One of the challenges facing small, diversified growers is that we don’t have much buying power when it comes to purchasing supplies. We spend a lot of money on inputs, but most things we buy in small enough quantities that we don’t get much of a volume discount. Yet when we get to the marketplace, we are selling our products side-by-side with the giant corporations that control commerce in this country. Certainly, we differentiate with quality and service, but we are nevertheless informed and influenced by the low, low prices of the Safeways and Wal-marts of the world.

If we could buy our supplies at the same low prices as the big guys, wouldn’t that help the margin? Wouldn’t that lead to farm profits that sustain a better standard of living for the farmer and long-term viability for the farm?

Those are my thoughts as I contemplate my tulip order for next year. I want to grow Menton, a single late variety (what the florists call a French tulip), with huge salmon-rose flowers. It’s very common in the trade, nothing exotic. One retail catalog offers it for 35 cents per bulb in quantities of 100. The wholesale catalog says it’s 15 cents a bulb, if I buy it by the crate (500 bulbs). But if I order 3,000, I can get it for 8.2 cents a bulb. At that lowest price, I could save $340 on a tulip order of 5,000 bulbs.

The problem is, I don’t need 3,000 Menton bulbs. Ideally, I’d like to have 500 Mentons, plus 500 each of about nine other varieties, to extend my season and be able to offer many colors to my customers.
The solution is obvious: I need to buy my bulbs cooperatively with other growers. It’s not that simple, of course. I’d have to find five other people who want the same varieties I want, and who are willing to drive to my farm to pick up their bulbs, and who will not hold me responsible if the supplier makes mistakes or the quality is not good. For my part, I’d have to organize the order, meet the truck when it arrives, unload 50 crates of bulbs, store them in my building, and be sure everyone pays their share so I can pay the supplier.

Is it worth $340? I think so, especially because it might spawn something bigger and more lasting that will eventually pay many benefits, in both finances and friendships. A buyers’ coop could order lisianthus plugs together, so we could all get a better selection of colors. Or we could purchase a truckload of compost, or a case of Rootshield, or any number of other things I don’t buy now because I can’t use the full quantity or meet a minimum order requirement.

I have been involved in buyer’s coops before. Some are very casual – I often compare notes with Jozie Schimke, the GFM circulation manager (who wrote the flower article in this issue) to see if we can order plugs together. Dan and I are also members of the Rolling Prairie Farmers’ Alliance, a cooperative CSA, and we have ordered seed potatoes as a group for many years. Several years ago, I was involved in a food buying coop.

If you are paying too much for supplies, or not buying what you need because you can’t meet minimums, I encourage you to find other farmers to share. To help you get started, Growing for Market will publish free notices seeking growers for cooperative purchases. Send me a letter or email with the information and format in the notice below.

Tulip bulbs; pick up in Lawrence, Kansas, mid-October 2003. Minimum order one crate (400-500 bulbs) per variety. Call or email for price list. 800-307-8949; growing4market@earthlink.net.

I envision running a Buyers’ Coop column every few months with these kinds of notices. We’ll see how it goes, and then decide whether it merits becoming a permanent feature of GFM. Please, send in a notice only if you are able to follow through with ordering and receiving the products you need. Don’t get others involved if you can’t really meet the suppliers’ requirements for things like a tax resale number, or unloading a truck at delivery. Get the supplier to be very definitive about costs – including shipping – and pass that information on to others who want to buy with you. Don’t take a profit by charging other growers more than you are paying yourself. I want to help create cooperatives, not resale businesses.
And if you’re anywhere near Lawrence, Kansas, and want to get in on some tulip bulbs at a really low price, get in touch!