Skip to main content

Week 8: Long Island Produce for Sale!

Long Island growers use several methods to sell their produce. My surveying efforts have allowed me to identify these unique methods and their geographical associations. There are three primary models that growers use to sell their produce. The first and most common to Long Island growers is selling from a farm stand that is within the proximity of their farm. This method has virtually no transportation costs and gives consumers access to the freshest produce if they are willing to make the trip to the stand. Growers who use this method tend to have highly diversified farms where they grow everything and anything that a consumer might want. This sales method is present throughout essentially all of rural Long Island. The second method of sales is the use of distributors to serve Long Island supermarkets. With this method the distributor determines the price point of produce and makes weekly pickups from the grower. Unfortunately, distributors tend to pay less for crops than a consumer at a farm stand would. This sales method is especially prevalent on the North Fork where there are still many large potato farms and land is more readily available. The final sales method is farmers’ markets. A small minority of growers throughout Long Island but especially on the eastern tip of the North Fork truck their produce to western parts of Long Island to sell at farmers’ markets. Consumers at these markets are very willing to pay premiums for these fresh and local commodities. Using a distributor as a sales method was once a very common practice among Long Island growers, however as farmers recognize that other sales methods could be more lucrative they have been transitioning to other sales methods.

 

Skip to toolbar