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The ASAAP Apprenticeship Program (Alberta Sustainable Agriculture Apprenticeship Program) offers participants unique farm experiences with over a dozen small-scale, family run farms to choose from.  Apprentices can gain first-hand knowledge about everything from growing vegetables, to raising organic livestock, to selling farm product at farmers markets, to alternative farming practices and business planning.

But don’t expect a holiday.  These working farms need hard workers that are enthusiastic and curious about agriculture.  It’s okay if you do not know a great deal about farming – everyone learns quickly on the farm. Or maybe you come from a different farming background. This is where you come to learn about new techniques and approaches.  For some, like one apprentice from 2009, their experience has inspired them to envision a future career in agriculture:

“I would like to eventually start my own farm and feel that my 4 month apprenticeship gave me a great foundation. I can’t think of too many other programs that allow a city-dweller like myself, who had no prior experience, to get out there and learn to farm”.

APPLY TODAY for a meaningful farm-work experience.  Apprenticeships generally run from May – September.  No two farms are alike and each offers different experiences, living arrangements and work expectations.  Visit www.startfarming.ca to learn more about ASAAPs host farms and apply today!

If you own a farm that supports sustainable practices and are interested in hosting an apprentice contact Becky Lipton for more information.

For more information contact:
Becky Lipton
780-271-1116
becky.lipton@mail.mcgill.ca

Meryl Smith Lawton

James Vriend pulls a long metal harvester resembling a conveyor belt though the dirt with a tractor while Jennifer Berkenbosch, Ruth Vriend, and I kneel into the dark, clumpy soil of the three-acre Vriend farm to pick out Yukon Gold potatoes. Several of the potatoes are larger than my outstretched hand, and I pull back a couple times, startled at the sight of a bee or a spider. As we work, Jennifer and I talk about her and James’s search for land to expand Sundog Organic Farm, and the joy the visual artist has found in her new work with her family. On her hip is a baby monitor, scratched and dirty from outdoor use, from which her youngest son Eli, inside the nearby house, gurgles and babbles to his stuffed bear. In a little over an hour, we harvest the last of their potatoes, about 500 pounds’ worth, including seed potatoes for next year.

As I look up at the overcast sky, a strong, cold wind blows my scarf around my head. The market garden has already seen a little frost this year, and with temperatures expected to hit -3 degrees this week, Jennifer and James are nearing the end of their harvest season. This weekend is their last at the Downtown Farmers’ Market.

As a city girl, the thought that some food options disappear after the fall is completely foreign to me. I’ve recently become a sporadic local food shopper, and it’s jarring to think about my options decreasing as winter sinks in. I have to wonder what would happen if I didn’t have the option of switching to more imported food in the winter. Could the market gardens and farms in and around Edmonton supply urban eaters year round?

The answer, of course, depends on who you ask. Food has become a complex issue, and the question of which method of producing food is the most environmentally friendly or socially responsible is still hotly debated. But even looking simply at the idea of whether we could feed ourselves in the event of world food shortages or sky-high fuel costs is a pretty prickly question.

Although the local food movement has grown over the past few years, and Edmonton’s farmers’ markets will no doubt be packed with shoppers buying their Thanksgiving feast this weekend, it’s not completely mainstream yet. Provincewide, according to Agriculture Alberta, about $5 to $7 million worth of produce was sold directly by farmers at markets in 2008. Overall, local vegetables represented $8 to $12 million worth of produce sold last year, but Alberta imported over $240 million in vegetables.

Becky Lipton is a researcher, consultant, and member of the Greater Edmonton Alliance, a social justice group with a focus on preserving local farmland. She flatly admits the farms and market gardens around Edmonton couldn’t feed the entire city all year round. At least not yet.

She describes the problem as cyclical: there aren’t enough farmers to feed all of Edmonton because so far, there hasn’t been enough of a market for local food. She’s currently working on a provincial apprenticeship program that connects young urban people interested in farming with local operations, in the hopes of increasing the amount of food grown locally.

Getting help from experienced farmers is vital, says Jennifer. When we first arrive at the Vriend farm, Ruth hands James a list of vegetables ready for harvest that day. James’s parents Ruth and Dennis Vriend are teaching the new farming couple the ropes. The older couple lives on the organic farm in semi-retirement, while the younger couple works the land and lives in town with their two boys.

Ruth jokes that she’s just interfering, and that James already knows how to farm. At 65, Ruth says she views herself more as a resource for questions and creative problem-solving. Of course, that didn’t stop her from working full-time in the field this summer.

“We have a real advantage because we have family support,” says Jennifer. She’s learned a lot from Ruth — not only about how to farm but also how to preserve and prepare the berries and vegetables into jams and sauces that will last her and her family through the coming winter.

The question of whether Edmonton should be capable of feeding itself seems obvious to urban farmer Ron Berezan, and that’s partly because from his perspective, everyone can contribute to their own food supply.

“Our grandparents lived on their gardens year-round,” he says optimistically. “It was only a couple generations ago.”

On this fall evening, there’s a slight drizzle and the smell of wood chips wafting toward his red and green duplex not far from Little Italy on 93rd Street. Berezan has turned his entire backyard into a garden, and this Thanksgiving, that backyard will provide him with potatoes and carrots, squash for soup, and kale for a salad. The rosemary, thyme, oregano, and parsley he cooks with will also have been grown and harvested by his own hands. Even the berry sauce for his ice cream comes from his backyard.

Along the back of the yard, he grows apples along his fence in a line about 60 feet long. The technique is called espalier, and makes use of an unused alley that had been filled with weeds and garbage before Berezan got hold of it. He’s also turned his neighbour’s lawn in to a “food forest” with fruit trees, potatoes, and berries.

“It was great to see it go from a lawn which my neighbour just had to cut to something that’s edible,” he says as he leans down and rubs a Good King Henry plant between two tanned fingers, his nails caked in dirt.

By this time, he’s picked his cherries, as well as the wild raspberries, saskatoons, and currants. The cherries he’s turned into juice, and the berries are canned for the coming winter. The 25 different varieties of tomatoes he grew this year will keep him in sauces and salsa though the winter.

But it takes a lot of work, both in the garden and in the kitchen, to preserve the food. Even with 20 years of experience, Berezan grows about half his own food, and still shops at grocery stores.

For city kids like myself without backyards or years of gardening experience, buying food remains the only option.

Shopping at farmers’ markets takes a lot more effort than a weekly trip to the grocery store. Farmers’ markets are only open a couple days a week, and although the range of produce available always shocks me, the range of products on sale is smaller. On weeks when I do make it down to one of the markets, I always end up taking a second trip to a grocery store to pick up things like juice or toilet paper. And sometimes the local items I’m specifically looking for, such as eggs, are sold out by the time I make it down in the early afternoon. My grocery bill also generally doubles on weeks I make a trip to the farmers’ market.

Grocery stores do offer local produce. In season, from about August to November, about 80 per cent of the potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and other locally available produce in Alberta does indeed come from local farms, according to Agriculture Alberta.

“There is local food sold though wholesalers into the grocery chains,” says Heather Loeppky, the head of local market expansion with the province. “It’s not always easy to find, but if you ask, it’s there.”

But while a big grocery store might be the most convenient option for consumers like myself, it’s not for producers like James. Wholesalers take away much of the control farmers and market gardeners have over their produce, he says. The wholesaler decides when the vegetables are picked, how they are packaged, and how much the vegetables are worth. It’s not an attractive option for a small-scale organic farmer.

“The good thing about the farmers’ market is that you sell things when they are ready,” he says. “You also have a relationship with the customer.”

The “eat local” initiative has increased the number and variety of people who are coming to the farmers’ markets, says Lisa Prkusic, general manager of the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market.

She thinks there’s enough demand out there for more farmers to market directly to customers, and indeed, more markets would have to open if Edmonton wanted to increase the amount of local food sold and consumed in the city. But even though the Old Strathcona Market has a waiting list for vendors — 100 people currently waiting to be interviewed, and another group of approved vendors waiting for an open space — they have no plans to expand. Prkusic says the market has to make sure they’re serving the farmers they already have and not oversaturating the market — while still providing good local products to customers.

“The farmers’ market industry is going through so many changes,” she says. “We just have to remember that it is about preserving the land and the local food supply.”

On the supply side, one of the problems facing local farmers is the availability or accessibility of good farmland. The Greater Edmonton Alliance continually highlights the importance of Edmonton’s agricultural land, especially the lands in the northeast which enjoy a unique microclimate and a longer growing season. There is big potential for more local food production, Lipton says, and the availability of good agricultural land is a big part of that.

“If you look northeast of Edmonton on its own,” she says, “there’s so much land out there that is so productive. If we turned all that into vegetable production, we probably wouldn’t feed the whole city on it, but we’d probably get pretty close, at least in terms of vegetables.”

James and Jennifer know from personal experience how important good agricultural land is. The couple has been looking for a bigger piece of land on which to expand Sundog Organics beyond the relatively small two acres they’ve farmed for the past year, but they haven’t found anything yet. The land that James’s parents rented next to their three acres before their retirement is currently rented for recreation vehicle storage. Although the couple is considering renting the land, James doesn’t like the insecurity. Organic certification can take a number of years, plus they’d have to make a hefty investment in infrastructure, all for a piece of land that could be sold out from under them.

“Who knows what will happen with Edmonton’s food security?” James asks. “No one’s asking the question of what we should do with the land.”

The couple has looked in other areas around the city, but they’ve found themselves priced out of the market. The price of farmland has been steadily increasing in Alberta, according to Farm Credit Canada, which provides business and financial services to farmers across the country. Alberta has seen three consecutive increases in agricultural land prices over the past year and a half, a one per cent increase in the first half of 2009, and 2.2 per cent and 6.7 per cent increases in 2008. The trend isn’t unique to Alberta, as prices for agricultural land increased across the country during the same period. Competition for land around urban centres like Edmonton increases prices further.

“If you just followed what the market says, you would just forget it,” James says, “because the market says that we don’t deserve land.”

The couple could expand and buy more land if they took on investors to raise capital for a land purchase, but that would require a much bigger operation, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80 or 120 acres, James says, and that’s not a risk he wants to take either. With a small farm, there’s less chance of losing plants. Part of the reason they were able to maintain the crops they planted though the drought this year, Jennifer says, was that they have a small operation.

Once we’ve finished with the picking for the morning and head inside for lunch, Jennifer and James roughhouse with their sons Silas and Eli in their parents’ living room. It’s a very charming scene, and I’ve enjoyed my time at the farm. Still, after this weekend, James and Jennifer will spend their days in the city while Jennifer pursues art and Silas attends school. Their produce will be gone from the farmers’ market, and frankly, most weeks will find me back in line at the grocery store.

In this economic climate, why is farming becoming a desirable life for young people who have the luxury of choice?

In the post-Omnivore’s Dilemma reality, where farmer Joel Salatin is known far outside his county, it doesn’t take a genius to say it: farming has totally blown up.

What I mean is, alongside the cultural idolization of growing your own, there has been a notable increase in college graduates who opt to spend their first year out of college on a farm. These, mind you, tend to include (but are not limited to) folks who could otherwise get jobs in the film, art, banking, engineering, psychology, academic, etc. worlds–if they need a job at all. But more than just recent graduates; there is a growing number of young people opting out of school altogether, or on the flip side, actually up and leaving the corporate world after years to start farms, collectives, co-operatives, and even communes. There are kids quitting their high-level jobs in the city, moving to small-scale farms or homesteads in Vermont, and haying their butts off for no pay other than a roof and food (like my friend who worked at the #1 restaurant in NYC, and now picks squash blossoms in South Royalton, VT). And there are a number of flush youths who are cashing in their trust funds–in some cases–for cows. But why? Because unless you invest in a big-organic company that sells to WalMart, there’s not much money in farming. It’s a touch-and-go kind of life, incumbent on the weather, commitment, responsibility, and hard work. In this economic climate, especially–look at all the dairy farms going under–why is farming becoming a desirable life for young people who have the luxury of choice?

Some might say it’s a passing trend, like flannel shirts in Williamsburg. Some might say it’s because there’s a dearth of “real” jobs, and farming is a good interim experience until the economy perks up. But perhaps it’s something more profound: you know, a deeper desire to get back to the agrarian life. Or, a more emotional reaction–a re-establishment of home values, a switch in the long-term goals of the entitled, and a deepening need for connection to one’s food, and work ethic. Perhaps we’re looking at a new world of homesteading, manual labor, and life on the land. A life of farming, in other words.

But are these kids real farmers? Because alongside manual labor, some of them might also be writers. Or painters. Or teachers. Some of them might not even sell their food; they’re just into living off the earth’s bounty.

According to Gene Logsdon–to whom Wendell Berry refers as “the most experienced and best observer of agriculture we have”–the answer is yes, they’re real farmers. If they’re serious about it. If they love it. If they work hard. In his book Living at Nature’s Pace: Farming and the American Dream, he talks about this very issue:

It seems to me that, living at nature’s pace on our little farm, I come closer to making my living from farming in a literal sense than “real” farmers. Carol and I raise most of our food including our meat, and some for other family members, keep a garden almost an acre in size, produce half of our home heating fuel from our own wood, derive most of our recreation and satisfaction from our farm, grow corn, oats, hay, and pasture, keep a cow and calf, two hogs, twenty ewes and their lambs, a flock of hens and broilers, and sell a few lambs and eggs. I’m sure I spend more time living on our farm than any industrial farmer in our county does. When they are not golfing in Florida or fishing in Canada, they spend a lot of time in the coffee shop or in my office telling me how farming is going down the drain….But urban people are also bringing agrarianism back to the cities. Developers build subdivisions that look and function like yesterday’s villages or neighborhoods. Gardens and home businesses are planned into the landscape, as are nearby retail and service shops. Some communities even utter the almost forbidden words, “neighborhood schools” again. New neighborhood houses of worship in the ghettoes, small and humble and unassuming, return in the shadow of the abandoned cathedral-like churches. A surge of market gardening and farmers’ markets recalls those years not so long ago when thousands of tiny truck farms, using horse manure for compost in their hotbeds and coldframes, supplied their cities with vegetables and fruits nearly year-round. The term “urban farming” turns out not to be an oxymoron. Chicago is even encouraging animal husbandry as part of its urban farming projects. In the heart of Cleveland, in the shadow of skyscrapers, horses plow garden plots. And with the returning agrarian spirit comes its wonderful offspring, agrarian ingenuity

[....]

I think I hear a faint rustle under the blacktop of shopping center parking lots, under the abandoned animal factories of yesterday and those yet to be abandoned tomorrow. Not only are the weeds pushing up through the cracking pavements, making way for the trees, but the irrepressible agrarian impulse is pushing through too. As long as humans are free to follow their hearts, there is hope.

To register for farm tours, contact Becky Lipton, ASAAP Coordinator, at 780-271-1116, becky.lipton@mail.mcgill.ca.

Edmonton Region Farm Tours

Towards an Economically, Environmentally and Emotionally Sustainable Garden - Inspired Market Gardens with Gwen Simpson

Tuesday August 25, 2009, 11-3pm - Carvel

Herbs, Flowers, Food & Fun.  Fill your senses with the fragrance, taste, texture and display of our wide range of culinary herbs, edible flowers, heirloom tomato plants, U-Pick cut flowers and specialty greens - all raised using all-natural growing conditions and sustainable agriculture methods. We have a greenhouse, 2 production gardens, and a small country store.  We sell at farm-gate, farmer’s market, and to restaurants & caterers.  We host several agri-tourism and culinary events throughout the season, including the ‘World Basset Races’.

Working Towards an Economically, Environmentally and Emotionally Sustainable Garden: This workshop will look at building a market garden that is a place where people want to work and visit and that is economically viable and environmentally sustainable in the long term. Specific topics to be covered include no till gardening, organic greenhouses, and the trials of garden maintenance.

Organic Poultry Production- Sunworks Farm with Ron Hamilton

Monday Sept. 21st, 2009, 11-3pm - Armena

Sunworks Farm is a Certified Organic Poultry and Cattle farm that direct markets all of its meats at two year round Farmers’ Markets and into a few food service outlets. The farm is the largest producer of organic poultry in the province, is certified as humane and raises their poultry in movable shelters in the summer. Calving is done late spring and through the summer.  The feed is made on the farm in their own CFIA approved feed mill. This is a progressive farm that uses rotational grazing for its birds and cattle, farms holistically and in a sustainable manner. Furthermore these farmers had no farming experience before they started up in 1997!

Organic Poultry Production: Workshop will include how to manage poultry on a larger scale using organic and holistic management principles. Details include raising broilers, layers and turkeys in a free range pastured poultry model for 6 months.

Peace Region Farm Tours
For those from outside the region, be prepared to travel by group to all three farms and camp overnight.  A group will leave from the Edmonton region early on Wednesday and return late on Thursday.

Grass Finishing & Alfalfa Seed/Leaf Cutter Bee Management - with Peter Lundgard

Principles of Composting - Natures Way Farm with interns

Wednesday Sept. 9th, 2009, 12-4pm - Grimshaw, Peace Region

On our Holistic Managed, ecological, grass based farm we raise grass-fed cattle and sheep, grow alfalfa seed, keep alfalfa leafcutter bees, and hay. At Natures Way Farm we believe in building a healthy eco-system and working with nature to provide an environmentally, economically and socially acceptable form of food production. One of our goals is to share our knowledge with others and help the next generation of farmers.

Principles of composting: Come and see compost pile preparation demonstration by farm interns. Workshop will cover how to build a compost heap, the ins and outs of how compost works including the different stages of compost development. Time permitting tour will include a video on soil microbiology.

Grass Finishing & Alfalfa Seed/Leaf Cutter Bee Management: Discover how grass finishing animals and alfalfa seed/ leaf cutter bee management are all part of a planned grazing system and a holistically managed farm. Learn about how leaf cutter bees graze by setting seed and collecting pollen, how using cattle achieves high energy feeds and how cutting hay helps to condition pastures.

Grazing & Soil Nutrition- Eggers Farm with Peter & Levke Eggers

Thursday Sept. 10th, 2009 9am-noon - La Glace, Peace Region

Formally a conventional grain farm, we are now grass based and certified organic since 2008. We use Holistic Management principles; we graze cattle, sheep and some poultry. On our farm we work with nature encouraging productivity through biodiversity, creating an environmentally, economically, and socially sound food production model. Our biggest interest lies in soil nutrition.

Grazing & Soil Nutrition: During a tour of the fields Peter will talk about why mineral content in the soil is so important, and how having the right levels of calcium magnesium potatsium and sodium contribute to the productivity of the land. There will also be a demonstration on how animals are moved in a rotational grazing system.

Organic Pig Production - First Nature Farms with Jerry Kitt

Thursday Sept. 10th, 2009 1-4pm - Goodfare, Peace Region

First Nature Farms (or “the Ranch”) has been around since 1918. Certified organic since 1990, the operation produces bison, beef, pork, chickens, eggs, Merriam’s wild turkeys and domestic turkeys. First Nature Farms is operated as an ecological reserve. It is home to many species including Trumpeter swans, mountain bluebirds, wolves and grizzly bears. The farm goal is to protect and enhance the biodiversity of the land. These farmers, experienced in animal husbandry, live on 3350 acres between Grande Prairie and Dawson Creek.

Organic Pig Production: Raising Pigs organically requires good food, fresh air and lots of sunshine. Technical details will touch on parasite control in organic production, animal intelligence, and farrowing.

Peter Lundgard and organic apprentices, Rachel Cullingham and Graham Petty, ready nesting boxes for leafcutter bees. The boxes will be set out in shelters in the field for the bees to occupy. Leafcutter bees pollinate the alfalfa flower and increase the seed set of alfalfa, ensuring a better crop.

It’s never easy to run against the tide of conventional thinking. When decades of family farming tradition are also involved, it’s even tougher. But as Peter Lundgard faced the biggest decision of his farming career 20 years ago, he knew something had to change.

That decision? Switching to organic production on the farm he and wife Mary operate near Grimshaw. “The other way of farming wasn’t working, so I didn’t see a long-term future for it,” says Lundgard. “I was looking for a simpler way to farm.”

Today, Nature’s Way Farm is a grass-based, certified organic farm, producing beef, sheep and lamb, alfalfa seed and leafcutter bees for pollination. As an organic producer, Lundgard uses no chemicals for pest control, no man-made fertilizers for plant nutrition and no growth promotants in his livestock.

Instead, he uses what he terms a holistic system, designed to achieve optimum balance and nutrition in the soil itself. This approach, in Lundgard’s view, improves the quality of the grass his livestock eat, resulting in meat products that are more nutritionally dense. Lundgard believes this way of farming makes his products more nutritious and his operation more sustainable.

A big part of the reason for Lundgard’s move to organic production related to his frustration at producing a commodity. “Our markets were commodity driven,” he says, “and the buyers were generally able to set the prices. You had to take the going rates. Another approach is to grow a unique product that you can market directly to the consumer, who will see the value in what you’re providing, and be willing to pay accordingly.”

Lundgard had a unique product; all he needed was customers. By the early 1990s, Nature’s Way Farm began to sell its products direct to consumers. This involved lots of knocking on doors to introduce his product to people who would appreciate how it was raised and how that influences its nutritional profile. Orders came in, slowly at first. Over time, Lundgard secured listings on websites where lovers of grass-finished beef find product to buy. He also joined forces with other producers to sell at farmers’ markets or to retailers and restaurants.

Admittedly, it took awhile for consumer tastes to catch up to Lundgard’s pioneering vision. Today, his innovative approach is much closer to the mainstream. Concepts like the 100-Mile Diet and the slow-food movement are seeing consumers take a greater interest in what’s in their food, how far it travels and how it’s prepared. Lundgard applauds this changing mindset.

“Consumers are becoming more aware of their food,” he says, “and more aware of the environmental footprint of food production. Food that comes from across the world is costly in terms of the environment, and so more people believe it is better to buy local products more often.”

During the journey from price-taking commodity producer to market-making brand, Lundgard has benefited from lessons learned from other producers, and has reciprocated in kind. As recipients of the Agripreneur Scholarship Program offered by Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, the Lundgards were able to attend an organic industry conference in Saskatoon in November 2008. More recently, they visited Italy to participate in a slow-food event.

“At the slow-food conference in Italy, there were 7,000 farmers, chefs and consumers in attendance,” he says. “The consumers were being called ‘co-farmers’, because they take a true interest in how their food is grown and raised. That is an example of how our thinking needs to evolve and I’m very excited to be part of that.” These experiences, along with a growing reputation among Alberta consumers, suggest to Lundgard that his decision of 20 years ago was the right one for his business.

Proudly Peace Full is co-ordinated by Karen Goad, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development 780.538.5629 (dial 310.0000 first for toll free access). This article was written by Kieran Brett

Peter and Mary Lundgard of Natures Way Farm are members of the
Alberta Sustainable Agriculture Apprenticeship  Program (ASAAP).
 

Farmcraft Survey Results

One of the best ways to spread the word about your farm and to sell a lot of product in the process is to participate in local farmer’s markets. Many farmers participate in more than one farmer’s market in more than one community.

To find farmer’s markets in your region, check this USDA website: http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/. It lists all of the farmer’s markets in each state. You can also find out this information from word of mouth.

The organization that runs each farmer’s market will have a list of guidelines and registration information. If you haven’t sold at a farmer’s market before, visit the farmer’s market as a customer to learn what type of stalls the vendors use and make note of other details, such as how they store the cash, types of promotional materials and signs they use, etc. Above all, you’ll want to see which types of vendors attend. If you sell cheese and there are already 3-4 cheese vendors at a small farmer’s market, you might want to attend a different farmer’s market instead.

You might have to visit the market a few times before you get a feel for the types of vendors the farmer’s market has. Larger farmer’s markets are open two days per week. Some vendors only attend one day per week. So the competition might be less on, say, Wednesday than it is on Saturday. If you can, try to engage in casual conversation with some of the other customers and get a feel for what the customers like. The more research you do before you take the plunge and start renting space, the more likely you will have success from the beginning.

Some farmer’s markets don’t require a summer-long lease and you can rent space one day at a time. This is another way to get knowledge about the farmer’s market without committing yourself to the full summer.

The larger the farmer’s market, the more attention you should pay to adding attention-getting features to your stall, such as a sign. Make it easy for customers to tell at a glance what you sell. Keep plenty of your products on the table so that it’s visible (if possible; obviously that won’t work if you sell items that require refrigeration, such as meat). Put up price signs. If you sell multiple products you can also put up price sheets and make those same price sheets available on your website too. Vendors that sell many types of meat and have to keep it in the refrigerator in their truck should definitely have price sheets.

You can also put up signs if you are having a special sale that week. On your table you can have a sign-up list for your email list, business cards, flyers, articles about a relevant topic. For instance, if you sell grass-fed beef you could have articles explaining why it’s superior to corn-fed beef. If you sell maple syrup you could have copies of articles about how maple syrup is made. The more interaction you have with your customers, and the more you can educate them about your products, the more repeat business you will receive. It won’t take long for you to get regular customers at your farmer’s market stall each week. They will seek you out. Once you have a lot of repeat business you might be tempted to cut back on displaying your promotional materials but you shouldn’t. There are always new customers at the farmer’s market and you’ll want to keep attracting them too.

Farmer’s markets can be time-consuming and require a lot of labor, but there’s nothing better than being able to interact face-to-face with your customers. It can only improve your business and give you fresh ideas.

This is one in a series of 10 Web Marketing Tips for Farmers. You can download the full e-book with expanded version of all 10 tips plus other bonus content from Switch Farm Marketing.

Face-to-face interaction with your customers is a form of marketing because it encourages repeat business. Also, when you are able to sell direct to your customer you eliminate the middle man and increase your profits as a result. Here are 7 ways to directly market to your customers:

Roadside Stands

The real estate mantra “Location, location, location” applies to roadside stands too. Cheap labor helps as well, otherwise labor expenses add up in a hurry. It helps to have a specialty, such as sweet corn, strawberries or other seasonal produce. Consistency helps as well.

You don’t have to invest much for materials for a roadside stand. Your truck, an awning and table(s) will do fine as long as you have a good location. If your roadside stand is on your farm, then you need not invest much at all. Be sure to check with local authorities about regulations before setting up a roadside stand. There are usually fewer rules for roadside stands on your own property.

Farmer’s Markets

The number of farmer’s markets has doubled in the last five years so if it’s feasible, you should consider participating in one or more farmer’s markets. With today’s economy the way it is, you can expect that farmer’s markets will become even more popular because it eliminates the added expense of the middle-man.

Most farmer’s markets charge an annual membership fee. Others allow you to rent space on a monthly or even weekly basis. If you sell products that are only available at a certain time of year, such as sweet corn, you can probably make an arrangement to rent space only during those weeks.

One-on-one selling skills are necessary to help encourage repeat business and even though the manager will handle the marketing of the entire farmer’s market you should still make an effort to bring promotional materials about your farm to help customers get to know you and want to buy from you again, even outside the farmer’s market.

Mail Order

There are advantages to mail order, provided you have a product that can be stored, ships well and can command a high enough price to be worth selling through the mail. Some examples are: Seeds, nuts, jellies, and dried fruit.

CSA

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members are like shareholders and purchase “shares” at the beginning of each season. Members usually have say in what type of produce is grown and whether or not the farmer will deliver the produce to a drop off spot or members will harvest the crops themselves. A dedicated core group is necessary so proximity to a larger city is desirable to make CSA arrangements work.

Rent a Row/Tree

Similar to a CSA, the customer makes the purchase at the beginning of the season. The customers do the harvesting and the farmer does the labor of the planting and growing. Many customers will want to visit throughout the season, which is a potential headache for the farmer. But you don’t have to provide public access.

U-Pick

Hardy crops that are easy to pick, such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and apples are popular U Pick items. You won’t have to provide labor for harvesting but the downside is that you will need people on hand to give instruction to the customers in proper picking practices.

Delivery Service

You can get top dollar for your product through delivering, but in order to make a delivery service work you might need a mix of products to help cover delivery expenses. Running a delivery service requires a lot of time and energy in developing relationships with your buyers.
Comments

This is one in a series of 10 Web Marketing Tips for Farmers. You can download the full e-book with expanded version of all 10 tips plus other bonus content from Switch Farm Marketing.

Selling to restaurants is another potential stream of income for your farm and another way to market your products. Going out to eat is very popular, as are cooking shows on TV, so ‘foodies’ are everywhere and marketing to restaurants is a great way to reach them.

You’ll have to make the first move and contact the restaurants. Restaurants look for specialty items that they can’t find in their usual wholesale markets. Also, they will look for: freshness, quality, competitive pricing, consistency, and reliability of supply and delivery.

Restaurants have the potential to give you a steady source of income all year, provided you can establish a good relationship with the restaurant owner – you should also. You can expect to fetch about 10% above wholesale prices and much more than that for unique specialty items that they can’t get wholesale. If you have seconds, offer them for use as pizza toppings, salsa, salad, etc.

Make a list of all the restaurants that can be easily served from your location (a 50-mile radius is a good range) or are along a delivery route in a city an hour or two drive away. To get started, look in the Yellow Pages, or dining guide surveys in newspapers, or restaurant guidebooks in libraries or bookstores. You can also find contacts at trade shows and local conventions. Target restaurants that serve local food or have unique cuisine.

Determine the products you can supply to restaurants that are different, fresher, or better than those currently available. When talking with restaurant owners about these products, give them reason to buy from you. It doesn’t require super sales skills. Just let them know how your products and services are different or better than everyone else’s.
Describe your produce the way you would if talking to a friend. Emphasize the special varieties and, if you offer each-day delivery, highlight that. Other things to emphasize are:
uniqueness, freshness, vine-ripened flavor, extra care, and personal service of your products.

Above all, be sure to bring food samples and a cutting board with you so that they can taste your great produce. Your food can sell itself. Also, leave a fact sheet listing your products, the various types and varieties, and availabilities and prices.

You can also offer to be a distributor for other farmers in your area. This gives you the opportunity to offer more products to the restaurants and increases your income stream from restaurants. The other farmers will be happy too because they get increased sales without having to make deliveries.

If you successfully provide products to restaurants, a secondary benefit is that the people who eat at the restaurants became aware of your farm and might look for your products at farmer’s markets, on your website and at the store. This is yet another way to get word of mouth for your farm. If the restaurant serves local food they might put your farm name in the menu. As people are eating your local product at a restaurant they will be more likely to remember you than if they were just seeing an ad in a newspaper.

This is one in a series of 10 Web Marketing Tips for Farmers. You can download the full e-book with expanded version of all 10 tips plus other bonus content from Switch Farm Marketing.