Look at it this way.....you've got 3 acres of tomatoes approaching harvest and no confirmed buyers. What do you do if all potential local buyers for that size crop have already committed to some other grower? Trash the crop? Give it away? Hawk it along the roadside?

It is just common sense to have identified buyers for your product before the time comes to sell a very perishable commodity. Take some time and research local restaurants, organic produce stands (if you are growing organically) or maybe some mom and pop grocery stores that would be willing to purchase some, if not all, of your crop prior to it being immediately marketable.

I have sold tomatoes through produce brokers for many years and found it to be a dead end. But if you want to sell through them first contact a broker and they will tell you what kind of tomatoes they want in the box. Size shape and color is very important. Brokers are very demanding when it comes to quality and will reject and down grade your tomatoes for the smallest defect. A bump, a spot, or a slight unevenness in the shape of one fruit will down grade the whole load. Finally you will have to take the price they offer on that day, it can be $20 a box today and $5 tomorrow. You will find that you will be selling maybe 10-20% of your tomatoes and tossing the rest away for not making the grade, this is very common... Bob.

Are you located where you can do "Pick-your-own"?