Customer Reviews

Sell What You Sow: The Grower's Guide to Successful Produce Marketing

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This book is designed for the small farmer to help create a marketplace for what they produce. It covers virtually every area that produce can be sold from direct marketing, farmers markets, CSA's, and restaurant sales to name a few. He lists the advantages and disadvantages of most plans in detail. He covers how to display signs and produce in the most appealing manner. Of particular interest to me was his discussion of "value added" products. There is an excellent Resource Section at the end of the book with a multitude of organizations that are sources of information. This is a must-have in the home library!

A fun book to read. Full of real stories of people who sale their home grown plants and vegges. Well worth the price. Read also "Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse and Business"

Great book for plannning and understanding how to sell what you grow. This helped me as I planned for selling at the local Farmers Market and community. I highly recommend this to anyone that plans to sell what they sow.

After reading the library's copy, I'm buying a copy of this book for myself for future reference. The author really seems to have talked to a lot of people who are in the various businesses he writes about. Also, he seems to always take into consideration the down sides as well as the up sides of each venture. He includes lots of little points, with statistics to back up his advice. For instance, in the part about roadside stands, he goes into detail about where you should site your stand - what type to road, how heavily traveled (45 mph roads are best, he says), where along a curve, how far back, how much parking to provide, what type of parking, what other services to provide (restrooms, etc.), how to arrange the produce for best customer flow, etc. Quite a thorough consideration. And then he adds quotes or examples from real businesses: for example, the guy whose stand did great business because his restrooms were so clean and beautifully decorated!

It's always good to read a book that has been so carefully researched and thought out, not just typed up after a few phone interviews and a few hours of online googling because all they care about is whether you buy the book, not whether you use it.

As the publisher and author of this book, I know I'm slightly prejudiced, but I truly feel this book has come to be recognized as the "bible of small farm marketing."

I am proud to have received the following testimonials and/or reviews for this book:

"Purely practical from beginning to end, filled with nuts-and-bolts knowledge directly applicable to making a living from selling produce." -- HortIdeas

"This is the best book to date about the alternative marketing options available to farmers... This how to book deals with every aspect of marketing from selling to choosing crops and from regulation to advertising. Small family farmers in this country are ready for a book like this." -David Visher, UC Davis Small Farm Center

"Far-and-away the outstanding farm produce marketing text. If you're trying to sell what you grow, this book will quickly pay for itself." -- Small Farmer's Journal

"The information Eric provides is as complete a book on agricultural marketing as has been written in the last century. I would recommend this book to anyone who is seeking new ways to obtain success in the farming business. If you buy only one book about farming then let it be "Sell What You Sow!" Too many farmers have learned the hard way that you can't raise it, then decide how you're going to sell it. Sell it first, then plant the seed. That's good marketing." - Robert "Matty" Matarazzo, Matarazzo Farms, Belvidere, New Jersey

"Outstanding" - Howard "Bud" Kerr, (then) director, USDA Office for Small-Scale Agriculture

"Covers marketing alternatives thoroughly, down to specific details every farmer, whether direct marketing or wholesaling, must consider." - Richard VanVranken, county agricultural agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension

"Sell What You Sow! is a very readable book, full of great tips from experienced marketers across the country. If you want to see what successful marketers are doing across the country, read this book." - Kevin Hosey, assistant manager, Knox County Regional Farmers Market, Knoxville, Tennessee

"For too many years, we farmers have let others do the real marketing of our products and as a result have let the profits slip away. Sell What You Sow! Explains how to use direct marketing to recapture lost profits and boost the farm gate value of your work." - Curt Stuntman, Rural Innovation Center, Amanda, Iowa