Bag it..

[Herc]

Of that bag of wheat, the store may get from 50 cents to maybe a dollar.

You see 50 cents to a dollar, I see $30 to $60/bushel……..

[Sheepwheat]

You see 50 cents to a dollar, I see $30 to $60/bushel……..

And the farmer supplying it is still getting 250 to 270 a bushel. And he maybe sells what? Twenty bushels? The store isn’t buying bushels, they are buying units. And from my grocery manager friend, wheat in bags, is not something they move many units of at all. Mostly because there are specialty stores that do it and have way more variety of grains, and above all the grains have a story on every bag. Consumers that want local food, trust, me, they buy the story as much as the product. It’s really funny. We a farmers are often as out of touch with their needs, a they are with farming. Gotta find that balance.

The best thing? When we fill an order for the stores we supply, guess who pays the shipping? It’s a sweet thing, and I’m still not used to it!

[AlbertaFarmer5]

And the farmer supplying it is still getting 250 to 270 a bushel. And he maybe sells what? Twenty bushels? The store isn’t buying bushels, they are buying units. And from my grocery manager friend, wheat in bags, is not something they move many units of at all. Mostly because there are specialty stores that do it and have way more variety of grains, and above all the grains have a story on every bag. Consumers that want local food, trust, me, they buy the story as much as the product. It’s really funny. We a farmers are often as out of touch with their needs, a they are with farming. Gotta find that balance.

The best thing? When we fill an order for the stores we supply, guess who pays the shipping? It’s a sweet thing, and I’m still not used to it!

Something else that needs to be built into that margin is the possibility of a recall I would assume? Maybe not applicable to the wheat, but with the meat you are selling a lot can go wrong.
If a batch of meat should get contaminated, or spoiled on its way from A to B, who would end up being responsible?
I can't imagine a retailer selling a product on 10% margins, and then being responsible for a food recall.
Is that something that is written in to your contracts?

[Sheepwheat]

Something else that needs to be built into that margin is the possibility of a recall I would assume? Maybe not applicable to the wheat, but with the meat you are selling a lot can go wrong.
If a batch of meat should get contaminated, or spoiled on its way from A to B, who would end up being responsible?
I can't imagine a retailer selling a product on 10% margins, and then being responsible for a food recall.
Is that something that is written in to your contracts?

So far we haven’t had an actual contract with anybody. They just make a purchase order when they need more product. We’ve approached federated, but they told us they already have enough lamb. I be like, huh? Where? They talk the talk of supporting local farmers, but nope. Haven’t given up though. And do you have the diversity of products we carry? Not a chance. Frustrating. It would be a great outlet. I assume they would do a contract.

Frozen meats have a lot of freedoms relative to fresh. But yeah, we have a hefty insurance policy. It also MUST BE PROCESSED at an inspected plant. All buyers ask for a copy of your insurance policy, and they all ensure they have the info on the facility where it is processed. If it is damaged in transit? The transit company would have insurance for that. If it’s in the back of our vehicle? We have insurance for that. At the store? Same thing. We have insurance on our frozen inventory for power outages etc.

And then it depends on the product. Is it marinated? Is it plain meat? Is it actually gluten free if you say it is? Back that up if so. If it has added ingredients these need to be done at an inspected facility, on and on it goes. Some buyers need nutrient labels, all need ingredients lists. These labels have to be a certain size, and at least a certain font.

It’s been a learning curve but it’s been awesome. Just awesome.

[Sheepwheat]

A fair number of our packages are vac sealed. A certain per cent age of those blow, especially with bone in cuts. On our next round, we pick up the broken seal ones and eat them or sell them to friends who don’t care if the seal is broken. Either way, that is the lamb we eat. It makes far more sense for us to sell lamb and buy beef. But we do eat a lot of lamb, and not just broken seals!

[jazz]

Curious how many customers have a stone mill in their home.

[Guest]

city born and raised son in law just bought a flour mill
wants me to bring him a sack of wheat

[foragefarmer]

Not sure why some of you are so concerned about Dinsmore Farm's margin/take home profit, their ones who developed the business plan and are doing their own marketing.

Isn't that what it's all about in business.

[Robertbarlage]

Best part the CWB doesn't get a cut of the pie for nothing!!!!!!!!

[TSIPP]

I guess I missed it but I didn’t see much concern, I can’t see many getting rich on this business model but it all helps pay the bills.

My kids at one time would bag and put stickers on hemphearts, I don’t think anyone got rich on that one but it was good experience

I’m a little impressed on what wheat is worth bagged and ready to go in the store.