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Growing for the Local Market: It Needs Your Ag Product July 13, 2010

By Julie Murphree, Arizona Farm Bureau

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the July 2010 issue of Arizona Farm Bureau
Yuma farmer Tim Dunn of Tim Dunn Farms already had a diverse crop portfolio. These included seed and specialty crops, black-eyed peas and garbanzo beans, wheat and even kosher wheat for a New York community. This array of crops represents various markets, too.

A third-generation farmer and someone always considering market opportunities, Dunn couldn’t imagine why the direct markets might need his grower expertise and product until Cindy Gentry heard about him.

Discussing the direct market with Arizona Farm Bureau, Cindy Gentry of Community Food Connections and manager for the Phoenix Public Market began listing food products various farmers’ markets are lacking.

“Items in demand right now include eggs, cut flowers, specialty melons, specialty onions and greens, strawberries, corn, various grains, garbanzo beans, and black-eyed Peas,” said Gentry.

When this author informed Gentry that Dunn’s crops include garbanzo beans and black-eyed peas, Gentry asked to meet him.

Today, thanks to that connection, Dunn is planning to sell his garbanzo beans and black-eyed peas in bulk in the Phoenix Public Market’s store. And, Arizona’s the Hummus Doctor is already buying Dunn’s garbanzo beans for his hummus product.

“For commercial, large-scale farmers, the drive to consider direct market agriculture is that even though it may be a small percentage of your gross, it can be a significant percentage of your net,” says Dunn.

Today’s direct market, also known as farm-direct, might be in need of your agriculture products just like it wants Dunn’s garbanzo beans.

It’s all about Niche
Though the Dunn Farms/Phoenix Public Market arrangement sounds like a marriage made in heaven, the key to jumping into the direct market is developing a product that no farmer in an existing market is currently selling to the public.

“Find out what farmers’ markets are looking for,” says Gentry. “If your local farmers’ market already is selling five different varieties of arugula they’re probably not going to get too excited if you offer to sell your own variety of arugula. What’s unique that no one else is selling?”

Denise Logan, another farmers’ market manager that’s been in the business for several years, adds, “Be who you are. Present a great quality crop, one that no one else is selling in the market and shoppers will flock to you.”

Logan and Gentry explain that at its core the farmer or rancher is really marketing him or herself in the farmers’ market setting. Once you’ve brought a unique product to the mix, consumers will then want to connect with the farmer. They’ll want to know the history of your farm, how you use your product and even what recipes you use.

“In many ways,” says Gentry, “It’s about developing the personal relationship.” She further explains that people will pay more for a product if they feel that they know and trust the producer.

And markets are eager for your product. Both Logan and Gentry contend that Arizona’s farmers’ markets need more farmers to provide product.

Entry into the Market
Entry into a farmers’ market is pretty straight forward, especially if the market is lacking your product. Most markets have an application you must fill out. And at times, the farmers’ market manager will want to come out and visit your farm.

Once you’ve made the connection and the market is eager to feature your unique agriculture product you’re in like Flynn.

That’s the easy part.

If you decide to operate in this market model, the next step is to study the farmers’ markets in your area. The closer you are to a farmers’ market the better due to transportation and logistics costs. To determine markets near you, go to www.fillyourplate.org and look for the green tab in the upper left hand corner of the home page. Select the link called “Find Farmers Markets” for a comprehensive list of Arizona farmers’ markets. You can also connect with your local chamber or other farmers you know in the direct market arena that can direct you to area farmers’ markets.

Direct Market Farming is No Easy Row to Hoe
So, if you jump in with both feet and diversify your agriculture operation to include some direct market farming for the local market, what does it entail and can you still manage your more traditional agriculture operation?

There are several aspects to the business that can pose challenges: Packaging, advertising, customer service and more. Set up and tear down of your booth at a farmers’ market can be taxing enough.

In fact, some in agriculture contend that they’re happy to leave direct market agriculture sales to the natural marketer in the family; they’ll stick to the traditional markets in agriculture.

This is where the value of a generational farm might come in. For younger farmers and ranchers trying to find their place in the business and already connected to the public through their social networks, it might be the place for the son or daughter to run the direct market aspect of the farm business.

This happens to be Jacob Greenberg’s story. Jacob is joining an agriculture family, the Brooks family of Abby Lee Farms in Geronimo, Arizona. Growers of fairly traditional agriculture products and livestock such as flowers (geraniums), alfalfa, melons, beef, pecan trees and more on approximately 700 acres, their direct market efforts have expanded with Jacob’s help.

“I was tired of seeing produce from Mexico and everywhere else but Arizona,” explains Jacob for part of what inspired him to consider the direct market.

They’re now selling a variety of their melons at three different farmers’ markets that include Roadrunner Market, Phoenix Public Market and the Scottsdale Farmers’ Market.

It’s actually a good pairing. The years of traditional agriculture the Abby Lee Farms has engaged in has built domain knowledge and understanding of good agriculture practices, while the energy and enthusiasm of a younger generation ─ Jacob’s fiancée Pam Brooks is partnered with him in the farmers’ market efforts ─ can branch off into direct market agriculture opportunities.

Perhaps it’s the energy level of a 24-year-old to keep up the pace as Jacob remarks that direct market agriculture is “intense all the way around from the long hours put into the growing end of farming to the marketing of the products.”

Somehow, for those that do farm-direct agriculture, young and old, you get the feeling they’re engaged and excited about what they do.

Abby Lee Farms owner Neal Brooks has been growing nursery stock for 35 years and in fact started at age 13 selling direct to the public at a local swap meet. “Direct marketing is where my roots were first set,” says Brooks. “But it’s tough, demanding and only for the truly crazy producers who have a passion and strong desire to build a business in this market.”

Brooks feels he’s been blessed to have his oldest child, Pamela, and her fiancé Jacob Greenberg, be so passionate not only at farming but really living examples of the new generation who believe in the value of fresh, local food that includes an incredible work ethic. “They just rolled up their sleeves and went to work to build a direct marketing enterprise,” he explains.

Though the challenges are huge, the Brooks family and Greenberg see the potential. “Having a second generation enthusiastically involved is the only way we could maintain our wholesale business and build the direct marketing through farmers markets,” says Brooks. “It’s exciting to plant a seed and then stand in front of the product and proudly present it directly to the end user. To actually let a melon ripen and fall into your hands, bursting with flavor. It makes our work worth it.”

Market Manager Logan of Arizona Community Farmers’ Markets suggests you keep your expectations realistic. “Know the audience as much as you can and don’t have unrealistic expectations on what your product might bring,” she says. “In fact, have a back-up plan.”

She further explains that it sometimes takes a while to establish a direct sales presence.

Logan and Gentry also remind farmers and ranchers that they’re basically dealing with all the challenges of a retail market. Do you have enough help? Do you have enough supply if your product really takes off? Do you have time and resources to expand into a secondary marketplace? Who’s minding the farm and who’s minding the sales?

“These are all growth challenges,” says Logan, “that for the beginner farmer and certainly small farmers that may translate into a financial setback when crops overtake the ability to get them to market.”

But for the large-scale agriculturalist serving a variety of markets, often they’ve worked out several of these business management challenges, certainly the labor issue (an ongoing challenge). “Really, commercial farmers have already addressed many of these questions; the biggest challenge might be protecting and promoting your brand,” says Dunn.

Dunn, who is also Arizona Farm Bureau vice president, sees another aspect to the direct market farm not always touched on. “Large-scale farmers have a real proposition in providing quality product to the farmers’ market and when there, talk about Arizona’s tradition of agriculture,” he says. “This is one of the intrinsic values of participating in the direct market that you can’t put a price on.”

Direct Markets in Agriculture Defined
Agricultural products go straight from producers to consumers, and money travels back directly to the producer. Typically, the middle man or intermediary market is eliminated. The types of direct markets in Agriculture follow.

• U-pick operations: Consumers become farm laborers as they harvest their own food.
• Community supported agriculture (CSA): Consumers and producers establish season-long contracts with the farmers having the final say on what gets included in the weekly food boxes.
• Farm stands & farmers’ markets: Consumers come to specified location where a variety of agricultural product is available for purchase.

Growth in Direct-Market or Farm-Direct Marketing
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census of Agriculture tracked farm-direct sales in 1982, removed the question in 1987, and reintroduced it in 1992. The 1982 census reported 143,492 farms that direct marketed and total direct market sales of more than $500 million.

This represented 6% of all American farms and ranches and 0.4% of all agricultural sales. In 1992, the number of American farms and ranches had declined to 86,432, fewer than 5% of all American agriculture operations; total direct market sales had declined to just over $400 million in sales, less than 0.3% of all agricultural sales.

During the last 15 years, the number of farms direct marketing has grown to 136,817 ─ still below the 1982 level. Sales did grow to $1.211 billion. But in terms of number of farms, it indicates a decline, according to 2007 Census of Agriculture, the latest census taken.

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