Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Don't want to be a downer guys - but I went to the farmers markets last weekend to get an idea of the viability of selling some niche stuff there - whether grown in soil or my system. Lot's of people there buying stuff, but the joint is swamped with the same stuff as you would get from the supermarket only probably a bit fresher. It has all been bought from the markets that morning I suspect and is just being onsold. People get excited about the atmosphere and just buy the same shit as they would get at the shops (and sometimes for more).

There is actually fish at my farmers markets and it is quite reasonably priced. I personally don't think I would do well at this particular one due to lack of variety and the price I would need to charge to make it worthwhile. I don't even know how much they charge for the stall, but expect it is not really cheap these days. I reckon some interest would be shown by people in the whole concept, but whether that would convert to sales is questionable.

Of course I may be entirely wrong.

Here in the US, some of the restaurants have a gimmick where they have a tank of fish out front. The customer picks the fish they want and they net it out, take it to the kitchen, and prepare it for that customer's meal.

ooooh, maybe you could have the whole AP setup in the front of the restaurant, and they could pick out their fish and their head of lettuce.

VB, so its just turned into another "shop front" for the standard issue veg from the wholesalers market then? Sad.

Mcphro and others.......to my knowledge you can sell the veg no worries, the fish i would be dubious of even taking "donations for the barbie" i read an article once where DPI/F WA crucified a bloke that "bartered" a few of his fish he caught for a counter meal. Best not give them an excuse.

Steve

The fish would definately be the tougher to market, but there are throngs of small local markets that cater only to the Asian and Hispanic communities and they do not adhere to the government regs. Might sound scary but the truth is these markets thrive everywhere in California. Don't know if it is true of where you are, but it is where I plan to get rid of the fish.

-MF- I agree .
Yeh steve how was that, think they took his boat!!!!
Had some thing to do with swapping fish for a lotto ticket from memory.
Which he had been doing for years apparently - no luck with his numbers coming up- bugger!

The reason I suggest a cafe is that fish are (as everybody says above) tough to market. If you have a fish stall, people expect you to have 15 types of fish, most of them mainstream saltwater fish. If you don't have snapper and bream you may as well go home.

But a cafe is only expected to have a small number of menu items. A little bit exotic is OK. And you get to put all the good things about your fish in writing. You can include a whole speel about how Omega-3 oils are good for developing brains. Lack of Omega-3 oil has been implicated in developmental problems (dyslexia, ADD, etc). But outside of our cafe, the fish that are high in Omega-3 are usually high in Mercury.

Want your kids to do well at school? Come and have a meal at our cafe.

High in Omega-3 oils yet no mercury.

At a local farmers market in Calgary(CAN) I experience some of the same thing...the same brands of fruit imported from the United States that fill the grocery stores. There are exceptions though...they are mostly the organic growers.

good point Aeldric

Hi Guys,
vb, what a shame about your farmers market, I thought a farmers market was where 'the people who grow the food sell the food'... ah well

I was giving the idea of selling the produce on some thought and came up with 3 possibly daft ideas...
1/ a food co-op, you have a set day where the growers bring their produce to an agreed localised point and people come and buy/barter goods - almost like a private farmers market, I suppose... I think if it's a co-op you bypass certain regs and then you can choose to bring pre-prepared fish or live, excess veg etc...

2/ Along the same lines you set up a box system where you can supply X 'customers' with eg: 2 lettuces, a kilo of tomatoes, bunch of spring onions, 3 plate sized fish, some bunches of herbs and a doz eggs (for the chooky people) for a set price, the produce would change over the course of the year in accordance with seasonal variation and there's your tag line - seasonal produce, locally produced, as aeldric said in an earlier post, a good omega 3 hit with no chemicals, so you push the organic side and plug the ap side *and* you take pre orders so you know in advance that you need X amount of fish, lettuce etc... I suppose it's a growers co-op of sorts

3/ back to the farmers market, but you go with a barbie plate, chunked up fish, pita breads, lettuce, tomatoes, diced onion and a couple of different sauces, you *value add* to your fish - 'Fred's Fancy Fish Falafel' (people love aliteration), again you promote the organic/health aspect and you charge accordingly...

Just pondering

Sunrise Girl-- just read that post and like option 3-- but hot cooked food must surely be a mine field with the health act(s)...

We have a high end grocery store her in San Salvador that has pvc pipes in the Veg aisle. you pull your own lettuce out of the net pot and take it home by weight. Really a nice setup. If you could grow lettuce or other plants in net pots but in your grow bed, then when it is time to market pull out the plant, net pot and all, place in a pvc tube with a small pump to circulate, it gives the illusion that it has been grown that way from the start. People pull their own veggies and feel good about it.

Hi would love to see a photo if thats possable

heh...will try to get pics. I just waw it once since i don't do "high end Shopping"

I will try this weekend when I go to the big city.