Hot News

2.05.2008

By CARYL VELISEK
Staff Reporter

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — “Americans are getting increasingly intimate with their food.”
So stated Cynthia Barstow, writer and local food advocate from the University of Massachusetts, who spoke at the ninth Future Harvest-CASA Conference held Jan. 18-19 at the Four Points Inn.
Barstow was the keynote speaker at the luncheon that featured locally grown food.
The conference was also billed as “Farming for Profit and Stewardship,” and Barstow used that as her keynote.
“Stewardship and sustainability are things we do every day, but we also do them for profit,” she said.
Consumers worry over food safety, she noted, but they also want to know the variety of the food they are eating.
“People want to buy from brands that have an eco-conscience. Americans also consider sustainable factors when choosing where to shop.”
With the current concern over obesity, health and wellness are taking a front seat in the consumer’s concerns.
“I predict that health and wellness with be taking over in the next 10 years as people think their diets could be healthier,” Barstow said. “People will be increasingly looking toward social networks to help them choose. Instead of doctors and pharmaceutical companies recommending which sleeping pill works best, consumers will want to know which foods are recommended to help them sleep.”
Claims on food labels, animal compassion labels, “green” claims, organic, natural and food safety will all be under scrutiny.
“Our food system is kind of shaky,” she said. “People want authenticity. They can smell authenticity.
“We’re in a new place, an exciting place. People can track their farmers on the Internet. People want to know how far away their food was produced. Organic will continue to grow into the mainstream. Food safety will continue to grow. We will be creating more relationships with those around us at a greater speed than ever before, among them the people who produce what we eat.”
John Eshleman and Ann Karlen, representing White Dog Community Enterprises, a marketing group from the Lancaster-Philadelphia, Pa., area, gave tips on selling to the wholesale market.
“One advantage to selling direct to wholesalers,” Eshleman said, “is it gives you more time on the farm.”
Groundwork must be laid, according to Karlen. Buyers’ needs have to be identified.
“You don’t want to be offering what everyone else is,” she said.
“Create a business plan, set prices and how long you can wait for payment. You have to be an entrepreneur. Grow what the other farmer doesn’t.”
Using the Internet to market was another topic of the day. Janet Childs of Breeders World, a lamb marketing Web site in northern Virginia was the speaker.
“We started when we noticed we were getting more and more club lambs in the area,” Childs said. “We needed a marketing structure for them.”
Her advice: “Do your homework. Write it down. Have a mission statement. Know your customers’ wants and ethnic background. But above all, talk to your customers.”
Childs also emphasized the importance of keeping a Web site current.
“An outdated Web site will turn off a customer quicker than almost anything,” she said. “If you aren’t going to work on it continually, you are better off without it.”
She also mentioned blogs, bulletin boards, on-line directories — paid and for-free — and discussion groups.
“And don’t forget to proof-read and spell-check,” she said.
There was an Open Discussion on Forming a Farmers’ Market Association, and Jerry Fisher from MDA gave an informative talk on Getting Started In Honey Production and Marketing.
Some other topics during the two-days of sessions were tomatoes in high tunnel presented by Bryan Butler of Maryland Cooperative Extension; Processing and Marketing Value Added Beef and Pork, by Ned Sayre of Deer Creek Beef; bio-security in commercial poultry operations, presented by Jennifer Timmons of the University of Maryland; fencing and handling systems and small equipment recomendations; a guide to agricultural credit; natural medicine; and several other marketing sessions.