How to Do Direct Farm Marketing Right

“The breakdown is 50% [of what we grow] is sold through the on-farm market, and 30% is at a local farmers market that we attend three nights a week, May through October. Only 20% is sold wholesale from our farm,” says Mike Janoski, third-generation family farmer. Janoski supervises some 30 able hands (10 of them family members, including sons, wives, nephews, and nieces) that help bring in annual gross revenues that hover around $3 million. Selling 80% of crops grown on 200 acres through only two outlets takes skill. The farm market isn’t huge. It’s primarily made up of two long aisles that carry most of the produce, with two small niches. The volume of sales is so strong, the Janoski family is in the midst of a 6,000-square-foot addition.How does Janoski’s Farm manage to sell so much in such limited space? The key is to offer customers reasons to come in again and again. Start early. Janoski makes a point of timing crops to keep a steady flow coming in for customers, even early in the season.“Not a lot going on early in a new year, but by mid-January we start greenhouse planting our onions for spring along with Easter flowers,” he says.Janoski’s Farm grows all of its transplants in 35 greenhouses. He also uses the start-early strategy to expand individual crop windows, despite some pretty harsh winter months.“We’ve been known to plant corn as early as March 25th,” Janoski says. “By getting in the ground early, we can provide our customers the first corn of the season by or before the fourth of July.”