In order to really figure out what you "need" to sell honey for, what
you "can" sell honey for, and when it becomes an "ultraprofitable
product", you really need to do a cash flow analysis of you "business".
I "can" sell honey as little as $1 and still make a fair profit if I
also produce livestock. But if I sell for $5 I can do nothing else and
still sit ontop of the mountain. I have yet had anyone scoff at buying
fresh honey at $5, and I have sold it there when selling piece by piece,
just to cover some costs, but in the end, I think most operations don't
have that luxury. You see where I was keeping bees there was no locally
produced organic honey, so I could get away with it AND make the
consumer happy at the same time.

What to price you honey at is not just an analysis of your cash flow,
that's really to find out your limits to successful operation and
understanding better where money goes and comes from. In order to figure
out what to sell you honey at you need to do some market research, and
you aren't going to get any better research than just talking to people
and finding out how much people are willing to spend. It also depends on
the honey, if you have special honeys then you charge more for those,
and charge less for your standards. Clover is a light standard, palm is
a dark standard. Goldenrod is a dark standard. Sea Grape or Mangrove is
a special honey and actually has some modicum of difficulty in order to
secure a crop (isolation). Acacia and Agave are special honeys. Maple
honey is a special honey and ALSO is difficult to procure. Apple Blossom
Honey also is a bit special. The difficulty and level of production
should also effect your price. I certainly do not sell palm honey at $5
per lb, but mangrove honey that is cheap.

--
Scot Mc Pherson
The Mc Pherson Family Honey Farms
Bradenton, Florida USA
Davenport, Iowa USA

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