Many people have the misconception that buying directly from the farmer will result in "cheaper" products (economically), without appreciating how much we gain nutritionally .
If we really want a decent future for our agriculture and to consume products that are as healthy as possible, freshly harvested, this perception of "economical" cannot continue. Below we will explain why.
We start from a premise: the prices at which we offer our fruit are fair for the farmer , ensuring a minimum profit that allows us to continue with our harvests.
We are not looking to enrich ourselves at anyone's expense. However, what farmers are currently paid must change, taking examples from other countries where product quality and health are a priority over cheap purchases that only contribute to destroying the industry and our health.
If you think about buying directly from the farmer, paying what he has been paid until now, you would simply be contributing to the abandonment of agriculture in Spain. It is for a purely economic reason that we lose hundreds of farmers every year, who, in addition, do not have a generational replacement.
There are fewer and fewer people who want to work in the fields, and it is not surprising. The work is very hard, the prices at which large companies buy the fruit do not even cover costs and most of the time you lose money on the harvests, either because we do not manage to sell all the fruit or because we have lost part of it.
In this article you can find a conversation between farmers, Eduardo and Vicent. In it, they talk about the challenges of working on the land and also address the issue of not having generational replacement.
Online platforms have allowed farmers like us to avoid middlemen and work in a dignified manner. This way, you get top quality, natural products, in contrast to the products frequently found in supermarkets, full of chemicals, harvested before they are ripe and for which the farmer is paid a pittance so that you can buy it "cheaper". In addition, little is said about the enormous waste that occurs in the fields for aesthetic reasons.
Now let's look at several reasons why the price at which you buy fruit in Campos Del Abuelo is higher:
Fruit harvesting
The harvesting work is completely manual , we do not have any machinery to select and package the fruit, everything is done by hand to ensure the best quality , we are the ones who collect the fruit, put it in boxes, weigh them and label them, a job that is completely personalized to each client.
Because we do such a detailed job, the number of boxes we can make is limited. Remember, it's not about quantity here, it's about quality.
In large companies, all this is done with production lines that package and box the fruit, regardless of its ripeness and/or necessary care, so the number of boxes they can make is much higher.
Storage and post-harvest products
Our fruit is not stored in large warehouses nor do we add post-harvest products to make it last longer, which means that we suffer losses of fruit when it is not sold. This also means more work and expense for us, as we have to go to our fields every day to collect your fruit.
A supermarket does not have this problem, they harvest the green fruit, store it for as long as necessary and thus do not have losses, they always sell everything they have even if it takes months. However, you eat a much less healthy product that has lost a large amount of its nutritional properties.
Product Shipping
This is one of the aspects that makes the product more expensive. Having the fruit delivered to your doorstep freshly picked from the tree and within a maximum of 24 hours guarantees the greatest freshness, but it has a cost.
All of this has an impact, especially when the shipping price depends on the weight, the immediacy, and the number of shipments made periodically. Since we do not move large quantities in each shipment (unlike a supermarket), we do not have volume discounts.
And we haven't even talked about cardboard. A product that has seen a huge increase in price in recent years. Every point is an extra price for us.
Customer service and online store
Last but not least is customer service .
Having a person at your disposal all the time, who can resolve your doubts or problems with the shipment immediately, a person to turn to in any circumstance , is also a service that we have to pay for, because with the harvest, we do not have time as farmers to dedicate all the time that our clients need.
As for the online store , keeping it up and running also has its costs, and they are not few. In addition to paying for the web hosting, the payment gateway, etc., you have to add the billing program, a manager and the freelancer.
As you can see, it's non-stop, but I don't want to bore you, but I can continue with the amount of expenses involved in selling my fruit online.
It is clear that if you buy from a local farmer at a market in a village, many of these costs would be eliminated and the price would be lower. We wholeheartedly encourage you to do so, to buy local products and support producers in your area.
But if what you want is quality fruit from the same farmers, freshly picked , delivered to your door, with express service to maintain all the flavour without post-harvest products or storage, and a fully personalised and guaranteed order, buy at Campos Del Abuelo .
I hope you have understood the situation we face every day and the reasons why our products are not as cheap as you originally imagined.
We appreciate the support for our project.
