NAFDMA member spotlight: Kuiper Family Farm

Today we would like to spotlight the winners of the Best of Show 2009 ‘Celebrate Excellence Contest’, Wade & Kim Kuiper of Kuipers’ Family Farm in Maple Park IL.
www.kuipersfamilyfarm.com

The Kuipers were recognized for both their printed brochure and specialty printed literature. Congratulations!!

1. What has been your biggest challenge when developing brochures?
We seemed to be faced with the same problem when it came to our brochures as we had for newspapers and other printed ads......how to tell them what we have without the "listing" I see occur so often.

I felt this was especially important since we all offered many of the same activities so all our "lists" seemed to be the same! I also need the brochure and all our visual marketing materials so reflect our farm "brand" so that when our customers see an item they know right away it's from Kuipers just by the colors and style, like the McDonalds and Starbucks of the world do.

2. Do you use a professional design company? At what stage in your business did you hire a professional?
Back in about our third season we did contract with a professional advertising agency that did teach me the importance of branding our farm and making sure that everything we put out there from signs on the farm to printed materials all had the same basic look, a guideline I diligently follow today.

After that one year contract we also found that we were no where big enough to be able to afford that agency! I did however get to meet my current graphics designer thru that agency who continues to design everything from the farm signs to the doorhangers for me.

I'm sure by the time we open each fall he is ready to wring my neck but he is exceptional at taking the text and info I need a piece to say and designing the item to reflect our look, usually with a fresh new twist!

Believe it or not we do this all via email, I don't think I've seen him in person for a couple years! I would be happy to share his name and contact info with any member interested in his design talents.

3. Do you have any advice for those thinking of hiring out their designing process?
It's really important to concentrate on the tasks you're good at and to know when your over your head with something and you need to hire it done! In the struggle to save a buck on things I'm sure there are many times we've ended-up spending more doing it ourselves...and then usually redoing it it seems. Working with a graphic designer can be very cost effective in the overall picture!

4. Do you have a distribution strategy? How, where and when do you use brochures?
Frankly we seldom use our brochures nowadays. They seem to get sent out here and there and are distributed a nearby town's tourist info program.

Our main printed advertisements are our doorhangers and our bookmarks. Last year was our fourth year that we hired a company from the Chicagoland area that blankets towns with teams of people that hang our doorhangers on front doors.

Towns are chosen by zip code. Last year we distributed 213,000 and once again got many returned to the farm for coupon redemption.

We also work with surrounding libraries which we supply with our bookmarks to be given out as rewards to kids that participate in their Summer Reading Programs. Like the doorhangers they also contain coupons to help us track whether people are really using them as intended.

5. How long have you been a NAFDMA member?
Our first NAFDMA experience was Boston (2005) and we've been hooked ever since!

6. Why do you come to the NAFDMA convention?
Networking, new ideas, the opportunity to learn, encouragement, laughs, exploring new places, and fun! We think the bus tour is a must if you can only do one aspect of the convention.

7. Why would you encourage others to attend?
Seriously the information you come away with is invaluable! Especially the first couple years you attend, you have to whittle down your list of new ideas to something a bit more realistic to tackle in the upcoming year.

I keep categorized files of ideas collected each year and review them each winter when we are in the planning stages for the upcoming season. While I may not be able to implement an idea the year I got it on the NAFDMA tour, I often will pull the idea a year or two later and do it then.

Thank you Wade and Kim! We hope to see you in Lancaster in February 2010.

Farmer's with a Facebook store? Why not?

http://www.progressivegrocer.com/progressivegrocer/content_display/features/supermarket-technology/e3i34e2ede5adb7e1e80c3174ba12895577

The following is from Progressive Grocer.com

Build Your own Facebook Store
June 19, 2009

Shopping search engine Sortprice.com expanded its merchant store application on the Facebook Platform to help retailers expand their e-commerce capabilities that can be used by the social network’s audience.

The free application, available to any Sortprice.com-enhanced merchant with an existing Facebook account, works hand in hand with their product listing on Sortprice itself and allows them to build a virtual store right on Facebook.

Merchants can have their full inventory available to Facebook users for shoppers to peruse and compare prices on, complete with photos and direct links to their own Web sites, according to Sortprice.The tools give retailers complete control over the “look and feel” of their stores, with dozens of choices for color schemes, an option to upload category images, and the ability to add a slogan to their page as well.

Sortprice also included an extensive FAQ section to guide merchants through the process of configuring their stores while offering tips for promoting the application to internal and external audiences.

On the user side, Sortprice’s unique Drag & Drop feature for the merchant pages is now compatible across all Web browsers, facilitating each user’s visit. Shoppers can now quickly and easily compile a “wish list” of desired items from a particular merchant’s store. These lists are viewable to all users and are the foundation for a truly interactive shopping experience.

Visitors can comment on other users’ wish lists, indicate particular items that they “like,” and even invite friends and family to check out wish lists or specific products.To learn more about the Facebook store application, visit www.sortprice.com/facebook_store

iPhone Application directs users to nearest Farmers' Market

I just stumbled across a new iphone application called Locavore.  It is currently only available in the US. It's goal is to help it's user know what food is in season. 

Anyone with and iPhone or iPod Touch can download the application and have access to a database of in-season, food products in their backyard.

"Knowing what's available in your area at a given time of year is often difficult to determine, so we've taken on the task of collecting data from a variety of sources and presenting it all in the most understandable ways, " states the description on iTunes. 

If you're interested in finding it,  search "locavore" in the iTunes store. 

Would it be helpful for farm direct marketers to promote this to their customers?

Has anyone tried it? Leave us a comment if you have. 

Member spotlight: French Prairie Gardens

Today I'd like to spotlight one of our younger member, Eric Pohlschneider. Eric recenlty joined our board of directors representing NAFDMA growers.

Eric is part of a family business called French Prairie Gardens in St. Paul, Oregon. Their website is http://www.fpgardens.com/

So Eric, how would you describe your business?
You encounter a true country experience at French Prairie Gardens. Our family-owned farm grows fruit, vegetables, grass seed in our fields and bedding plants in our greenhouse. People enjoy the clean, fresh air, the sights and sounds of a working farm, the soft fragrances of beautiful flowers all around them when they visit. When they stop at the Farm Market they discover an array of garden and homemade delights.

In June our strawberries are ripe, just waiting to be picked off the bush. Over Father's Day weekend we host our annual Strawberry Festival featuring hayrides, Pig Barrel train rides, a 20 foot tube slide, animal barn, and delicious fresh food and drink.

In the Fall he hold a Harvest Festival every weekend in October. This annual event hosts the infamous Pigtucky Derby, along with a two-acre pumpkin patch, hayrides, corn maze, hay slide, and Oregon corn on the cob, caramel apples, fresh baked cookies, fresh baked pie and many more treats from their bakery.

What is exciting you about the summer of 2009?
French Prairie Gardens underwent a greenhouse expansion this year, doubling our retail space. I am really looking forward to giving our customers the flowering annuals and perennials they love along with more room to shop and enjoy the farm. We also planted more strawberries this year. There is nothing like seeing that first strawberry of the season turning from green to a bright juicy red with the notion that these farm-fresh berries will soon be enjoyed by many of our customers.

How long have you been a NAFDMA member?
French Prairie Gardens has been a NAFDMA member since 2001. I personally attended my first conference and bus tour when the conference was held in Arizona. I gained so much from my first conference I have been attending since.

Why do you belong to NAFDMA?
Being a NAFDMA member allows our staff to continually be inspired and our business to grow. There has never been a conference that we have not come home with a list full of new ideas and strong business relationships. NAFDMA has also given us the opportunity to make personal connections with its members by joining or guiding on of their annual bus tours. It’s very helpful to meet and spend time with other businesses that are involved in the direct farm marketing industry.

Eric, what is you’re most unforgettable NAFDMA memory?
It was hard to come up with just one memory so I have briefly listed my favorites below…

- My biggest memory regarding NAFDMA was being elected to the board of directors. It has given me the opportunity to spend time and build personal relationships with industry leaders along with allowing me to server our members.

- During the conference in Boston I had the opportunity to connect with Mary and Russ Vollmer on the Agritourism bus tour….I didn’t know so many NAFDMA members could sing Karaoke, well at least they thought they could.

- Who can forget all the rain during the conference in California, but not all was lost, because I was also to spend time with our president Mark Saunders and his wife Angela.

- In Texas, when Rob and Christy Leeds showed us around the wild life safari and John Roba decided it was a good idea to hug a camel.

Thank you Eric. The networks you've built with farm direct marketers from across the world are one of the biggestest benefits in attending a NAFDMA conference. So happy to see that these are your favorite NAFDMA memory. We hope you have a fantastic season!

Hottest news on US Ag and Food policy

Looking for the hottest news on the US Ag and Food policy? Well guess what? They now have a blog? Who knew and it is updated daily (or more). The latest on the Farm Bill, estate planning, agritourism law, and way more..it is all there.

http://www.agandfoodlaw.com/

Cheers,
Brent@WhiteLoafRidge.com

Pumpkin shakes? Local fast food in season?

Had to share this posting from Springwise.com

Many of our members grow and sell into the local market but this has interesting connotations for our ag tourism operators as well. The products look fabulous.

A pumpkin shake? Do any of our pumpkin farms offer these? Are their other local food creations that could be added to the menu's of our farm direct and ag tourism businesses?

Read about Burgerville from the June 8, 2009 Springwise newsletter:

"Fast food restaurants have long been domains of guilty indulgence, something that Burgerville is set to change. Although it's been around in the Pacific Northwest since the 1960s, Burgerville is committed to supplying its patrons with local, seasonal and organic food options.
Beef and cheese are purchased from hormone-free farms in Oregon, and all of Burgerville's produce is locally sourced—meaning customers won't find a strawberry shake in December. They will, however, find sweet potato fries and pumpkin shakes in autumn and Walla Walla onion rings in the summer. "

Read the whole article at http://springwise.com/weekly/2009-06-10.htm#burgerville

Website: http://www.burgerville.com/

NAFDMA member Spotlight: Gammondale Farm

Gerry and Sue Gammond grew strawberries from 1974 to 2007. "Everyone of our strawberries was marketed directly off the farm," shares Sue. "We usually marketed about 10 acres each summer. In the mid 80's we changed locations and began to host school tours and children's birthday parties, in 1989 we began to host Christmas parties and offer winter sleigh rides with our teams of percheron draft horses."

In October 1991 the Gammond's toured pumpkin farms in Illinois and Wisconsin with Al and Kathy Veri and Bob Cobbledick through the Ontario 

Farm Fresh Marketers Association. 

Upon returning, they decided to offer 

“Fall School Tours” in 1992. 

By the mid 1990's, They had "Pumpkin Fest" 

going for 5 weekends in the fall and added the 

haunted Cornfield 5

 yea

rs ago.

In June 2008, Gammondale Farm was a regional winner of the Ontario Premier's Aw

ard for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. (Congratulations!)

The NAFDMA Story.

The best surprise for the Gammond’s came when 

they found out about the NAFDMA Conference 

in St Paul, MN in February 1992.

While planning a trip with their team of black Percheron horses to St. Paul for the Sleigh and Cutter Parade Winter Carnival they discovered that two industry conferences were going on at the same time. One of which was the NAFDMA Convention. The rest is history....

They joined NAFDMA and signed up for seminars

where Sue made contact with Janet Ecker of 

Wisconsin who sold them a "Queen's Apple" 

system that they still use at Gammondale. 

Sue and Gerry have attended annual meetings in Toronto, North Carolina, Calgary and

Wisconsin and plan to attend this winter in Pennsylvania.

"We belong to NAFDMA because the people are so interesting, knowledgeable and fun. It is social networking at its best!" says Sue. "The organization and the people are great sources of information and always ready to try new things share ideas and be supportive of each other."

One of Sue's best NAFDMA memories was the Alberta Bus Tour! But then again, there was the North Carolina Tour too! . . .and all the great speakers and seminars!

Sue is really excited this summer about growing market vegetables in partnership with

 neighbors who have 2 school-aged children. This will get them involved with the Thund

er Bay Country Market and they will be providing jobs for school kids. The Gammond's hired young students for their strawberry operation and they still hire students for harvesting and selling the pumpkins and squash. It is their way of ensuring that fresh, local food is available in their community. 

Watch for Sue Gammond, Director of Fun and Education in Pennsilvania!

Gammondale Farm:  Family Fun

www.gammondalefarm.com. 

Located 15 km south of Thunder Bay Ontario,

400 miles North of Minneapolis-St Paul,

200 miles north of Duluth and

20 miles north of the Minnesota. 

social marketing stats from Trendwatching.com

So many of our members are wondering, "is this (blogging, twittering etc) worth it?" that I thought I'd share some recent statistics and trends.

My favorite Trend website, Trendwatching has a great briefing this week about social marketing.

"While the notion of consumers establishing and (passionately) tending to their online presences is no longer a source of wonder, the sheer scale and scope of the phenomenon is still astounding. Hundreds of millions of personal pages, feeds, status updates, tweets, profiles, blogs—courtesy of the Facebooks, the mySpaces, the Twitters, the LinkedIns—are building up to an eternally up-to-date encyclopedia of individuals that defies even the most futuristic predictions back in the early days of the web.

These profiles (and billions of other digital crumbs scattered across cyberspace), will live on forever. Not just because the web is a massive caching machine, but more importantly, because younger generations will never want to dispose of their groomed online presence to begin with.

Some (obligatory) figures:
Facebook reached 200 million active users on 8 April 2009. More than 100 million users log on to Facebook every day, while more than 20 million users update their status at least once each day.
MySpace now boasts 130 million members, LinkedIn counts over 40 million members, and Twitter over 30 million members (late May 2009). Oh, and China’s Twitter, TaoTao, now has nearly 50 million users.
Overall, the share of adult US internet users who have a profile on a social networking site has more than quadrupled in the past four years—from 8% in 2005 to 35% now. For adults aged 18-24, it’s 75%, and for tweens, it’s close to 100%. (Source: Pew Internet, January 2009.)
We could go on and on, but it all boils down to future ubiquity for personal online profiles, representing every individual who is online, which in mature consumer societies will mean 99% of the population. " Trendwatching.com June 2009

Check out the whole article at:
www.trendwatching.com/trends/foreverism/

Are you a NAFDMA member with a blog?

Let us know!
Send me a comment and I will add you to our list on the sidebar.

Attention NAFDMA members there is a Friends of NAFDMA group on Facebook. Look for it and sign up.