Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In our consultancy experience, farm gate sales are the way most farmers
venture into retail tourism on the farm. Having experimented with this form
of retailing and gained confidence, farmers have then ventured into bigger
tourism ventures.
Farm gate sales are a low capital investment way of entering the
marketplace. A box at the gate may be all that is needed to start the farm
retail journey. Most consumers visiting a farm will be honest and an 'hon-
esty' box saves the cost of employing sales labour. Farm gate sale is also
an opportunity to engage 'face to face' with the consumer and to decide if
dealing directly with consumers is the correct decision for business growth.
Our experience has shown that successful roadside stands tend to evolve
into roadside markets and eventually into farm shops.
Pick Your Own/U Pick
In the 1970s in the UK Pick Your Own or PYO was a major activity on
many farms. City folk would organize a day out to the farm and pick pro-
duce that was then eaten fresh or processed at home into jams and relishes.
The same was happening in the USA and Canada, except there it was often
called U Pick. It was such a popular activity that the original name of
the UK retail farm association was 'The Pick Your Own and Farm Shop
Association'.
Over the years PYO became less popular due to consumers demanding
more convenience shopping and many PYO farmers either changed their
business model or went out of business.
Today with consumers' desire to reconnect with nature and with the
source of their food, we are witnessing a resurgence in PYO. However, there
are some changes in the new PYO model, concerning consumer habits and
free entry to the farm.
Consumers have changed
The early PYO consumer picked fruit or vegetables in bulk and processed
them at home. They had a reasonable knowledge of how to pick and process
the produce. They came as a family unit and it was a major day out for the
family, often associated with a picnic at the farm. They demanded very little
in support structure from the farmer; they were happy to spend the day in
the field.
The consumer of today has different needs and values: they have less
product knowledge of how to pick and how to process food. They need more
help on the farm. According to our clients, they are generally picking less
than their forebears, they are picking for a specific meal, rather than har-
vesting for the season. They are often more of a 'gourmet' picker: they will
pick less, but are prepared to pay more.
