Is Selling at the Farmer’s Markets Worth It?

Explore the benefits, challenges, and strategies of selling at farmers’ markets. Find out if it’s the right fit for your farm and how to maximize your sales.

Farmers’ markets have been steadily growing in the United States for decades. From 1994 to 2019, the number of farmers’ markets grew from 1,755 to 8,771, almost 7% per year. This has been incredibly powerful for local communities, giving them more access to fresh foods and helping foster local markets for farmers.�

No two farmers’ markets are alike, which is good and bad. It is good because it means each local community can craft their own to meet its needs and goals. It is bad because some markets are in higher income areas, have more foot traffic, or have less competition than others.

There are no perfect farmers’ markets, but knowing if your farm should focus your efforts on selling at yours is a valuable question worth reflecting on. It may be the best decision or hold you back from your bigger goals.

Is selling at farmer’s markets the best for my farm?

Well, that depends on many factors. The first soil health principle (the basis of all successful regenerative agriculture efforts) is understanding context. The same applies to this question. You must ask yourself questions to find the answer for your farm. Hopefully, some of the questions below will help start that process:

What is your existing revenue?
What’s the cost of attending?
What’s the average amount of traffic in the market?
Do you have employees, or will you be attending?
Will the farm work fall behind if you take time to go to the farmer’s market?
Will the farmer’s market help you achieve your growth goals?
How much growth can it sustain?
Do you want to focus on growing direct-to-consumer sales?

Benefits and challenges of selling at farmer’s markets

No sales channel for your farm is perfect. They all come with trade-offs. When thinking about whether or not we should attend, we need to consider the pros and cons, as well as the opportunity costs associated with both decisions. Everything has a cost, and it just depends on how much value we get from each decision.

Benefits

Building customer relations:Markets present opportunities to communicate directly with your exiting customers in your local area and connect with new ones.�
Networking with peers:Relationships with other local farmers are key assets to your operation. Farmers’ markets are a great place to connect with them.
Market research:You can survey other stands and vendors at the market to learn what is selling well and if there are opportunities for you to expand your offerings.�
Product differentiation:Often, there are many times the same products are sold by different vendors. This is an opportunity to find redundancy and differentiate yourself.
Wholesale opportunities:Sometimes, chefs and other food professionals shop directly at farmer’s markets. This presents opportunities for you to build wholesale relationships.

Challenges

Time commitment:Often, farmers’s markets are every weekend or multiple times per week during the growing season. This presents challenges committing to every market.�
Weather:Since the farmer’s markets are at set times during the week, weather can cause customers to stay home and decreasing the return of time and money invested.�
Foot traffic:You can’t entirely control this variable, and it varies by market. Some markets are always busy and packed, while others can fluctuate widely.�
Direct competition:Other vendors will most likely be selling something very similar to you if you are growing produce, so competition can lead to less sales.�
Initial investment:Getting started at the market has costs, like buying a tent, signage, annual fees to attend the market, among other things depending on what you sell.�
Unpredictable income:Sometimes you may sell out, while other times you may not sell much. There isn’t a predictable pattern of income, especially across different markets.

Quick tips for best utilizing farmers’ market

1. Create an eye-catching booth

Use professional, clear signage to display prices and product names.
Keep your display clean, organized, and visually appealing with baskets, crates, or tiered stands.
Incorporate branding elements like your logo, color scheme, and banners.

2. Engage with customers

Be approachable, friendly, and ready to answer questions about your products.
Share your farm’s story—people love connecting with the source of their food.
Offer free samples to draw people in and showcase product quality.

3. Highlight product differentiation

Promote unique products or practices, like heirloom varieties or sustainable farming methods.
Offer value-added goods, such as jams, pickles, or baked goods, to diversify your offerings.

4. Leverage marketing tools

Use social media and email newsletters to announce your attendance, special offers, or new products.
Partner with the market to promote your booth in their communications.

5. Manage inventory strategically

Bring enough stock to last the day but avoid overpacking to minimize waste.
Display your best products prominently and restock as needed.

6. Use the market as a pick up location

Get online orders prior to market day and use the market as your pick up location.
Be sure to promote your online store at your market booth to encourage others to do the same!�

What sells best at a farmer’s market?

Despite how busy farmer’s markets are, there are always select products that sell consistently across all of them. People mainly come for fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables. They are usually drawn to buying locally during the growing season because of the taste and freshness of the produce.

Meat and eggs are usually close competitors for fresh produce in markets. Eggs are usually one of those items that if customers aren’t there early to buy some, they will miss out! As a customer, buying meat at markets is always a treat and presents opportunities to talk with the farmer raising the animals about their practices and philosophy on welfare.

Lastly, specialty goods and value-added products, like jams, pickles, and baked goods, often sell extremely well. Some of these products fall under “cottage law,” which recognizes low-risk foods that pose a low risk of food contamination and allow you to prepare these products without a commercial kitchen.

This allows you to differentiate yourself at the market and create more shelf-stable products from what you grow. Check with your local and state regulatory agencies to learn more.

Selling at farmers’ markets vs e-commerce vs local partnerships

As a farm, you must figure out which sales channels you want to nurture and never become too reliant on a single one. Farmers’ markets closed across the country during the pandemic, and many producers were stuck. Growing profitably demands that you have multiple strong sales channels to sell your products through. Ideally, each channel can benefit one another, like Toledo Thursday Market found out when they switched to using Farmed Harvest to grow their sales.

E-commerce vs. farmers’ markets: Selling online has its benefits, such as expanding your reach and potential customer base. Acquiring customers can take more skill and money than farmers’ markets, but can also be more profitable. The upside to selling online is almost endless because customer access is much broader.

Tip: Consider leveraging them both. Use the market to find new customers and build your brand awareness. Promote your online store at the market. “Want to be the first to get our eggs? Pre-order online!”

Local retail partnerships vs. farmers markets: If your community has local retail grocery stores, this may be a better sales channel for you. You probably won’t see the same margin as at a farmers’ market, but the time investment will be lower. You could even consider partnering with local restaurants in this category too. �

How to know when you’ve outgrown it?

Ultimately it’s going to be an intuitive process to know exactly when the farmer’s market is no longer serving your farm. It will depend on many factors, and only some of them are financial. You personally may benefit from the social interaction and community-building aspect of farmers’ markets. It may be a really strong sales channel for you, so giving it up would pose serious financial challenges.

You need to figure out the opportunity cost of attending the farmer’s market.

There is a cost you are paying with your time and energy when you attend, which is taking away from potential other sales opportunities. For you, the farmers’ market may make the most sense to attend, but I have talked with farmers who used it as a springboard to growing their customer base and reputation in the community before launching a CSA or developing more direct sales channels online or on-farm pickups.

So, is selling at the farmer’s market worth it?

There are many key factors to consider. Am I making a return on my time commitment and associated expenses when I attend? Are the sales from the market profitable when I factor everything in? Am I acquiring new customers?

Evaluate your specific situation—farmer’s market location, foot traffic, target customer, product offering, etc. These variables will lead you to an answer that works for you.

Combining farmers markets with sales software like Farmed Harvest can help you maintain a steady income, expand your reach, and diversify your sales channels so you aren’t entirely reliant on the fluctuation of the markets.