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Enhance Economic Opportunities for Agricultural Producers
Direct Farm Marketing and Tourism Activities to Keep the Farm
Impact Nugget
During 2004 more than 25,000 downloads of the online version of a direct
farm marketing handbook were logged, including the whole book or parts
of the book; the Direct Farm Marketing and Tourism Handbook is still
widely accessed and maintains the #1 listing for “Direct Farm
Marketing” on the Google search engine (rank is based on Web sites
selected by users). In addition to Arizona, requests to utilize the
handbook for a short course or class have come from other Western states,
and Australia, Canada and South Africa.
Issue
For many small and medium-sized farms, traditional commodity marketing
channels no longer provide sufficient returns to support a family through
farming. The value-added contribution by U.S. producers of consumer
food expenditures has fallen from 22.8 percent in 1950 to only 7.9 percent
in 2000. By allowing farmers to retain a higher share of consumer food
expenditures, direct marketing, along with agritourism, has proved to
be an alternative for keeping these farms economically viable. Global
competition and modern production technologies have pushed the price
of raw agricultural commodities downward so that many farmers and ranchers
have found it difficult to remain in production agriculture. However,
some farmers and ranchers have mastered the art of obtaining a higher
profit margin from their agricultural land holdings by marketing food
products and farm recreation directly to the consumer.
What has been done?
Two UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty members convened
the first annual Arizona Direct Farm Marketing and Tourism (DFMT) conference
in 1995 at the same time they finished putting together a 250-page layman’s
publication on the topic. The educational curriculum was designed to
provide producers with an A-Z publication for finding the essentials
needed to start and develop a direct farm marketing enterprise. Producers
have been able to network and learn from each other at the annual conference
by sharing their failures and success stories. The 9th annual conference
was held at Apple Annie’s Farm in southeastern Arizona in the
summer of 2004. The event draws both regular and new participants who
are investigating whether they should try direct farm marketing. Generally
50 to100 individuals attend the annual conference and the handbook curriculum
has reached thousands of people.
An interim board was recently formed to organize an Arizona Farmers’
Direct Marketing Association. Issues the association will address include
being a collective voice in the state for direct farm marketing issues,
educational programs, collective buying of insurance products for members,
coordinating better with Arizona Grown, developing a farmers’
market directory, and building an association Web site that links producers
with restaurant buyers and other food vendors.
The Western Extension Marketing Committee and University of Arizona
Cooperative Extension recently published a book, “Western Profiles
of Innovative Agricultural Marketing: Examples from Direct Farm Marketing
and Agri-Tourism Enterprises.” The book is a collaborative effort
with authors from seven Western states. Using a case-study approach,
farmers learn concepts that can be applied to stabilize and enhance
their businesses. Examples include failures and successes of 17 enterprises
located in Western urban and rural settings.
Impact
Participants at the direct farm marketing conference (DFMT) in 2004
not only rated the topics presented as being relevant to their operation
but indicated that they thought there was a high probability (3.0 on
a 4.0 scale) that the information learned at the conference would impact
the profitability of their operation. One participant is networking
with others who attended the conference to expand their goat cheese
market and a mobile petting zoo that includes the goats they milk. Experience
has shown them that some of their most loyal customers for goat milk
and cheese are those who have been exposed to their operation through
a birthday party or similar event with their petting zoo.
More than 3,000 hard copies of Western Profiles have been distributed
throughout the West in 2004. The publication is also available for free
on the Internet and producers have been accessing the publication online.
On-line access of the printed edition has been available since the end
of January 2004 at http://cals.arizona.edu/arec/wemc/westernprofiles.html.
More than 25,000 downloads were made during 2004 of the entire book
or an article in the book. Thus, more than 50 individuals a day have
been served with this publication, even after reducing downloads from
robots. Testimonials:
+ Western Profiles is “informative, readable, and realistic with
an attractive format.”
+ Western Profiles is “a timely topic and one that has not received
a great deal of research in recent years. I applaud the authors and
the WEMC for taking a look at this issue.”
The DFMT Handbook is still widely accessed and maintains the #1 listing
for “Direct Farm Marketing” on the Google search engine
(rank is based on Web sites selected by users). Requests to utilize
the handbook for a short course or class have come from other Western
states in addition to Arizona, and Australia, Canada and South Africa.
“I actually used the information from your website to begin looking
into marketing my eggs! I must have used a ream of paper and 2 ink cartridges
printing it off. I found the section on business planning extremely
helpful.” –participant.
Funding
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Western Center for Risk Management Education, USDA/CSREES
Contact
Russell Tronstad, Associate Professor & Specialist
Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics
The University of Arizona
Economics Bldg. (#23)
Tucson, AZ 85721
Tel: (520) 621-2425; FAX (520) 621-6250
Email: tronstad@ag.arizona.edu
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