The Cost of Vegetables: Time, Labor, and Real Estate

We often measure value in produce by whether or not a particular vegetable is local, organic, or simply tasty. Blueberries are more expensive than kale because blueberries taste better, right?

Not exactly. Whether you’re a grocery store, a neighborhood co-op, or a farmer deciding how to best price your wares at the Farmers Market, there’s another value metric that the public rarely sees: How much work goes into growing the crop?

According to Bill Connolly, farmer and proprietor of Connolly’s Organics in York, Maine, appropriate pricing for vegetables can be tricky. “It’s different on different-sized farms. It is, but it shouldn’t be. It’s beholden to factory farming prices.”

Connolly, instrumental in founding the Farmers’ Market in his town in the early 1990s, has since learned what he can and can’t grow, based on full-season cost. He knows he can’t charge too much beyond what customers expect from a local grocery store. Take a bunch of herbs, or hardy greens like kale and swiss chard. Connolly charges about $3 per pound for them.

These type of crops are what farmers refer to as cut and come again, meaning that just one planting will yield cuttings for market all season long. At an average of $4.03 per packet, as per Johnny’s Selected Seeds current kale offerings, growers like Connolly aren’t paying much for seeds that will last them an entire season. Throw into the mix the comparatively low labor of growing greens like kale and the low pest pressure they experience, and the cost of producing greens and herbs drops even further.

Additionally, these crops only need to be cut, rinsed, and bunched for market — hardly any labor compared to the shallots and garlic Connolly grows, which are often individually peeled before market to appear shiny. For a small garlic bulb, often no more than a few ounces, Connolly can charge as much as $2.00, which is why its worth the extra effort.

Let’s take a closer look at that shiny bulb of garlic. There’s a major difference between a grower who brings his produce to market, prices it, and sells it himself, and the big grocery store a few blocks away from the Farmers Market. The difference is the disproportion of labor: the grocery store hires produce managers and employees for the express purpose of making produce look appetizing. Grocery stores have a lot to lose if perishable produce is overlooked by a consumer because someone failed to properly shine shallots or trim the ends of bunches of greens.

This means that local farmers not only have to compete on cost but also on appearance—and all of that competition comes out of their bottom line. Connolly cites produce appearance as a “huge labor cost” for him, even though attractive produce can also boost sales.

In order to level the playing field, I turned to the halfway point between Farmers Market and major food retailer: the member-owned food cooperative. Park Slope Food Coop, in Brooklyn, NY, is among the oldest continuing operating food co-ops in the country. As a business model, members (customers) are also the co-op’s labor, ensuring that overhead labor costs stay low and savings are passed directly onto members by cutting out the “middleman.” If members of the PSFC want their produce looking nice, they attend to it themselves.

But when you look at PSFC’s produce prices, the numbers might surprise you. A one-pound bunch of kale goes for $1.87, shallots are $3.12 per pound, and garlic is a whopping $4.77 per pound. Shouldn’t the labor of making the shallots and garlic look nice be removed from the shelf price?

Connolly has the answer: “Time. It’s all about how long you’re renting out the real estate for.”

You’d be forgiven if you assumed he was talking about Park Slope real estate. That’s part of it, but he’s also talking about the farms. Crops like kale might be easy to grow and you get to keep your yielding plants around all season long, but other crops come up short on the cost-benefit scale of field space. Garlic gets planted in late October or early November and isn’t harvested until July of the following year. That means that a non-“cut and come again” crop is taking up field space for odd amounts of two separate seasons. It would be like owning an apartment in a prime real estate market and yet only being able to rent it out for two thirds of the year. How would a landlord make up his money? By charging more in rent, of course.

Take blueberries, expensive because they’re tedious to pick, delicate to package, and highly perishable. Why are they often skyward of $4.00 per pint? “Because you plant the bushes and then wait five years, minimum, before you ever see a blueberry!” Phil Perry, owner and grower of River Lily Farm, points out. “Same thing with strawberries. The only way to make any money is to do pick-your-own, because you plant them and then wait 18 months. That’s 18 months of not getting anything else out of those fields!”

There’s one more factor that can determine the financial yield of a given crop. As Connolly explains, while arranging some early-season organic kale bunches on his market table, “In some cases, the vendor can set the market if you’re the only one who has something.” This makes the extra work it requires to grow a specific crop worth it, literally.

So the next time you see a $4 pint of blueberries or a $2 head of garlic, think of how much work it took to get that produce to the store or the Farmers Market. Food is often worth much more than its lowest common shelf price, and everyone’s hoping that their fruits and vegetables will catch your eye—and your appetite.

Jillian Jason is a farm manager and avid eater. Her favorite vegetables include leeks, radicchio, and heirloom tomatoes. Her favorite season is fall.

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