Farmer Direct Marketing Newsletter

October/November/December 1999

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Contents:

USDA Activities:

       New Publications from the Wholesale and Alternative Markets Program

       Bulletins on Marketing Fresh Produce to Local Schools Available

       Cooperative Agreement With North American Farmer's Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) Signed

       Cooperative Agreement With Cornell University Extension Signed

       Architect Joins Wholesale and Alternative Markets Program Staff

Direct Marketing in the News:

       "Small Farmers, Needing to Grow, Coming to Web" (AP, 12/11/99)

        "The Virtual Farmers' Market:  Specialty Foods Going Online" (AP, 12/11/99)

       "To Market, To Market:  Consumers, Feds, and Farmers Agree
        - The Spread of Farmers' Markets Is Good For Kansas" (The Wichita Eagle, 10/9/99)

        "Fall Prime Time for Pumpkin Patch Boom" (AP, 9/21/99)

       "Farmers' Markets Sprout Up Across America " (Reuters, 9/9/99)

       "Bill Increases Fee to Keep Popular Markets Alive" (AP, 9/3/99)

       "Extension's Role With Farmers' Markets:  Working with Farmers, Consumers, and Communities"                        (Abel, Thomson, and Maretzki.  Journal of Extension.  October 1999)

Announcements:

       Northeast Food System Partnership's New Website

        Many Exciting Conferences and Workshops To Be Held This Winter and Spring!

        Leopold Study on Potential for Local Sales for Iowa Apple Industry Released

        King County (WA) Marketing Guide and Directory of Commercial Buyers of Farm Products

New in Print or on Video About Direct Marketing:

        CSA Farms in the United States 1999-2000

         Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers

         The Seasonal Marketer

         Audiotapes from USDA's Second National Small Farm Conference (October 1999)

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USDA Activities:

New Publications from the Wholesale and Alternative Markets Program

The Wholesale and Alternative Markets Program at USDA has three new publications available to the public.

The first is a new brochure, "Farmer Direct Marketing Program."  This short publication discusses the AMS Farmer Direct Marketing Action Plan.  It describes goals and objectives, accomplishments, and program planning/new initiatives.  It also gives the Farmer Direct Marketing Website address and contact information. 

The other two publications are feasibility studies:  "A Review of Little Rock's River Market Public and Farmers Market Operations" and "The Burlington Public Market: Phase I - Producer Survey and Analysis".  Executive summaries of these publications are available on line.  Copies of a complete print version can be ordered using the on-line publication order form.

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Bulletins on Marketing Fresh Produce to Local Schools Available

Four bulletins about the experiences of the New North Florida Cooperative are now available.  The New North Florida Cooperative sold produce to a school district for its school lunch program.  The first year of the pilot project resulted in encouraging progress for the New North Florida Cooperative.  This group of small farmers faced numerous barriers and difficulties, including weather, credit, government regulations, social attitudes, and preexisting preferences.  They showed it was possible to form a cooperative of small farmers and profit from new marketing opportunities.  The successes and learning experiences of the first year of the pilot project will enable the Cooperative to improve its production and marketing in the future.

The bulletins are part of the "Small Farmer Success Story" Series:

Bulletin 1.  Marketing Fresh Produce to Local Schools:  The North Florida Cooperative Experience
Bulletin 2.  Cultivating Schools as Customers in a Local Market:  The New North Florida Cooperative
Bulletin 3.  Acquiring Capital and Establishing a Credit History:  The North Florida Cooperative Experience
Bulletin 4.  Success of the New North Florida Cooperative:  A Progress Report on Producer Direct Sales to School Districts

Copies of the bulletins or a full report on the Cooperative can be obtained from:

USDA/AMS/TM/MTA
Room 1207-South
1400 Independence Ave., SW,
Washington, DC  20250
Phone:  (202) 720-8326
Fax:  (202) 690-3616
Email:  dan.schofer@usda.gov

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Cooperative Agreement With North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) Signed

From "Market Connection" - The Quarterly Newsletter of the North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association.           Vol, 5.  No. 3. Fall 1999

"The United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, has made a funding commitment to The North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association.  The $40,000.00 funding will support NAFDMA efforts to create a more organized network of the many state and regional farm direct marketing organizations throughout the United States.

The financial support is part of a larger cooperative agreement between the Agricultural Marketing Service of USDA and NAFDMA.  Specifically, the objectives of the agreement are to:  1) Develop a national directory of farm direct marketing associations, detailing their organizational structure, operational features, and activities; 2) Develop a series of manuals that describe how to start and expand a farm direct marketing association as a means of facilitating farm direct sales to consumers; 3) Convene a series of workshops to test suitability and viability of manuals for implementation; and 4) Produce copies of final manuals and distribute information to the direct marketing industry.

The cooperative agreement outlines provisions for USDA to provide technical support, personnel services, and other resource assistance in addition to the financial contribution to the project.  "In my view, the less tangible resources are far more valuable to our organization than the money itself," says Charlie Touchette, who is NAFDMA's Executive Director, and who will manage the project on the association's behalf.  "We will have access to talents and expertise that a non-profit of our current size could never afford to secure in the open market.  And the relationships that we'll build, combined with the exposure of the "real world of direct marketing farmers" we can provide for Washington, D.C. will continue to benefit the farm direct marketing industry long after the $40,000.00 is gone."

NAFDMA and USDA will also seek participation from collaborators within Extension, academia, and state departments of agriculture to assist in developing materials, facilitating workshops, and fostering direct marketing programs that will likely result from the project.  "There are already folks from government sectors who support NAFDMA," Touchette points out, "one of my own goals with this project is to use it as a catalyst for Extension, state departments of agriculture, and others to become more aware and more involved in what this association has to offer.  NAFDMA should be their liaison to the private sector on a continental wide basis.  This young organization can be useful to every county in every state in helping local farmers excel in farm direct marketing."

One of the primary material objectives of the project is to formalize a directory of farm direct marketing associations throughout the country.  The survey and information gathering process provides an opportunity for NAFDMA and its collaborators to share dialogue and get to know each other better. The strengths and weaknesses of existing groups will be assessed.  Then, organizations can work together to improve their local programs by getting pointers from their counterparts in other regions, just as farmers have done with one another at NAFDMA conferences for years.  For example, the New York State Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association is skilled at publishing an outstanding association newsletter.  The Federation of Massachusetts Farmers’ Markets has created a model program in which the organization itself manages farmers’ markets in communities that have nowhere else to turn.  The Ohio Direct Agricultural Marketing Association has sponsored a top-notch regional educational conference for many years, as has the Pacific Northwest Farm Direct Marketing Association.  All of these groups have specific areas of strength, yet they also have other areas they wish to improve upon in order to better serve their memberships.

NAFDMA incorporated 10 years ago.  Part of its stated purpose is to "provide support for the development of existing regional associations."  Another section of the mission statement positions NAFDMA to "encourage formation of new regional and local associations."  The organization’s stated purpose was used as the foundation for discussions when Mr. Touchette first approached USDA for support in fostering the growth of NAFDMA itself.  In addition to working closely with existing groups, the project will set the stage to start associations in states that are currently not served by a farm direct marketing organization.

One objective of this project is to create a more organized national inventory of farm direct marketing groups whereby federal resources can be efficiently managed to support our growing industry.  As agricultural policy changes on the national level, opportunities may arise for direct marketers.  The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has initiated a Farmer Direct Marketing Action Plan that has significantly increased its involvement and support for our farm direct marketing programs.  This new initiative will provide a focal point for promoting farm direct marketing on a national level, as well as helping to shape policy decisions relative to the interest of the direct marketing industry.

The cooperative agreement project leader for USDA is Errol Bragg, of the Wholesale and Alternative Markets Program.  This is one of five programs that operate under the Transportation and Marketing Division managed by Deputy Administrator, Eileen Stommes.   Transportation and Marketing is one of nine divisions under the agency known as Agricultural Marketing Services, whose Administrator is Kathleen Merrigan.  AMS is among three "agencies" overseen by Under Secretary Michael Dunn for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, which is ultimately among the seven major Under Secretary positions of USDA, whose Secretary is now Dan Glickman.

Errol Bragg has been a long time supporter of NAFDMA and previously served on the Board of Directors as a member-at-large for three years. Bragg is involved in a variety of national projects related to direct marketing.  "This project with NAFDMA is one of several we will initiate to address farm direct marketing issues and opportunities identified in our recent focus group sessions.  Our goal is to develop and implement an effective programmatic strategy within AMS that reflects the needs of the direct marketing community," says Bragg.  A recently completed report conducted in cooperation with Cornell University, Direct Marketing Today:  Challenges and Opportunities, summarizes data obtained from five regional focus groups and establishes a framework for many new direct marketing initiatives in USDA.  In addition to Mr. Bragg, Eileen Stommes and Claire Klotz, who is also with the Wholesale and Alternative Markets Program, will play active roles in the project.

Folks who are interested in participating in this project are encouraged to contact Charlie Touchette by e-mail at nafdma@map.com or at 1-888-884-9270.

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AMS Signs Cooperative Agreement With Cornell University Extension

AMS recently signed a cooperative agreement with Cornell University Extension (Tompkins County) for a Farmer Direct Marketing Enterprise Development Manual.  The objectives of this agreement are to:

1) Develop a technical manual to assist newly emerging and operating farm direct marketers in making decisions relative to market channel alternatives, business direction, and diversification strategies; and

2) Conduct three workshops to pilot materials and evaluate effectiveness of the manual.

The manual is scheduled for completion by September 2000.   Monika Roth, Cornell Cooperative Extension, will be working on the project on Cornell's behalf. 

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Architect Joins Wholesale and Alternative Markets Program Staff

The Wholesale and Alternative Markets (W&AM) Program has a diverse staff--marketing specialists, economists, and engineers.  Recently, this diversity was expanded when Fidel Delgado joined the staff as an architect. 

Originally from San Antonio, TX, Delgado holds a bachelor of architecture degree from Texas Technological University.   His concentration of studies was Planning and Urban Design.  Before joining USDA, he worked for 11 years with the U.S. Air Force in various capacities and has practiced as a registered architect for 15 years. 

Delgado enhances W&AM's ability to work on a range of projects.  As an example, one of the projects he has worked on is the "Sanford State Farmers' Market Redevelopment Plan."  He completed a master plan for the redevelopment of a 20-acre site in Sanford Florida and submitted it to the State of Florida Department Agriculture for its use in fiscal planning for the next budget year.   The master plan provides a systematic guide for property redevelopment.  The submittals included six computer-aided drafting drawings, project description, site analysis, project goals, project phasing, and  cost estimate by phase.

WA&M welcomes Fidel Delgado to the staff!

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Direct Marketing in the News:

"Small Farmers, Needing to Grow, Coming to Web" (AP, 12/11/99)

"FRANKFORT, KY - At Misty Meadows Farm, not all the tools are in the shed.

A computer and a modes, homemade Web page now are part of the plan for marketing organic produce, jams and jellies and free-range eggs.

Owners Ralph and Kathy Packard, who with their children run the farm in Meade County, were like many other small-scale growers--late comers to computers and electronic marketing.

"We said we'd never, ever do it," Mrs. Packard said.  "We always figured we'd do everything on our own."

But also like many other small farmers, the Packards needed to squeeze more income from their 28 acres.  Both have given up day jobs.  "We need to increase tremendously, since this is our livelihood," Mrs. Packard said.

Their first, tentative step towards Internet marketing was a Web page, which they built with a program available for free on the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Internet site.

The Misty Meadows page lists the farm's products and the Louisville-area farmers' market where they are sold.

It also gives an all-important e-mail address, "One of the best things for us as a business," Mrs. Packard said.  Regular customers in Louisville can place special orders by e-mail, sparing themselves a long-distance call.

But that's hardly all there is to Internet marketing.  To find the Misty Meadows site, a browser must know that the "front door" is the Department of Agriculture site--a fact that the department has not yet advertised.   Nor is there any way to place a credit-card order.

"It's not as easy as people make it seem," Jennifer Gleason, a Robertson County farmer whose attempt to launch a commercial Web site for her product line, Sunflower Sundries, has been less than satisfying.

Ms. Gleason produces jams, jellies, mustard, bath herbs and handmade soap from her farm near Mount Olivet.  With 3,000 retail customers spread across several states, a Web presence seemed prudent.

But sales still come mainly from mailed catalogs and price sheets, not via the Internet, she said.  "It's not at all a jiffy-snap thing: 'Here you go; orders start pouring in.'"

Karen Armstrong-Cummings, director or the Commodity Growers Cooperative Association in Lexington, said Internet marketing must be part of an overall plan that includes paid advertising and word-of-mouth sales.

A Website requires constant attention because a producer must be able to respond immediately to inquiries or orders.

"It's just another part of your business and can't be treated like the only marketing piece or an afterthought," Armstrong-Cummings said.

Ralph Quillen, who is trying to develop a Web portal that would lead computer users to the spectrum of Kentucky farm products, said the Web pages offered by the Department of Agriculture are of dubious value.

Few of the farms listed have toll-free numbers, he noted, and it's doubtful many can offer products with a shelf life.

"They can't just have tomatoes.  They've got to make salsa.  They've got to put it in a jar," Quillen, of Paris, said.

The KDA pages give farmers a way to get their feet wet, Quillen said.  "The entrepreneurs in the bunch will maybe find a way to take that next step."

Armstrong-Cummings said small-scale farmers as a group are late comers to Internet marketing, but some could thrive because of it. 

Those trying to break into a regional or national market "have got to be able to use that as another tool, just as you'd use a telephone," she said.

"If you're rural and remote and small and trying to market, the challenges of doing that any other way are tremendous."

The Internet address for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's country and farm store Web page is www.kyagr.com/buyky/index.htm"

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"The Virtual Farmers' Market:  Specialty Foods Going Online" (AP, 12/11/99)

"WASHINGTON - Scott and Addison Webster quit their jobs in accounting and computers to run the family orchards in Oregon, hoping to make it big in online sales.

Mom-and-pop businesses, including many farmers like the Websters, are seizing on the Internet to hawk thousands of specialty foods directly to the public.  From soup to nuts, almost anything that can be eaten can be ordered online this holiday season.

"We're really small still, but I think we're going to grow very quickly, " said Scott Webster.  He's the 29-year-old president and chief executive officer of The Fruit Company which aims to emulate the success of Harry & David, the giant mail-order fruit sales.

It's easy to see why people try:  The Websters, who offer a gift-wrapped fruit package for $24.95, say they make s profit of more than $1 off every pear they sell online, the same pears they sell wholesale for 7 cents each.  But whether they and their fellow Internet entrepreneurs can make it online remains to be seen.

The startup costs are huge--a sophisticated Internet site costs millions to develop and maintain, and there are already thousands of companies in the $14 billion specialty foods business competing for attention.

The food sellers most likely to succeed on the Internet are operations that already have nationally known names such as Harry & David or Omaha Steaks, and the distribution systems to handle the demand, said Evie Back Dykema, an Internet commerce analyst for Forrester Research, Inc.

What many sellers have to do is something akin to setting up a table in a farmers market:  Amazon.com started "zShops." a section on its Internet site where anyone can offer a produce for sale.  Amazon handles the orders, charges the sellers $9.99 and takes a cut from the price of each item.  As of Friday, there were more than 8,000 listings in various food and beverage categories.  Among the most popular foods:  Turduckens, a Cajun-spiced turkey that's stuff with boneless chicken and duck and sells for $65 each, plus $34 shipping and handing.

A variety of Internet "malls," such as Yahoo! Shopping and Alta Vista's Shopping.com, offer space for specialty food sellers, as do a number of stores and catalog sellers, such as Hickory Farms, and the industry's trade group, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, which has its own Web site to promote products from its 2,200 members.

One of them is SnackMasters, a family-owned California company that makes gourmet jerky from beef, turkey, and fish.  It got on the Internet several years ago at a cost of $500.  Most of the orders are small, but last week the company got $100,000 order from a supermarket chain's buyer who had seen the Web site.

"A hundred thousand dollars worth of jerky is pretty significant to us," said Jan Rekoutis, whose father started SnackMasters 15 years ago.  "I'm definitely a believer in the Internet.  I put us on and it's paid off."

Harry & David, which is named for the sons of the company's founder, relied for decades on catalogs and repeat business to build its sales, and it still mails 80 million catalogs a year.  But the Medford, Ore., company turned to the Internet three years ago in a bid to reach younger customers.  Eight percent of its business is online this year.  Next year, that's expected to reach 15 percent.

Customers can check the company's Web site to see what they've ordered as previous gifts for example, you can make sure Aunt Sue gets the same $39.95 Deluxe Pear-Lover's Special she got last year and they can sign up to be reminded by e-mail of upcoming birthdays and anniversaries.  "Those of us who have been in the direct sales business, we've been in it for 65 years, have the leg up now," Kathy Futineer, a senior vice president who says that it will be tough for upstarts to match her company's distribution system.  Among other things, Harry and David has a machine for testing its packages that simulates the jostling they would get in a delivery truck.

The Webster brothers spent $100,000 on their Web site and have about 20 employees, including the workers who gift-wrap packages and handle phone calls.

At 15 to 20 orders a day, the company is a long way from recouping its investment, but Scott Webster said it plans to set up advertising next year.   Its marketing this year has been limited to ads in a couple of magazines, including The New Yorker, and a promotion in an upscale Portland department store.

"We're having the times of our lives," he said.   "It has so much potential.""

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To Market, To Market:  Consumers, Feds, and Farmers Agree - The Spread of Farmers' Markets Is Good For Kansas (The Wichita Eagle, 10/9/99)

"By Lori Lessner
Eagle Washington bureau

Dig into a peach, and the juices start running.

Bite off a red tomato the way you would an apple, and savor the taste.

Not sure if this melon is ripe? What about those apples over there; are they tart enough for pie-making?

No problem. The growers who picked them within days or even hours of your shopping, are waiting anxiously for you to consult them.

More and more people are buying homegrown produce at farmers' markets, creating a bustling world of fruits and vegetables on otherwise lazy Saturday mornings.

And U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman is taking steps to encourage more farmers to get into the arena of fresh produce markets.

There are two of these open-air bazaars in Wichita--one in the Old Town marketplace square, the other in the Extension Center parking lot at 21st and Ridge.

You'll find nearly 60 such markets statewide by driving to such places as Abilene, Anthony, Atchison, Atwood, Beloit, and Burlington--and that's just the beginning of the alphabet.

Not bad for a place known as the wheat state.

And its not happening just here.  In 1986, there were 500 farmers' markets in the United States.  Today, that number has blossomed to about 3,000, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Sales at farmers' markets will total $1 billion this year, with most of the money going directly to small family farmers.

Farmers' markets aren't suitable for every grower.  Products that sell well are limited to fruits and vegetables, baked goods, and crafts. You can't sell truckloads of wheat or hogs when people want loaves of bread and cut and wrapped meats.

In addition, the business is not sustainable year-round.  Most markets run from the beginning of May to the end of October. And it is not mechanized; it involves a lot of physical labor.

But Ag Secretary Glickman says the markets are a growing trend that should be promoted.

"It is tougher and tougher for farmers to make it exclusively on just growing a bulk commodity without having a lot of interest in how it is marketed and sold to consumers, and more and more farmers are starting to look at that end point," Glickman said in an interview this week.

In Kansas, average farm income has dropped as commodity prices have plunged, from $59,000 in 1997 to less than $17,000 in 1998.  So every bit of extra income helps.

"Farmers tell me they can gross anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 an acre," Glickman said. "Mind you, that is ten times what you can gross on wheat or corn."

Popular produce

"Farmers' markets are where it's at," said Frank Avila, a grower who pays $5 or $10 every Saturday, depending on the size of his display table, to show off his wares at the Sedgwick County Extension Center.

"Going to market has become a weekly ritual for many people," he said.

Jennifer Stockton, a 25-year-old Wichitan, lives in Old Town and forgoes sleep Saturday mornings to get to the market early, while the pickings are good.

In season now are squash, beets, carrots, cabbage, and pumpkins.  Stockton plans to buy a pumpkin or two.  For her, the appeal of farmers' markets is in the flavor of the products.

"You can't even begin to compare the taste of tomatoes at the farmers' market with the ones at Dillons," she said.  "The ones at Dillons look like tomatoes, but they don't taste like anything at all."

She also likes the "small-town community feeling" at the market and the chance to run into neighbors and friends while ambling around the different growers' offerings.

Similar consumer attitudes are driving the success of farm markets across the state.

The one in Hays has done so well it outgrew the courthouse/library parking lot and moved to Orscheln's Farm and Home Supplies Store.

The Downtown Merchants Association runs the one in Lawrence in the hope it will encourage people to stay downtown longer and spend money in other stores and restaurants.

Fresh is best

Customers like Stockton, who rave about freshness, are farmers' favorites.  That's because farmers' success is hinged largely on freshness.

Glickman said that is partly because Americans are thinking more about how to include fresh fruits and vegetables in their diets. The USDA recommends two to four servings of fruit and three to five servings of vegetables a day.

"It's the ultimate in strategy: making the consumers think they are getting something better, something fresher than what the grocery store offers," said Neil Patrick, professor of agriculture at Fort Hays State University.

The produce probably is fresher at farmers' markets, concedes Gary Rhodes, a spokesman for Kroger Co., Dillons' parent company.  But Rhodes said it is not apt to compare the two because the grocery stores target consumers looking for a wider range of products--everything from film to bottled water.

Federal support

Glickman--looking for ways to help struggling farmers help themselves--says that more farmers would do well to tap into direct marketing.

Farmers' markets allow growers to set their own prices and sell directly to customers. By cutting out the middleman--usually a grocery chain--the farmers get a bigger share of the consumer's dollar.

The Agriculture Department holds its own farmers' market every Friday and has encouraged the Department of Labor and the Department of Energy to hold their own markets on Capitol Hill.

Glickman said it's not necessary to subsidize farmers to be competitive with supermarkets or flour mills. Instead, the Agriculture Department is helping more and more farmers tap into the field by offering a Web site--www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets --that offers technical assistance on how to set up farmers' markets and what kinds of food to sell.  There are links to regional conferences and workshops with more information."

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Fall Prime Time for Pumpkin Patch Boom (AP, 9/21/99)

"ROCK FALLS, IL - There are some sure signs of fall across the Illinois countryside:  sunny brisk days, leaves turning colors, farm machinery mowing through rows of corn.  And pumpkins.

Farmers looking to boost their bottom line in tough times or fighting encroaching urban development that endangers their traditional lifestyle have helped make the pumpkin patch business another fixture on the autumn landscape.

Other patch owners are simply sharp-eyed entrepreneurs trying to ride the latest marketing trends.

Offerings often include much more than squash--from cider to jam to Indian corn and scary costumes.  And some businesses offer attractions like hay rides and petting zoos.

Farmers and entrepreneurs seem to have reached the same conclusion:  Fall is a perfect time to harvest the wallets of customers eager to buy a little bit of the country experience along with their Halloween decorations.

"As more and more people get further and further removed from connections to life on the farm, it becomes a bigger and bigger deal to go out and tap into that," said Chuck Voigt, a vegetable specialist at the University of Illinois who consults with such businesses through the school's Cooperative Extension Service.

At Selmi's Greenhouse and Farm Market in Rock Falls, Connie Selmi is adding a hands-on display on farming this year for the thousands of area school children who make field trips during the week, and to entice even more families on the weekend.

The booming fall business is an integral part of a four-season plan that has helped the family keep its 60-acre farm since the 1930s, when patriarch Frank Selmi began growing vegetables to sell to Chicago markets some 100 miles away.

As the city grew around them, Selmi's evolved.  Now they offer spring and summer flowers in their greenhouse, sweet corn in the summer, and their fall extravaganza, along with a much more modest Christmas decoration business.

"To live off 60 acres and send two kids to college would be impossible on field corn and soybeans," says Mrs. Selmi, who runs the operation with her husband, Frank.

For Tom and Sandi Zelinski, it was just a matter of giving the customers what they want.

After leaving the Chicago suburbs for the country life several years ago, they realized they could make money off their 125-year-old farm in rural Lyndon, near the Iowa border, without resorting to the traditional method.

Zelinski still travels to the suburbs as an independent door and window installer, but now he indulges his creative side at The Great Pumpkin Patch.  He paints the large signs of smirking pumpkins to draw customers in, and the family has built a fake graveyard and added a food court and corn maze.

But the biggest attraction this year is expected to be the Zelinski's new small-gauge train, which will take children through the surrounding grove of trees and around the corn silos.

When the business started two years ago, "I thought, 'Who's going to sell pumpkins to farmers?'" Zelinski said.  But he found out rural families and city dwellers from  as far as Moline will travel 50 or 60 miles to find something new.

"There's not a lot to really do around here," he said."

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"Farmers' Markets Sprout Up Across America" (Reuters, 9/9/99)

"NEW YORK - Alongside the clogged roads, auto exhaust, and towering buildings in "the city that never sleeps" are a growing number of bucolic farmers' markets that prove once again that New York is also the city that always eats.

The Union Square Greenmarket, crown jewel of New York's 28 markets where thousands go each week to buy fresh local produce directly from farmers, is a perfect example of the lengths Americans are going to these days to find good, healthy food.

Everyone from home cooks to the most renowned chefs, whose reputations depend on the use of fresh ingredients, are flocking to farmers' markets in an accelerating trend some say could one say challenge big-scale agribusiness in America.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of  U.S. farmers' markets is fast approaching 3,000, up sharply from less than 2,000 just five years ago, and USDA says its survey is probably missing many such markets.

While $1 billion in farmers' market sales USDA expects in 1999 is a fraction of the $200 billion in U.S. agricultural sales last year, the small figure represents direct sales from farmers to consumers--with no corporate middle man.

Besides offering fresh seasonal food, increasingly grown organically, the markets have created a viable economy for small farmers whose numbers have been decimated this century by the economies of scale required by industrial agriculture.

"I think there's a real big reason to be hopeful," said Wendell Berry, a writer and farmer from Kentucky who has written extensively about the loss of small farms in America.

"But there's no reason to rush out in the street to say we've solved the problem of the small farmer," said Berry, who has argued  that the loss of small farms and the growing reliance on huge farms is undermining a sense of community in America and also creating an ecological house of cards.

'Wacked out' About Seasons

To understand Berry's enthusiasm about farmers' market is to understand just how much the seasonless bounty found in the typical supermarket has severed Americans' connection to food.  Jet-age Americans have grown accustomed to finding almost any vegetable throughout the year in supermarkets and, as a result, have lost touch with seasonality.

"I remember being at the supermarket the other day and I saw chestnuts and persimmons," James Peterson, a New York chef and cookbook author, said about a recent summer visit to a Manhattan food market.  Persimmons and chestnuts are harvested from autumn through early winter, meaning that what he say may have come from as far away as the Southern Hemisphere.

"We are so wacked out that most people don't know what's in season when," said Peterson, whose most recent cookbook, "Vegetables" won an award from the James Beard Foundation.  He said farmers' markets are the place to discover seasonality and learn that combining seasonal ingredients is an easy way to cook tasty meals.

Tomatoes, for example, are found at farmers' markets only in summer, but in hundreds of varieties including sweet "heirlooms" that descend from ancient strains.  Since farmers transport their produce no more than about 150 miles (240 km) to the market, they often pick them on the day they are sold.

That is a far cry from "hybrid" tomatoes, which are often picked prematurely to insure they are hard enough to make the trip from a warehouse where they are artificially ripened, mimicking nature, with ethylene gas.   Vine-ripened sweetness is lost, replaced by often bland and mealy supermarket tomatoes.

Such disappointing agricultural products often come from huge fields or livestock pens Berry likens to concentration camps.  These animals are treated with antibiotics and plants with chemicals so they do not succumb to disease.

These types of farms are also associated with the loss of topsoil and with food and water pollution related to heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides and excrement runoff, Berry said.

Connected to the World Minus Internet

But the growing popularity of farmers' markets and reliance on small farmers, who care for the land they work and the animals they raise more closely, means American now have a choice to eat fresh, tasty and ecologically sound food.

"I think we vote with our dollars and we can choose to spend them any way we want to," said Alice Waters, chef/owner of Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California, restaurant that more than any other in America is synonymous with fresh local ingredients.

"Just think what would happen if we all wanted to spend them in the farmers' market and buy from organic farmers who are doing the right thing," she said.  "It would change the face of agriculture overnight."

Other chefs, such as Nora Pouillon, who owns Restaurant Nora in Washington, see the growing popularity of organically grown produce as inevitable.   Pouillon, whose restaurant this year became America's first certified organic restaurant, said organic produce is grown without heavy chemicals.  The resulting focus on soil quality yields better tasting, healthier food.

"I think that in 10 years organic food will be the norm and conventional will be the smaller percentage," she said, adding that prices for organic produce are sometimes already competitive.

Pouillon, Waters, and others such as Joel Patraker, assistant director of Greenmarket, the umbrella group of New York's 28 markets, say farmers' markets also offer patrons a chance to reconnect with nature and know exactly what they are eating.

"There's a nature connection that happens in these 28 schoolyards, parking lots, and small parks that humans have not been getting," said Patraker who plans to publish a cookbook about the markets next spring.  "Genetically, I like to think that there's an ancestral taste bud memory that wakes up here."

Greenmarket is a private, nonprofit group supported by farmers who pay $68 or less a day to sell their produce, and with public funds and donations.  Nearly 200 farmers sell at the markets, with up to 80 sometimes attending Union Square.

While Patraker is not convinced the farmers' market movement will ever slay the Goliath of agribusiness, he and others say that at the very least the chance to buy food from those who grow it adds meaning to lives increasingly dominated by economic concerns like speed and efficiency.

"What we're trying to get back is feeling connected.   As much as everyone thinks they're going to do that on the Internet, it's not the same thing," Alice Waters said."

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"Bill Increases Fee to Keep Popular Markets Alive" (AP, 9/3/99)

"SACRAMENTO [CA] - Around the state, consumers flock to the state's 350 certified farmers' markets to buy fresh fruits and veggies directly from more than 4,000 growers.

A bill sent to the governor Friday would increase the fees charged to growers to keep the 20-year-old program alive.

Currently, growers pay only $10 a year to participate in one of the local certified farmers' markets.  The State Department of Food and Agriculture says that doesn't provide enough money to regulate the program and make sure that people selling produce have actually grown it.

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"Extension's Role With Farmers' Markets:  Working with Farmers, Consumers, and Communities"  (Abel, Thomson, and Maretzki.  Journal of Extension.  October 1999)

This article discusses the benefits of farmers' markets for farmers, consumers and communities.  Also discussed is how extension can assist farmers markets.  A table at the end of the article indicates specific methods or tasks that extension can use to promote and facilitate farmers markets.  In conclusion, the authors state that:

"From education to advocacy, from research to advising, Extension educators have multiple roles to play in promoting the growth of farmers' markets.  The impetus for new markets, however, needs to come from vendors and communities, as they will be responsible for sustaining the markets.  It is, therefore, essential that Extension engage others who are interested in seeing the market succeed and create opportunities for such groups to make the market unique in their given communities...."

The full article can be seen at the Journal of Extension's website:  http://www.joe.org/joe/1999october/a4.html

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Announcements:

Northeast Food System Partnership's New Website

The Northeast Food System Partnership now has a website!  It features a searchable database of organizations doing regional food security, food systems, and sustainable agriculture work in the northeastern U.S.  There are also links to many other regional organizations under a range of food system topics such as antihunger, community development, nutrition, and urban agriculture.

The website address is:  http://northeastfood.tufts.edu

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Many Exciting Conferences and Workshops To Be Held This Winter and Spring!

Many exciting conferences and workshops about direct marketing will be held throughout the country this winter and spring.  As there are too many to list individually in the newsletter, please visit Conferences and Workshops to find out what is of interest to you!

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Leopold Study on Potential for Local Sales for Iowa Apple Industry Released

As received:

"For immediate release:
Contact: Rich Pirog, (515) 294-3711
RELEASED: November 1999

APPLES TO APPLES: A PERSPECTIVE ON  LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS

AMES, IOWA--Once a top apple-producing state, Iowa  now provides a fraction of the fresh apples eaten by Iowans annually. More information about changes in Iowa's apple industry, and potential for local sales today, is now available in a report on the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture's World Wide Web site (http://www.leopold.iastate.edu).

Authored by Education program coordinator Rich Pirog and intern John Tyndall, the paper is a vehicle for exploring the potential for local food systems to augment Iowa farm income. Market studies show a growing interested in local food systems, where local farmers sell their products to nearby consumers. The authors estimates that about 15 percent of the 1.3 million bushels of fresh apples consumed by Iowans each year are Iowa-grown.

While a typical Iowa-grown apple is sold within one day to two months of picking, apples grown in Washington can be kept for eight months or longer in controlled atmosphere storage before sale, allowing nearly year-round availability in the nation’s grocery stores.

Some Iowans may not know that the Delicious variety was discovered as a chance seedling by Madison County farmer Jesse Hiatt, nor that Iowa was once a top apple-producing state, producing a peak 9.5 million bushels in 1911. The Iowa apple industry was devastated in 1940, however, by the infamous Armistice Day freeze which killed many apple trees. Today, Iowa ranks 31st among the 36 states that grow apples commercially.  Washington state ranks first in U.S. apple production, growing more than half of the nation's fresh apples.

Graphics depicting the pathways taken by Iowa- and Washington-grown apples are included with the paper, as well as suggestions for increasing the potential for local food systems in Iowa, using apples as an example. Printed copies of the paper are also available by contacting the Leopold Center, 209 Curtiss Hall, ISU, Ames, IA, 50011-1050; phone (515) 294-3711; e-mail: leocenter@iastate.edu"

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King County (WA) Marketing Guide and Directory of Commercial Buyers of Farm Products

Washington State University Cooperative Extension in King County electronically publishes many documents and fact sheets.  Examples of some topics are "Value-Added Enterprises for Small-Scale Farmers," "What is Community Supported Agriculture," "Internet Marketing for Farmers," "Marketing at Farmers Markets," and "Marketing Livestock Product."   All of  these publications are available on line at:  http://king.wsu.edu/ag/agpubindex.htm

Their most recent publication is "Market Opportunities 1999-2000:  A Brief Marketing Guide and Directory of Commercial Buyers of Farm Products in King County."   Written by Sylvia Kantor, the project surveyed over 1,000 businesses that were potential or probable direct purchasers of local farm products.  The objective was to provide the farmer with some new perspectives and possibly a fresh start.  The publication includes a directory of buyers but also information on resources which would be of interest to producers outside of King County.  The publication can also be viewed at: http://king.wsu.edu/ag/agpubindex.htm

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New in Print - Publications about Direct Marketing

CSA Farms in the United States 1999-2000

This directory of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms is compiled by USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) and Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) in collaboration with the CSA community.  To receive a copy, write to CSA/CSREES, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Stop 2207, Washington, DC  20250-2207.  For more information visit:  http://www.reeusda.gov/csa.html

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Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers

The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) of USDA recently published a brief guide which provides an overview of various direct marketing strategies appropriate for small and medium-sized farmers.  Discussed are farmers markets, pick-your-own operations, farm stands, entertainment farming, CSA's, cooperatives, restaurant sales, mail order/Internet, and other areas.  The publication is available on line at http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/pubs.  To order a hard copy call (301) 504-6422 or e-mail Abiola Adeyemi at aadeyemi@nal.usda.gov

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The Seasonal Marketer

"The Seasonal Marketer" will be published quarterly starting in January 2000.  The newsletter will deliver marketing and business information to farmer direct marketers throughout the United States.  Subscriptions cost $7 per year.  A free sample issue will be mailed in January 2000.  For more information, contact The Seasonal Marketer, 76 Applewood Dr., Meriden, CT  06450-7900, call or fax (203) 440-3092, or e-mail: the-red-pen@home.com

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Audiotapes from USDA's Second National Small Farm Conference (October 1999)

Not able to attend USDA's Second National Small Farm Conference in St. Louis held this past October?

Audiotapes from the conference are available by contacting:

Network Communications
P.O. Box 219
High Ridge, MO  63049
toll-free no. (800) 747-1426
phone or fax (314) 677-1912
e-mail: nettapes@compuserve.com
or visit http://www.swiftsite.com/nettapes

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