Annual NAFDMA “School on Wheels” Networking Bus Tour

North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association announces its annual Bus Tour. The Bus Tour is part of the 26th Annual NAFDMA Convention, and will be held on Feb. 5-7, 2011. Known as NAFDMA’s School on Wheels, the annual bus tour is a popular feature of the NAFDMA convention. The tour will begin on Saturday, Feb. 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. It will then spend the next three days traveling to farm direct marketing and agritourism locations in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Overnight accommodations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are included in the bus tour package.

Past attendees of the NAFDMA bus tours know that the networking, sharing of ideas and friendships made on the tour are invaluable to their business. “Often times, it is the conversations that go on between the stops where people get their ideas,” says Kerry Engel, NAFDMA Vice President of Convention Operations. “We learn more from things that are not perfect, we discuss things, and we all learn how we can improve things back home.”

There will be many stops packed into the three day tour. Many of the farms and markets that will be showcased are owned by longtime NAFDMA members. There are two different tour options, Farm Direct Marketing and Agritourism. While both tours will visit some of the same stops, the focus will be different when the bus arrives to visit.

Farm Direct Marketing Tour
The Farm Direct Marketing Tour will focus on the retail side of the businesses on tour. Highlights of this tour include the new retail store at Richardson Farms in Old Marsh, Maryland, the farm market and new build planned at Hollabaugh Brothers Fruit Farm in Biglerville, Pennsylvania and the farm market at Linvilla Orchards in Media, Pennsylvania. Tour goers will learn how the owners of these locations decided that it was time for expansion and how they met the challenges along the way. Additional stops on this tour focus on knowing your customers and how to structure a farm market to meet their needs.

Agritourism Tour
The Agritourism Tour will focus on activities and events on the farm. The stops on this tour know that customers are looking for family entertainment that offers a good value for their money. These farms are capitalizing on the up surge of this industry. There are innovative new ideas and agritourism standards to learn from on this tour. Three of the numerous stops on this tour are Crumland Farms in Frederick, Maryland, Weber's Cider Mill Farm in Parkville, Maryland and Shady Brook Farm in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

For both options, tour goers will have the chance to see historic sites in the region. The overnight hotel in Philadelphia is across the street from Reading Terminal Market and a short distance from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Time will be allowed to visit these well-known locations. The tours will also drive through the battlefields of Gettysburg on day one of the tours. A complete list of tour stops for each tour option will be available on the NAFDMA Convention website at www.nafdma.com/NAFDMA2011.

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.