Subject: FARM AID NEWS 8-3-94
From: [email-masked] (IATP)
Date: 3 Aug 1994 21:41:17 -0000
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

FARM AID NEWS
Volume 2, Number 16
Wednesday, August 3, 1994
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HEADLINES:
-Examples of Direct Marketing Shared
-Restaurants Buy Direct
-Mail-Order Success for Some Farmers
-Farmers' Markets Build Consumer Confidence
-CSA Farmers Share Production Risks With Consumer Shareholders
-Home Delivery: Farmers Meet Consumers at Doorstep With Quality 
Food
-FARM AID Supports Direct Marketing
-RESOURCES
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EXAMPLES OF DIRECT MARKETING SHARED

 As described in the last issue of FARM AID NEWS, more and more 
farmers are turning to direct marketing as an alternative to 
conventional  sales routes.  By marketing their products directly to 
consumers through restaurants, farmers' markets, Community 
Supported Agriculture programs, "You-Pick" farms and home-
delivery services, farmers are pocketing a greater share of the food 
dollar.  

In this issue, FARM AID examines some of the successes as well as 
the obstacles experienced by many of the thousands of family 
farmers who are now bypassing middlemen and selling their 
products directly to consumers.
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RESTAURANTS BUY DIRECT

Many family farmers have aimed their direct marketing efforts at 
local restaurants where they can reach at once a large number of 
consumers, while capturing a relatively secure market share. 

Most family farmers who have tapped into this retail market have a 
specialty product to offer -- such as organically-grown or exotic 
produce. 

In Chicago, for example, Delore Michael has supplied some of the 
city's most trendy restaurants with exotic herbs, Oriental produce 
and tomatoes "picked at 90 percent ripeness."  When the growing 
season is over, Michael has regular conversations with restaurant 
owners to prepare planting schedules of  "the right product mix" for 
the next season.

Bruce Bacon, who farms in Anoka county, Minnesota, has also 
successfully marketed fruits, vegetables, salads and herbs to 20 
Minneapolis restaurants.  Bacon started out producing salads during 
the mid 1980's on his great-grandfather's farm, and eventually 
expanded his operation to include other specialty crops.  

He now oversees a  seasonal producer cooperative  of 12 persons 
who work in the fields and help with deliveries.    "We went from a 
failed family farm to a direct market cooperative," Bacon says.

Most farmers who do their own marketing find it difficult to balance 
their time between farming and marketing.  Bacon, who does most of 
the direct marketing to chefs himself, and still spends  4-5 hours per 
day on the farm organizing work schedules for the 12 volunteer 
cooperative members, fixing equipment, pulling weeds, and keeping 
records, says the producer cooperative has helped alleviate some of 
the time constraints. 
_____________________________________________
MAIL-ORDER SUCCESS FOR SOME FARMERS 

Mail-order marketing is a direct marketing option practiced more 
and more by family farmers.  Like other businesses, some family 
farmers have extended their reach to consumers by selling  products 
through the mail.  

Walnut Acres farm in Penns Creek, Pennsylvania, for example, 
operates a mail-order catalogue and store to directly market 
organically-grown vegetables and  fruits as well as peanut butter 
and jams -- which are canned and jarred right on the farm.   

Walnut Acres, which began as a family-owned  500 acre farm in 
1947, now generates approximately  80 percent of its revenue from 
the catalogue and the remaining 20 percent from the Walnut Acres 
store.

"We're selling everything we harvest.  We're selling everything we 
can in [our] own cannery and bakery.  We won't sell what we can't 
grow or pack on our own land," said Bob Anderson, Walnut Acres' 
general manager.  

Henry Hoke, of DIRECT MARKETING magazine said after visiting 
Walnut Acres that the farm "may set a pattern for family farmers of 
the future.  And perhaps for food marketing in the next century."
______________________________________________
FARMERS' MARKETS BUILD CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

Farmers' markets across the nation are helping more farmers survive 
and build urban links by selling their products directly to consumers.  
Everything from just-picked peas, bok choy and flowers to meats and 
fresh-baked breads are passed directly from the hands of the farmer 
to those of the consumers who shop at these markets.  

"The farmers' market is the best thing that ever happened to us," 
says Evelyn Wolf, who grows peaches and blackberries in Texas with 
her husband, Dan, on land that has been in their family for over 100 
years.  "Before Jim Hightower [former Commissioner of Agriculture] 
helped organize  the farmers' market in Austin, Texas, we really had 
no place to sell our produce ... it was just rotting in the fields."

Wolf says that conventional produce buyers, such as grocery stores 
or wholesalers, no longer buy locally, which made it impossible for 
many farmers to survive prior to the establishment of farmers' 
markets.  "The big grocery stores around here are part of a chain that 
buys everything from California ..  even though we grow better 
quality produce right here in Texas," Wolf says.

The Wolf's travel to six different farmers' markets throughout the 
week to sell their produce.  In addition, the Wolf's offer pick-your-
own tomatoes and blackberries to local residents, which Evelyn says 
has been very successful because of the marketing and harvest time 
saved by having consumers come to the farm to do their own 
picking.  "Pick-your-own is a good deal for consumers too, they pay 
about one-fourth the price charged at farmers' markets for the 
produce," says Evelyn.
_____________________________________________
CSA FARMERS SHARE PRODUCTION RISKS WITH CONSUMER 
SHAREHOLDERS 

As consumer demand grows for locally-produced, organic food, more 
and more family farmers are making the transition to Community 
Supported Agriculture (CSA) production.  

CSA farmers market a season's worth of organic produce to 
consumers prior to planting.  CSA consumers who purchase  shares in 
a participating farm receive weekly deliveries of fresh fruits, 
vegetables, herbs and flowers throughout the growing season. 

Maureen Vosejpka of Thorn Crest Farms in Dundas, Minnesota who 
made the transition from a family produce farm to a CSA  in 1993 
says direct marketing through CSA's can become very successful, 
providing consumer participation in the program continues to grow.  

"Our vision is that this CSA program will work, but it'll be a struggle 
in the short-run while we're still building our shareholder base," says 
Maureen.  "More grassroots support is needed from consumers 
before this program can become a realistic alternative for all 
farmers."

Both Maureen and her husband, Gary, still work off-farm jobs to 
make ends meet, but are optimistic that their 40 shareholder-base 
will expand as more consumers are exposed to the program and the 
safe food alternative it provides.   
_____________________________________________
HOME DELIVERY: FARMERS MEET CONSUMERS AT DOORSTEP WITH 
QUALITY FOOD

In addition to reaching consumers at farmers' markets and through 
CSA's, farmers wishing to sell directly to consumers have also begun 
home-delivery services of food products.  This once common 
approach to marketing is now being slowly revived by dairy and 
meat producers who hand deliver fresh milk and meat cuts to 
customers at their homes.

Pam and Dick Bowne, who launched their home-delivery milk 
venture last April, are now dropping off non-homogenized milk to 
over 150 homes twice a week near Palisade, Minnesota. 

"This is our milk.  It has no garbage in it," Dick says.  "If you have a 
complaint about the milk, you come to see us.  If you have a 
complaint with Bridgeman's (a Midwest ice-cream retailer), who do 
you see?"

Although the couple says they haven't made much of a profit during 
their first four months in the delivery business, they expect earnings 
to increase once they've paid off some of the new equipment needed 
for the business, such as their refrigerated van.

The couple said they decided to get into the home delivery business 
because of the low prices offered by processors and because of 
growing consumer interest in what's perceived to be more naturally-
produced food. 
_____________________________________________
FARM AID SUPPORTS DIRECT MARKETING 

FARM AID supports the efforts of groups working to build strong 
rural-urban links through direct marketing ventures.  

With the help of FARM AID grants, the Sustainable Food Center, the 
Federation of Southern Cooperatives and the Missouri Rural Crisis 
Center  operate projects aimed at enhancing communication between 
farmers and consumers while ensuring equitable prices for 
producers and safe food for consumers.

FARM AID provided a grant last year to the Sustainable Food Center 
in Austin, Texas, for example, to start up a farmers market.  In its 
first year, the market put $20,000 directly into the pockets of 20 
local farmers, while providing fresh food for residents.  Most of the 
farmers practice some form of low-input or sustainable farming. 

FARM AID also supports efforts of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center  -- 
which in 1992 decided to create a label under which farmers could 
direct market their products to urban churches and community 
groups throughout Missouri.  Consumers who purchase products 
labeled with the "Patchwork Farm Products" tag are assured that the 
vegetables and pork cuts they receive are fresh and produced in an 
environmentally sound manner,  while producers receive up to 15 
percent over prevailing market prices for these products.  

The Federation of Southern Cooperatives  receives FARM AID 
assistance as well to continue developing a Rural-to-Urban Direct 
Marketing Program.  According to the Federation's 1993 annual 
report, more than half a million dollars worth of farm produce was 
sold directly to consumers at urban churches and public housing 
developments throughout the South as a result of the program.

For more information about these programs, contact: 
%Kate Fitzgerald, the Sustainable Food Center: 
(512) 472-2073
%Roger Allison, the Missouri Rural Crisis Center: (314) 449-1336
%Ralph Paige, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives:  (404) 524-
6882
_____________________________________________
Sources: "Community Supported Agriculture," SAFE FOOD NEWS, 
Winter 1993; Joanna Blythman, "Food & Drink: Eat Local and Sever 
the Food Chains," THE INDEPENDENT, October 23, 1993;  Sibella Kraus, 
"Working the Land With a Sense of Community," SAN FRANCISCO 
CHRONICLE, October 2, 1991; Elizabeth New Weld, "On the Farm: A 
Way of Life Endures," BOSTON GLOBE, July 14, 1994; Henry R. Hoke, 
"Homegrown Success; Walnut Acres' Mail-Order Catalog," DIRECT 
MARKETING MAGAZINE, October, 1990; Gary Gunderson, "Minnesota 
Farm Couple Sells, Delivers Own Milk," FARM & RANCH GUIDE, July 1, 
1994; Telephone Interviews With:  Shirley Wirth, Walnut Acres 
Farm, July 15, 1994; Gene Yeager, Biodynamic Farming and 
Gardening Association, May 20, 1994; Mike Racette, Common Harvest, 
July 21, 1994; Bruce Bacon, July 15, 1994; Maureen Vosejpka, Thorn 
Crest Farms, August 2, 1994;  Evelyn Wolf, Wolf Farm, August 3, 
1994. 
______________________________________________
RESOURCES:

Nationwide CSA list. Contact the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening 
Association for a nationwide list of CSA's.  P.O. Box 550, Kimberton, 
PA 19442.  1-800-516-7797.

"Sell What You Sow!"  Eric Gibson, 1994.  304 pages. $25.00.  New 
World Publishing, 3701 Clair Dr. Carmichael, CA 95608.  (916) 944-
7932.  "This book explores options and avenues of direct marketing 
that we've never even considered, solves problems that we didn't 
even know existed, teaches you all the tricks and all the spins" - New 
England Farm Bulletin.   

Basic Formula to Create Community Supported Agriculture.  60 pages.  
$10.00.  National Clearing House for CSA, Robyn Van En, Indian Line 
Farm, R.R. 3 Box 85, Great Barrington, MA 01230.   Manual gives 
detailed advice on how to start a CSA project.

Walnut Acres Farm Product catalogue.  Published nine times per 
year.  1-800-433-3998.  Free.
______________________________________________
We welcome comments and suggestions: contact Harry Smith at 
FARM AID, (617) 354-2922.  We encourage the reproduction of 
FARM AID NEWS.  Produced by The Institute for Agriculture and 
Trade Policy (IATP) for FARM AID.   Editors: Gigi DiGiacomo and  
Harry Smith.  For information on other agriculture bulletins, contact 
IATP: (612) 379-5980.
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