Re: Being part of a farmer's market and insurance

[Guest guest]

Try Jeanne Danmeier at H . I use her for my liability for

Deane's Kombucha. She can get rates from several insurance companies. Her

number is 952-893-1933.

Deane Bertsch

[Guest guest]

Hi Lori,

I have done farmer markets for several years--not this one tho. I have sold

produce, meats, canned goods, and baked goods, some crafts and wool as well.

Basically everything ever made and produced on the farm.

Insurance can be an argued thing. You will have to contact the state, there are

ways to argue around not being forced to carry it. It may be a good thing to

have but in reality--prove it was my tomato that made you sick. It runs

anywhere from 80-150/season and may or may not cover all your markets. The

markets themselves are covered and what really got to me this year, the markets

I used to be part of were requiring insurance thru their carrier.

My Amish friends who were going to do one of the markets contacted the state

( Rotteger or however you spell his name), he in turn contacted the city

and asked why they were being required to carry insurance. City knew nothing.

It basically boiled down to a case of the market may not have any legal right to

force insurance on a farmer bringing their own goods to be marketed. It was not

a " required " item in any market I participated in prior to this year.

Other things to consider with the farmers market stuff--your expenses.

Most markets are going to run you about $150 minimum for the season. Some are

much higher. Some have a daily space rate which tends to be about $25 on

average. That is usually paid before you ever sell anything.

You will need a tent and tables and a chair to sit on. You will need a

car/truck and various containers to transport stuff--none of this is free even

if you already own the car/truck. You are putting extra gas into it, adding on

miles of wear and tear and more oil changes. It may be only a few miles but it

all adds up.

You need to pay yourself for your work. If you went to work at a bakery or

something, you would get at least minimum wage. Pay yourself at home too. That

means the work involved in preparing the goods, transporting the goods, and

sitting around hoping customers will buy the goods.

Packaging material--don't forget to figure this into your costs. Bags too since

many people do not bring their own to the markets.

Ingredients, figure out what each costs you. I get the per pound price and then

break it down to how many cups I get per pound. Not all flours weigh the same

so you will have to weigh them out. You don't want to be paying people to eat

your products!

Figure out the wear and tear and fuel costs of cooking/baking your stuff.

I joined MN Grown. If you don't do the web listing I think it is only $20/year.

They provide many labels and signs for you free of charge. All in all I thought

it was a pretty good program. But make sure you count that as an expense.

When it all came down to it, I needed to pull in at least $200 at each market

each day to break even. That was not profit--that was break even.

Some markets are quite sparse due to costs and requirements, others are

overloaded. Other things with markets, several areas were flooded this year so

some farmers had nothing to sell early. Now some areas are very dry. All that

will effect who and what is at the market. I was in one market that closed for

a month because none of the produce vendors had anything to bring in the early

season. Rough but we can't control nature yet.

If you are baking and making a lot of goodies, make a list of items you have

available that customers can order from you. Some may pick up in the week or

meet back at the market. Good way to get biz off season as well.

You could also talk to the market manager and see about splitting a booth with

someone else. If you can find a farmer who would be interested then you could

work together to sell both items. I would have cucumbers, zucchini, toms, peps,

fresh each week and the following week I would have canned items available as

well from what didn't sell the previous week. I had some recipes people could

copy and buy everything they needed at the market other than the jars to can in.

It was a good way to show what the produce could be made into.

Good luck!

>

> Hello Trad Foodies,

>

> I went to our local farmers market (Elk River) yesterday and was extremely

disappointed at the choices we have. They had 3 produce stands, 1 local pizza

table, 3 craft type tables, 2 that sells body products/soap, 2 jam, 1 selling

baked goods, and 1 that sells homemade dog biscuits. One of the produce stands

selling corn, I questioned him about the corn being GMO. He admitted it was and

proceeded to talk very quietly and said many people didn't know. How can people

live with themselves?

>

> I have a passion for baking/cooking and loved the idea of selling goods at our

farmer's market, just was unsure how successful it might be. There was one lady

selling baked goods and was sold out when we had gotten there (about halfway

through). I know she did well last year too.

>

> So, the policy is that you have to carry $1 million in liability. Does anyone

have some good leads on who to contact for this type of insurance? I contacted

my auto/house insurance guy and they don't deal with that type.

>

> Thanks much,

> Lori

>