How to Wholesale

For many farmers, selling to a wholesale market is an ideal match. The higher volumes sold through this channel relative to direct marketing reduce time and labor involved in managing orders, sales, and deliveries.

Pricing for wholesale

Wholesale buyers will usually expect a lower price than a direct market customer might pay due to the reduced labor per pound required for a high volume order. Each farm will have to determine their own costs of operation is setting wholesale prices that provide both a fair return to the farm and are acceptable to the buyer.

• Organic Farmgate and Wholesale Prices are provided by Economic Research Service, the primary source of economic information and research in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service offers reports website offers a searchable database of commodity sales information including product volume, prices, and origin.
  • Fruit and Vegetable Market News
  • Dairy Market News
  • Livestock & Grain Market News

Packing to specification

Wholesale buyers will usually want their purchases standardized so they know what to expect when they make a purchase. If a grocer is used to receiving squash in a 1 1/9 bushel box, they will probably want you to also pack in a 1 1/9 bushel box. Whether the pack is measured by size, weight, or count may vary by the item and the buyer.

Some buyers may be more flexible about packing specs as long as they know what to expect. For instance, in some cases, a burlap sack of corn might be fine as long as the buyer knows how many years to expect in that sack.

Penn State and the Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program provide guidelines for sizing and packing fresh produce.