How to sell home grown turmeric?

Hopefully, I won't have to be in the NC sandhills for another growing season.... but if I am, turmeric is about the only thing I can think of to grow in sand, shade and heat. But, how would I sell it? This is a retirement area -folks not really cooking, so the farmer's markets are just flowers and salad greens.... really more an outing than a source of produce. Any ideas? Also, how would I figure out the price point?

Comments

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    Market it for tea?

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've never seen fresh turmeric. I don't think I've ever seen how to use it fresh. Perhaps a "how to" session, with samples, and some for sale?

    There's so much info about the health benefits that it might sell itself if people knew how to use it.

  • SherryA
    SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

    You might be able to sell it on Etsy. I don't know what their rules are for selling food or herbs, but I have bought several different kinds of herbs from vendors on Etsy. That would require shipping, of course, so might get complicated.

  • SuperC
    SuperC Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭

    Sell it fresh, include an educational brochure, and have a raw sample and perhaps recipe cards for ideas. Consult with other local farmers how they began selling their greens and the channels they seeked to get started.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Check to see if you have an ethnic community in your area that would appreciate the opportunity to purchase fresh turmeric.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited January 2020

    @judsoncarroll4 I agree with all of the comments above. You know, tea is not all that hard, and I bet some of those retired folks make tea. They will also have aches & pains that could be relieved with turmeric.

    I would chat with some of the local folks and get a feel for if they might be willing to use it and get the word out by word of mouth. Talk to the local stores & specialty restaurants/trendy specialty drink stops & see if they would be willing to carry it (or offer golden milk/turmeric tea) and a small information/recipe booklet. It would be good to also market it as "unleaded" 😁 I mean no lead added to enhance color.

    Keep in mind that turmeric is healthy for farm animals (& pets) of all sizes. You might find a profitable niche market in that area. You could check with local veterinarians & animal rescue places. They might not be open to it, but if they are, that could be a unique avenue to pursue as well.

    Be careful of the health claims issue, whether with people or animals. There are ways to work around it, but I find it quite confusing and vague. Maybe find someone, even here, who could give solid advice on that. That would be a good thread to have as a "sticky. " @Jimerson @Marjory Wildcraft I would really appreciate solid advice on that myself. I am sure Canada's regulations are not much different (if at all) than the US ones.

    As far as a price point, look up various US sources of fresh turmeric root and compare prices. Remember, the best quality is brighter, and it is worth more. Fresh, locally & sustainably grown without chemical application can also increase your price.

    Roots that I see here are most likely imported & very small in diameter. I could check the price for you if it is stocked right now (availability varies), but my price would be in CAD, not USD.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @Laurie Maybe you have already been to this website but it can explain some of the questions for Canadian Natural Health Product regulations. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/natural-non-prescription/regulation.html

    But you are right. Its mostly in how you word it. You can say things like " Studies have shown that ......." or "Turmeric has been used for 1000's of years in Ayurvedic medicine for ......". So you are educating about a subject. Not making specific claims for your product.

    When labelling you can name a body part "Lip Balm" or "Bum Butter" but you couldn't call it "Cold Sore Balm" or "Diaper Rash Cream", cause that would be making a claim that it is good for a certain condition. So a Turmeric product might say joint salve but couldn't say arthritis salve.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @torey Thanks!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4

    When I made and sold cold process lye soap, I checked every place I knew of including online for each sellers listed price, by pound.

    Most of my resources were from online companies etc. So when I started selling, I offered each pound for a little less than others were selling as long as they bought a pound, so that price was per pound only. I very rarely sold less than a pound at a time. And they always looked forward to seeing me walk in the door with my awesome and fragrant soap and that allowed me the ability to have needed ingredients to keep making the soap and keep up with orders.

    Search your market to see what others are selling for and get an idea of their marketing methods, their target audience, organic? pesticide free? Will you be selling at a farmers market, road side type of selling, online, a few of these mentioned?

    I grew turmeric one season and my ginger grew great but the turmeric would have taken another year to produce a salable product and I have not picked that plant back up yet because of that. But I think in your area you could grow it in abundance?

    Here is a link I pulled up for you and it is in NC so hopefully it will give you some more ideas. And since you are good at internet stuff you could list the spec's online on a site if you created it for your turmeric business, saving you time and money where the interested customer could read for them selves and print copy if they desired, saving you, the grower a vast amount of time and money to keep growing and tending and studying/researcing your product for continual improvement in areas needed if any but to keep a record of each seasons 'everything pertaining to your business' which would prove invaluable year after year.

    I would not stop at one grower for ideas but I would research every grower in and around my state, then put your plan into action.

    Here it is:

    And no worries, it is not a vid...🙃 🙃 🙃

    Hope this helps some.

  • Obiora E
    Obiora E Posts: 517 ✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4 You may want to try selling it through LocalHarvest.org. Also for price reports you may want to contact your local Extension Office or the Department of Agriculture and someone should hopefully be keeping track of the market prices.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    Thanks for all the advice everyone - I'm hitting "like" but haven't commented because I'm soaking it all in and thinking it all through.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @judsoncarroll4

    Depending on the type of business and deep into it/time necessary to manage and care for a new a growing business is pretty loading as you prolly know. But depending on the type of business, llc or what ever.. and even if not....write a business plan for yourself and mull over it a couple times a day when poss. Also you could try brainstorming at diff points in your progress. Just one way to challenge you for the potential of bringing to light new ideas or to imporve on current ones, in this or any other endeavor.

    Ok, the best of luck and let us know as you build your business so we can keep encouraging you.