How airlines are using twitter

Rob Leeds sent me an interesting social media story about the Southwest airline incident. Thought you might enjoy it too.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=137977

Meet NAFDMA members Pat & John Sondgeroth

NAFDMA members direct market all types of food. Pat and John Sondgeroth direct market beef.

The Sondgeroth's are fourth generation farmers on a century-old farm where they raise corn, soybeans and piedmontese beef. They direct market approximately 300 head of cattle per year.

This year, Pat and John will be participating in 6 farmers' markets in the Chicago area. This busy couple also sells their beef to restaurants, dinner prep businesses, specialty stores and through their own retail store located in their USDA-inspected processing plant in Mendota, Illinois.


Pat and John have NAFDMA members since 2001. I met John in a Joel Salatin workshop in Arizona.

"We would probably not still be in the direct-marketing portion of our business if it hadn't been for that first conference we attended . It introduced us to marketing at farmers' markets," shares Pat. Farmers' market sales now account for over half of their gross meat sales.

"We very much enjoy seeing other parts of the country, other farmers' markets, and networking. One of the things that most amazed us was the upbeat, positive attitude of the members."

Although they have MANY great NAFDMA memories, probably thier most memorable is the Calgary Farmers' Market. "We are still envious of that beautiful facility and year-round, weather-protected farmers' market with a huge FREE parking area,"says Pat.

Visit Heartland Meats Inc. on thier website: http://www.heartlandmeats.com/

Visit Pat and John at the next NAFDMA conference!

Do farm direct marketers have a role in combating Obesity?

The 2009 F as in Fat report offers a series of recommendations to make preventing and reducing obesity a central objective of health reform, and it also calls for a National Strategy to Combat Obesity.

http://rwjf.org/files/research/20090701tfahfasinfatexecsum.pdf

This report has implication for farm direct marketed products. A good read for those growing fruits and vegetables.

mobile ATM

Spotted this Mobile ATM at the St. Albert Farmer's Market in St. Alberta, Alberta.

It was fun to just sit and listen to the crowd as it walked by.

"That's cool."

"What will they think of next?"

"It just a license to print money."

Has anyone had a mobile ATM at their market or event? 

How did it work? 

Did the market charge them to be there? Let us know.