Farm stand prices start from two numbers: what a dozen ears or a pound of tomatoes costs you to grow, pick and pack, and what people around you pay for the same thing. Between those, a self-serve stand has three costs a market stall doesn't show as plainly: produce that's put out and not sold, the honor box that's a little short, and the time spent restocking twice a day. In the example below, a farm's roadside stand puts out corn, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and zucchini for a July week, collects $1,187.50, and leaves $567.59 after the cost of everything put out, fees, supplies and an hour a day of restocking. Corn and tomatoes earn most of it; zucchini, with 40 of 140 left over, earns least. Below is how to set the prices, the example week, what the leftovers and the honor box cost, and a free pricing sheet.
The short version
- Know each crop's cost to grow, pick and pack per unit; that's the floor.
- Check what nearby markets and stores charge; that's roughly the ceiling.
- Use round prices: whole dollars make an honor box easy.
- Count what's left over each day; it was grown and picked, so it's a cost.
- Allow for the honor box being short; the example uses 5% of sales.
- Count your restocking time; an hour a day is $140 a week at $20.
- TaroStack records each day's harvest as a lot and what's composted, by reason. More below.
Setting the prices
The floor is your cost. A dozen ears of sweet corn that cost $2.40 to grow, pick and bag can't sell for $3 at a stand that also has leftovers, fees and restocking to pay for. Work out the cost per unit for each crop, from seed and fertilizer to picking and packing time, and price well above it. The steps are the same as costing a recipe, inputs, time and packaging per unit, and they're laid out in steps in recipe costing.
The ceiling is the neighborhood. People at a roadside stand compare with the farmers market and the grocery store. A stand that's much higher sells less; one that's much lower leaves money in the box.
Round numbers. Whole dollars, or simple bundles like "3 for $2," mean nobody has to make change from an honor box.
A July week at the stand
Mill Creek Farm, a made-up vegetable farm in Bloomington, Indiana, I use in these examples, runs a self-serve stand at the end of its drive, with a cash box and a payment QR code:
| Crop | Unit | Cost to grow and pack | Price | Put out | Sold | Left over | Collected | Cost of what was put out | Left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet corn | dozen | $2.40 | $7.00 | 66 | 60 | 6 | $399.00 | $158.40 | $240.60 |
| Tomatoes | lb | $1.10 | $3.50 | 135 | 120 | 15 | $399.00 | $148.50 | $250.50 |
| Green beans | lb | $1.40 | $4.00 | 48 | 40 | 8 | $152.00 | $67.20 | $84.80 |
| Cucumbers | each | $0.25 | $1.00 | 180 | 150 | 30 | $142.50 | $45.00 | $97.50 |
| Zucchini | each | $0.20 | $1.00 | 140 | 100 | 40 | $95.00 | $28.00 | $67.00 |
"Collected" is the sales less the honor box's 5% shortfall. The cost counts everything put out, because the leftovers were grown and picked too. Then the week's stand costs:
| The week | |
|---|---|
| Collected | $1,187.50 |
| Cost of everything put out | −$447.10 |
| Card and QR fees, 3% on half the sales | −$17.81 |
| Bags, signs and the scale | −$15.00 |
| Restocking, an hour a day at $20 | −$140.00 |
| The stand leaves | $567.59 |
What the leftovers and the honor box cost
The leftovers cost $57.60 this week at their growing cost, and zucchini is most of the problem by count: 40 of 140 came home. Putting out 110 instead would have sold the same 100 and saved the picking; "3 for $2" might have sold more. Count what's left at each restock, and the next week's numbers come from what really sold, not from what the field gave. What to do with surplus, from a seconds price to a food bank, is a choice worth making on purpose; how to log it is in waste log template.
The honor box's shortfall cost $62.50, 5% of sales. Some stands run a little short and some don't; count the box against what left the stand for a few weeks to know your own number, and price for it. Green beans leave the least for the work: they're slow to pick, and at $4 a pound they leave $84.80 for the week. How a market stall's costs compare is in cost to sell at a farmers market.
Get the pricing sheet
Download the farm stand pricing sheet. One row for each crop: its unit, cost to grow and pack, price, how many you put out and how many sold. It works out the leftovers, sales, what was collected after the honor box's shortfall, the cost of what was put out and what each crop left. On the right, type your shortfall, card and QR fees, weekly supplies and restocking time, and it works out what the stand left for the week. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A farm with a stand, a market stall and a restaurant or two is picking every morning and splitting the harvest three ways. The stand's leftovers go to the market the next day, the restaurant takes the best tomatoes, and nobody knows what the stand really sold or what went to the compost.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack starts when the harvest comes in. It doesn't plan plantings.
Each day's harvest a lot. Each harvest goes into stock as a lot with its date, counted on a phone in the field or the shed with no signal, and picking takes the oldest first.
The stand as a site. A farm stand or market stall is a site, so produce moved there is counted there, and what comes back is counted back. What's composted goes off as an adjustment with its reason, reported by reason and item, so the zucchini problem shows up in numbers.
And margins by channel. Restaurant orders are sales orders, and margins are reported by product and by customer, so the stand, the market and the restaurant can be compared.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What the stand sold this week | Put out minus a guess | Moved there, counted back |
| Zucchini composted | Not written down | Adjustments, by reason |
| Oldest tomatoes out first | Read the crates | Lots, oldest picked first |
| Stand, market or restaurant? | A feeling | Margins by customer |
Lots, counting and margins by product and customer are on every plan, from $49 a month; the stand or a market stall as its own site, beside the farm, is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.