Projections and Production Planning
Providing projections and updates of the products you intend to sell to the WI LFPA program is essential for a strong working seller/buyer relationship and for a successful program. It allows WI Food Hub Cooperative (WFHC) to develop their routes, know what size vehicle to send to your farm and, for food access programs to plan for what they are receiving and how they will be distributing it to community members while it is fresh and most nutritious.
We appreciate the effort that goes into determining production and communicating your product projections in advance of sales. These efforts create strong communication channels for WI LFPA, food systems partners and sets us all up for success as the season starts and product begins coming in.
During this training we will review, update, and confirm your projections for the WI LFPA sales.
Planning for production can provide insight into supply and labor needs, yields, and cost of goods for your business. Working through your plan will provide you and your customers projections of product availability and maximum benefits in working together for both the producer and buyer.
Working through your projections to determine your production plan and vice versa, lets you ensure you will have the product for your contract and allows you to make thoughtful informed adjustments as production issues arise. For example, knowing that you intend to sell 5 cases of zucchini once a week for 10 weeks into the WI LFPA program means you need 100 lbs per week x 10 weeks. You can use this to determine how many plants you will need, if you will you have one planting of zucchini or multiple plantings to ensure you have 5 cases per week throughout the range of availability and offering. If you notice two weeks after planting your zucchini that you lost 40 plants, you may need to adjust your projections.
If you notice that every single zucchini plant survived and you are producing above expectations, then you know that you will have excess product. You will want to adjust your projections and see if there is interest from the WI LFPA program to purchase your bumper crop and/or sell to additional markets. Communicating anticipated yields and schedules of availability, as well as issues and bumpers in advance are important when selling into wholesale markets. It provides good customer service and develops strong relationships with buyers with whom to grow your business. WI LFPA provides technical assistance to producers in developing these skills through the process of supplying the program.