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PRICING
Two questions decide whether an arrangement is fair in any useful sense: who agreed the number, and how long the money took to arrive.
Most disagreement about fairness in this trade is really about timing. A price that looks reasonable on paper is not reasonable if it was announced at the moment of sale, when the crop is already gathered and the seller has no alternative buyer within reach.
We agree prices with collector groups before the season starts. That gives a group the information it needs while it can still act on it, and it gives us a cost base we can quote from with confidence. Both sides carry some risk if the market moves, which is the honest version of the arrangement. Who we buy from.
Payment is made in cash at the collection point on the day of purchase. Thirty-day terms are ordinary in commodity trading and they are useless to a household that gathered the crop last week. Paying immediately costs us working capital, and it is the single thing collectors mention most. How buying works.
So a group can decide whether gathering is worth the effort while there is still time to decide something else.
At the collection point, not on terms, not on delivery to a warehouse two weeks later.
Money reaching an organised group is distributed in front of its members. A payment to a middleman is not visible to anyone.
Prices move with the market, but the arrangement does not change from year to year. Predictability is most of what makes it usable.
If a lot disappoints on quality we raise it before purchase, not by reducing an agreed payment afterwards.
Where a market price makes a volume uneconomic for us, we say so rather than quietly buying less and leaving a group holding stock.
If you are buying from us and need detail on how a lot was sourced, ask. We would rather answer than be taken on trust.