[FMC] on-line marketing tools

[david reed]

How I got interested in online marketing for local produce:


I've worked on and off with small produce farmers, and have a huge respect
for what they accomplish, bordering on amazement.  I know what it takes to
grow a large variety of vegetables, fruits, flowers etc, and display
attractive produce that customers will pay a high price for.  The knowledge
base, work hours, physical exertion, financial risk, seasonality etc make
many other types of careers look easy by comparison.  But in addition to
production, small farmers also have to get it to market and make the sales.
That is another major challenge, and is hampered by knowledge about demands
– how can a farmer possibly be aware of all potential customers in his town,
much less region?   Another job is transportation to and from markets.  An
optimum delivery vehicle would be fuel efficient and have partitions for all
sorts of products – meat, dairy, frozen, etc.  The standard farm pickup does
not fit that bill.  Put it all together, and I seriously wonder how small
farmers make it.  And then I started to think:  how much more successful
would this be if the farmer only had to deal with production, and left the
marketing and transport up to others  (without losing a big cut to a middle
man).  And what if all buyers and sellers could see each other in real time,
and start to evolve into optimized marketing patterns based on that
interaction?

 My intuition is that if farmers could do that, then the whole industry
could change.  A regional circulation system of high volume transport could
develop, re-invigorating rural areas, stimulating earth friendly farming
systems, and creating all types of other benefits to society and the
environment.

 I had another picture in mind, after the experience of picking and washing
and marketing fresh greens with a friend in Brattleboro Vermont.  What do
you do with the left-overs, I asked him.  Whatever they don't sell, they try
to drop off at a friend's restaurant on the way home, he said.  That made me
sad – all this beautiful organic lettuce, probably going to waste. You can't
freeze lettuce! What if all the restaurants in a radius of 100 or 150 miles
knew that lettuce was available?  It occurred to me, that with an on-line
clearing house, they could.  So now I have the picture of a farmer posting
availability the night before he picks, and then having that lettuce finding
its way to an upscale restaurant's tables the next day.  Fresh lettuce, farm
to city, direct buy!  And I wondered what it would take to make it all
happen.

After those thoughts, I started looking in to online marketing.  For a
report on what I found, see my website (below).  I am hoping to get
connected with other people who are researching this topic.

-- 
David Reed
cell 352-222-0651
www.wafsa.com
3745 SW 5th Place
Gainesville, FL 32601
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.easilyamusedinc.com/pipermail/fmc/attachments/20080304/333262eb/attachment.htm