I'm curious to hear the experience others have with selling to co-ops. The nearest co-op here is pretty competitive to get into; sellers have to offer free samples the year before and sell themselves on what they have to offer.

brgcuvi, was your co-op difficult to join? Did you commit to bringing a certain amount of produce each week?

I think our local co-op also offers around 75%. I'd gladly take that vs sitting at a hot farmers' market all afternoon. I may look into it for next year.

Our co-op, when first started, only wanted certified organic, and strictly on 'what sold' basis. Otherwise, if your stuff sold, great, but if it didn't, you didn't get anything.

I didn't start with them.

Our co-op consists of aprox. 65 small farms and currently have 82 retail outlets (consisting mostly of high end restaurants and a few upscale produce stands). In our part of the state, there is a big movement for "locally grown", allot of restaurants are really getting on board.

Every Friday, you complete a form indicating what you have to offer the following week. There are two pricing structures, one for certified organic and one for non-organic or non-certified organic. The price difference is not substantial enough for us to justify the added expense & work of becoming certified. On Monday, you receive notice of what the co-op will purchase from you. That being said, I'm told by several other growers and the co-op CEO that no farm has had anything not purchased that was available! The demand is greater than the supply.

For example, we have 1/3 an acre in Asparagus (and increasing to 1 acre next year). This year, the co-op was receiving 20lbs per week of Asparagus; they had a consistent demand for 200lbs per week. At this point we were not supplying the co-op so, I was tickled to hear that there was plenty of demand for my product!

I'm waiting on the pricing list to come thru and am a bit anxious to see it. Like you, I would much rather send it to the co-op than sit in a hot, hit-or-miss market all day!

brgcuvi: Where are you located?

The more I hear people talk, the more I realize that I am doing what I love, but I am doing it in the wrong place! We fight to sell everything we produce at 4 different markets. We have to really talk to customers. We are in Kansas. I am thinking the economy has lots to do with it.

Brgcuvi, i'm curious to know what part of the country you're in as well. Your co-op sounds great. The co-op nearest me isn't that close (over 100 miles away) and they only include certified organic farms. There's been talk from some of the vendors at my farmers' market of forming a local co-op to compete with this other one, but we're not sure about how to structure it - at a minimum we'd need a storage area and some type of delivery system. I'm also concerned about the quality standards of some of the other farmers, who bring over-ripe or bug damaged vegetables to the market and wonder why it doesn't sell. We would have to set some strict guidelines.

When you get the price list from your co-op, maybe you can post some of the prices on this forum. I'm curious to see it.

are we talking food hubs or member owned co-ops with one or more stores?I sell to a member owned co-op (of which I am a member) and I set my own prices.