirements. You will need to pass certification tests, demonstrate that you can harvest, clean and store the food according to proper food handling requirements. These can vary from state to state, county to county and even inspector to inspector. It's best to contact your local county agriculture extension agent and tell them what you want to do. They will help you figure out what the requirements are and get you pointed in the right direction.

You may want to consider the potential liability for this activity and ensure that you are adequately insured.