Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
you're supporting an agriculture that's benefiting the earth. It's amazing,
you know?” But Phil, the owner of this California vegetable farm, is more
practical. “That's a much smaller scale. And farmers' markets would be very
difficult to make your living in. You have to do all the growing and then
you have to do all the selling. Our experience with it is you really earn your
money at them.”
Yet, in the face of increasing competition from agribusiness interests in
organic vegetable production, Phil has indeed shifted his marketing em-
phasis for the better. “The big-scale organic farms have certainly made me
plan my marketing, and it is one of the forces that influenced me to change
our marketing strategy. As an aside, probably what I really wanted to do
was market more locally anyway. I thought it was ridiculous. Here is a very
good area for organic produce, certainly Santa Cruz is, and I think San Jose
and the Bay area have a lot of potential. Here we are shipping wholesale,
trying to ship to these other regions of the country. The local people have
to go through the normal distribution channel. From broker to distributor
to maybe another middleman before it gets to the stores. I just wanted to
see more of my produce staying local. And I thought I could supply a good
quality produce by going direct.”
Speaking of his CSA in upstate New York, Steve says, “We are working to
improve it. I feel there are certain crops people really want to see in their
bags each week: some type of salad greens. Having salad greens in the bag
each week, or a little better variety each week, and such. There are things we
could be doing, but my brother and I are just so swamped with the things
we need to do, and we just don't get to it.”He hopes to put more effort into
this direct marketing in the future. “The CSA is not done yet.”
For their citrus, Rob and Mary have decided that direct marketing is not
worth the added time for the marginal profit increase. Rob says, “There are
advantages and disadvantages to it.” And Mary notes, “It's feast or famine”
in terms of customers buying varying amounts of products at different
times. For them, the packinghouse and wholesaling have proven to be more
stable and profitable. Likewise, for grain production on the Colorado plains,
the Bensons most often work with brokers who deal nationally or even
internationally with organic grains: millet, buckwheat, and wheat.
Defying the odds of big Corn Belt agriculture, Joel's farm in Illinois
has recently shifted from selling through brokers to more direct sales. He
says that financially, “It is tough right now, only due to the drought. The
direct marketing is kind of holding us up. If I were a crop guy, I would
be done.” Although the farmers' market is a new venture, “It is fun. We
[153],
(4)
Lines: 131 to 139
———
0.0pt PgVar
———
Short Page
PgEnds: T
E
X
[153],
(4)
