The price is right: Market reports help NYS farmers set optimal prices

For 16 years, farmer Mary McGarry-Newman and her husband have been selling their organic heirloom tomatoes, garlic and other vegetables and fruits at the Ithaca Farmers Market. But they're not always sure what other sellers are charging for the same type of produce.

"The fact of the matter is, you're hurrying to get set up and get ready for your customers. You don't have time to run around and go, 'What are you charging?'" said McGarry-Newman, who runs Buried Treasures Organic Farmin Groton, New York, with her husband, Doug Newman. "It's go time. You've got to get ready for your folks to come and shop. There isn't a lot of time for that."

Now McGarry-Newman and other New York farmers can see exactly what the market will bear, thanks to weekly market price reportsfrom a team at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. The reports are the first of their kind in New York state.

"Often farmers are not familiar with what prices look like out in the marketplace. And they often don't feel confident about setting prices," said Matt LeRoux, M.P.S. '09, extension associate at Dyson. "Our weighted average price, based on actual sales volumes, should really give someone the confidence to see lots of customers are buying this stuff at these prices."

The weekly reports include the low, high and weighted average prices for meat, vegetables and fruits sold at New York farmers markets. Luca Rigotti, M.S. '23, a research support specialist in Dyson, produces the reports by aggregating sales data from farms from Buffalo to New York City. Grocery store reports show low, high and average prices for meat, vegetables, and dairy and eggs at grocery stores in Ithaca.

For example, a farmer who sells cherry tomatoes for $4 per pint can see the lowest weekly price at farmers markets was $3, the high was $8, and the weighted average - what most people paid - was $7.58 statewide. "So now you feel some confidence in moving your price up from $4," LeRoux said.

However, farmers do have to be aware of the going rate in their particular area, said Todd Schmit, M.S. '94, Ph.D. '03, professor of applied economics and policy in Dyson and faculty director of the Cornell Agricultural Marketing Research Program.

"You're not going to sell products in Schuyler County for the same price that you would at the green markets in New York City," Schmit said.

The reports builds off the team's 2023 studyin which they analyzed market transactions to help farmers increase their profits at farmers markets. "We saw there was an opportunity to calculate prices from that and produce price reports," LeRoux said.

The price reports will be helpful for new farmers, McGarry-Newman said. "I remember when we were just starting, it was a little bit of guesswork - 'What do we charge for this?'" she said.

The reports will also be useful to more experienced farmers, she said.

"You have farmers who have been doing it for a long time, and they say, 'Oh, this is the way we've always done it,'" she said. "Maybe they could use some more information. What are people getting for this same product? Am I killing myself to put this product on the table? Maybe it's not the best place for my effort."

She and her husband have been contributing their weekly farmers market data to the Dyson team. "For a market to work, everyone has to have information about what stuff is going for," Doug Newman said.

The reports are especially timely because the local foods markets have evolved substantially in the past several years, Schmit said. As major traditional grocers have started to sell locally produced food, and upscale local farm stores have proliferated, there are more opportunities beyond traditional direct-to-consumer avenues, he said.

"With the evolution of markets, farmers need to be more savvy and making their pricing decisions not only in terms of what their costs of production are, including marketing, but also what is the price point, from the consumer perspective, that allows a farmer to reach their farm goals?" he said.

The team is encouraging farmers from across the state to participate by sharing their sales data. Farmers can sign up at Cornell Farmers Market Research Project. All farm and market identities are kept anonymous, Schmit said.

"Continuing our relationship with these producers," he said, "to investigate alternative changes in their marketing strategies, prices and stall designs - that's where we're really headed now."