Quote Originally Posted by naturallysweet View Post
I'd like to add that I didn't write my last posting to put down people who live in the city, but more to point out that many would be clueless when it comes to buying anything in the country. Unless they drive past a farm stand or farmer's market, many couldn't find anything to eat. I wouldn't drop a 5-year-old off in the wilderness and expect them to survive anymore than I would take someone out of a big city and expect them to be able to find anything in the country.

I'd also like to add that I have done a fair amount of cold calling within my community, only to end with failure much of the time. A family owned farm will generally sell to anyone, and are often happy with that little extra cash that may or may not be reported to the IRS.

But the agribusinesses in my area are not very friendly to the small time purchaser. I've even had to deal with open hostility for daring to take someone's time up with what they figured was a wasted phone call. Or be told that they will only sell to me if I agree to buy $100,000 worth of product.
It should be possible to buy from a wholesaler. You'll of course need to pay in full in advance, as they won't know you.

It's not the cost of the actual product ($5K or less, last time I added it up), so much as it is the transportation (if coming from a distance) and what to do with it once the truck is there. I once calculated that it would take something like 67 55-gallon plastic drums to hold a 20,000 pound truckload of hard red winter wheat. Any larger containers, and moving it around ranges from nightmare to not going to happen. You're going to need a special place to process it, with everything needed there prior to grain delivery day, and I wouldn't store those drums just anywhere. Then, there's the need for other people to help you get it from the butt of the truck into drums, with bagging, cleaning, O2 removal/adding N2 or Argon/sealing/transporting, plus OPSEC concerns... All handleable, but not like having some construction material delivered.