NAFDMA Celebrate Excellence Awards highlight the best of the best at the annual convention

North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) is pleased to announce the winners of its "Celebrate Excellence" Contests. The contests, held in conjunction with the annual convention, invite members of the association from around the United States and Canada to submit examples of their marketing and innovative practices in various categories.

Member farms submitted nearly one hundred items to be selected as the best in each of ten different categories. The convention attendees were given the opportunity to review the submissions and cast a vote for the best entry. The secret ballot votes were then tabulated by members of the NAFDMA Membership Participation Team chaired by Anna Lyles of Mesilla Valley Maze, Las Cruces, NM.

"The contest entries are great examples of creativity and design. Everyone at the convention can learn something about what makes a good promotional piece by looking at what other farms do." Lyles said.

Winners were announced during the annual Celebrate Excellence Luncheon held on February 10, 2011. The winners are:

- Best Web Site: Jones Family Farm of Shelton, CT

- Best Radio Jingle and Tag Line: Swank Farm Produce of Hollister, CA

- Best TV Commercial: Swank Farm Produce of Hollister, CA

- Best Maze Design: Coolspring Corn Maze of Mercer, PA

- Best Brochure: Fly Creek Cider Mill of Fly Creek, NY

- Best Specialty Literature: Swank Farm Produce of Hollister, CA

- Best Cookbook: Tate Farms of Meridianville, AL

- Employee Handbook: Jones Family Farm of Shelton, CT

- School Tours: Tate Farms of Meridianville, AL

- Best “Something from Nothing” Idea: Walters' Pumpkin Patch of Burns, KS

The top honor for “2011 Best of Show” belongs to Tate Farms of Meridianville, AL. Cristall Brown of Tate Farms accepted the award which rewards participation and consistency in excellence. After all the votes are counted, and all the contests are tallied, one farm stands out for making the biggest impact of Participation, Education and Innovation. As the top winner in two categories and runner up honors in several others, Tate Farms submitted many quality examples to this year’s contests.

The Celebrate Excellence contest categories change over time to include timely trends in general marketing as well as farm direct marketing and agritourism events on the farm. The Celebrate Excellence Program is based on three NAFDMA objectives to stimulate learning, celebrate excellence, and advance best practices. More details about the contests, including the honorable mention winners in each category can be found at www.nafdma.com.

The Annual Convention is a Month Away!

2010 was a year to remember for NAFDMA members. Lancaster. Snow. Great fun and a fabulous Convention. One of the best income years ever in our business!

2011? Who knows? But we are just a month away from the start of this year's annual convention and that's a great way to start! Baltimore is looking HOT! It's a world away from Lancaster. No worse. No better. Entirely different. From the bus tours to the hotels, to the food options... it's entirely different. Everyone I know who gets introduced to Baltimore's Inner Harbor has been delighted.

We welcome you. And I do mean WE....

Click here for a 2 minute video welcome from some special friends!

Don't miss out on this premier event for learning and networking about farm direct marketing and agritourism. Complete convention information and registration options can be found a www.nafdma.com/NAFDMA2011/2011Welcome.

We hope to see you there!

NAFDMA’s Annual Workshops take Farm Direct Marketing and Agritourism to the Next Level

Twelve different workshops will be offered for farm direct marketing and agritourism operators on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland. The workshops will take place on Education Day, as part of the Annual Convention held by North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA). The entire convention runs February 4-10, 2011.

Attendees can choose from one of six full day workshops, or mix and match half day workshops. Workshops can be attended as part of an inclusive registration package, or a one day only attendance. Registration includes breakfast and lunch as well as materials specific to the chosen workshop. Morning and full day workshops begin at 9:00 a.m., and break for lunch at noon. Full-day workshops restart and afternoon workshops begin at 1:30 p.m., all workshops end at 4:30 p.m.

Customers are increasingly knowledgeable about what they want from farm visits. Learning what it takes to be competitive in today’s marketplace and understanding where trends will go in the future is essential for farm direct marketers. Whether the subject matter is new to the farm operation, or builds on what is already being done, the line-up of topics and speakers on NAFDMA’s 2011 Education Day will help take businesses to the next level.

Workshop presentations include food marketing expert, Dr. Richard George who will present a workshop on connecting with today’s customers. John Stanley of Australia, a NAFDMA Convention favorite and expert in retail design, will be returning this year to help farm market owners meet the challenges in the industry. Brad Montgomery’s workshop “Laugh-O-Nomics”, will focus on how levity in the workplace can make a business more effective and productive, thus increasing the bottom line.

Lovoni Walker, host of the popular national Canadian food show ‘Simple, Fresh, Delicious’ will present two half day workshops. In the morning, she will equip attendees with the necessary tools and resources to set up and run a cooking school on the farm. She will conduct a cooking class in the afternoon. See the practical tips and techniques for holding successful cooking classes as Lovoni puts it all into practice as she demonstrates with limited equipment just how easily it can be done.

For those agritourism operators who offer parties on the farm, Frank W. Price, founder of Birthday University will present information on today’s party consumer and what they really want. Those in this workshop will get specific tools to evolve their party concept, become unique and capable of mass customizing. Franks approach is to teach a simplified, low cost party marketing strategy, add simple yet great service and give a little extra at the party table.

The slate of workshops is rounded out by speakers from inside the industry to expose conference goers to new ideas while maintaining relevance to their operations. The additional workshops feature a workshop designed for folks who want to start up an agritourism destination, one to cover the most important topics when considering adding or expanding a bakery or food service and everything one needs to know about adding a small scale apple orchard to diversify an agritourism operation.

Full details on all the workshops and their featured speakers can be found on the NAFDMA convention website at www.nafdma.com/NAFDMA2011.

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.

At the Annual NAFDMA Convention,There’s Still a Whole Lot More to Learn!

The 26th Annual Convention held by North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA) will take place on Feb. 4 – 10, 2011. The convention features a three-day bus tour, a day of intensive workshops, and a conference and tradeshow. The Hyatt Regency Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland will be the home base for the Convention. This hotel on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor will set the stage for the comfortable, intimate setting of fellowship and networking that the NAFDMA Convention is known for.

"This region is a hotbed for customer trends. It forecasts what will be seen across the continent," says Charlie Touchette, NAFDMA's Executive Director. "It's amazing how consumer sensitivity has shifted over the past 5 years. We'll put a spotlight on the wants and needs of customers in today's culture and economy. Convention attendees will come away with a better handle on how to hold the attention of customers back home.''

There is Still a Whole Lot More to Learn is the theme of the 2011 NAFDMA Convention. The bus tour returns to the Mid-Atlantic region where the farm markets and agritourism operations of many long-time NAFDMA members will be showcased. The workshops and sessions will provide the attendees with the tools and information they need to move to the next steps in their businesses. Complete Convention information will be available at www.nafdma.com/NAFDMA2011

Bus Tour
The Networking Bus Tour will be held on Feb. 5-7 and offer two different bus tour options. Option One is the farm direct marketing tour. The buses on this tour will visit several farm market stops. The brand new post and beam style market building at Richardson Farms will be a highlight of this tour. Option Two is the agritourism tour. Linvilla Orchards will be just one of the stops on this tour option. For both options, the tour will begin in Baltimore and overnight for two nights in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tour goers will have the chance to visit the historic sights of the city and learn farm direct marketing ideas from the famous Reading Terminal Market. A complete list of tour stops for each tour option will be available on the web site.

Workshops

Wednesday, Feb. 9 will offer six full day workshops and eight mix and match half day workshops. Education Day is a day full of thought provoking, entertaining and timely workshops. We are happy to announce that food marketing expert, Dr. Richard George will present a workshop on connecting with today’s customers. John Stanley of Australia, a NAFDMA Convention favorite and expert in retail design, will be returning this year to help farm market owners meet the challenges in the industry. Brad Montgomery’s workshop “Laugh-o-Nomics” will focus on how those who enjoy what they are doing are more effective and productive, thus increasing your farm’s bottom line. An off-site workshop highlighting culinary trends on the farm will also be offered.

Conference
The featured workshop presenters will return on Thurs. Feb. 10 along with nearly forty additional presenters for Innovation Day. This year’s conference will feature seven tracks, including U-Pick, Food Service on the Farm, and Family Dynamics. The Technology track will offer sessions on the social media options available for marketing your business in today’s world.Trade ShowAs many as 90 trade show booths will promote the latest products and services available to farm direct marketers and agritourism operators. Exhibitors will also have the opportunity to showcase their products in a 30 minute live demonstration. Vendor applications will be accepted starting on Sept. 15. The complete trade show vendor packet will be on the web site. The Trade Show will be open Feb. 7-9.

Learnings from the North American Farmer’s Direct Marketing Association

This year’s convention took place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We had a three day tour prior to a three day conference. Lots of learning and tons of networking. Just thought I’d share a few insights from the innovative farmers who were on my bus.

Add an inexpensive activity.
Activities don’t need to be complicated or cost a lot of money. You can make a big bang with something as simple as a slide. Kids and adults alike love a giant slide!

Go mobile.
Put wheels on your bins. It makes moving produce into the cooler that much easier at the end of the day. This orchard had a small electric pallet mover that they used to make moving a cinch.

No one can resist a cookie.
Cookie decorating can keep families in your business longer. The longer they linger, the more they buy. (Farm animal cookie cutters make a unique gift item at your farm themed shop.)

Fast “Comfort” food.
Cherry Crest sells peanut butter & jam sandwiches and mac n’ cheese. You could have some fun localizing these to your farm. Make your own jam from your berries and Alberta noodles or cheese in your signature dish.

Lighting makes a world of difference.
Honey looks angelic when lit from behind on the shelf.

Sell less. Make more.
You’ll make more money selling pie by the slice or half. The half clam shell package will cost you a bit more so you need to know your costs but selling smaller portions does yield bigger returns.

Enter from the back.
Filling shelves from behind is smart. The oldest product is always out front. This way you don’t have to be in the aisles restocking shelves while customers shop. It’s all done behind the scenes. (Think how milk is sold.)

Birthday parties are hot.
Take a cooking class and turn it into a birthday party. It’s gaining popularity. Customer service is key! Remember that Mom is the customer not the birthday child. Make Mom’s experience the best ever.

Mark your calendar. Join us in Baltimore, February 4-11, 2011 for the next NAFDMA convention. Details will unfold later this summer. http://www.nafdma.com/

This article was written by Kerry Engel, NAFDMA Board of Directors, VP of Convention Operations and previously published in the July 2010 NAFDMA Newsletter.

Musings from a u-pick field

or, the more people you meet, the more you wonder.....

Yes indeed, summer did finally arrive on the west coast although up here on Vancouver Island it is about 3 weeks late.

Of course the first real sign of that is when the strawberry season begins and after last weekend we are in full swing. Having been a horticultural extension agent all my life it seems many of my friends are in the local farming business and know that I am around and… if they are short staffed, well you know how that goes.

So this weekend there I was grading strawberries, making cartons, unloading trucks and then on Sunday – in charge of the U-pick field which is what led me to write this down.

It was not an overly busy day, thanks to it being Fathers’ Day and a bike race down the road the farm is located on that ran from 8am until after lunch. Customers avoided the road like the plague until late morning. It never ceases to amaze me that these races have to be the first week or so of strawberry season – but I digress as that is a different story.

I was set up with a tent, table, cash box just in front of a row of trees behind which was about an acre of 2^nd year Rainier strawberries. I barely had time to get the tally sheets out and in came my first customer who, it turned out had also picked the day before and wanted to get, as he bluntly told me, the last few berries as the field was poor. Hmm, I thought that was not what I had been told but I had not seen the field in a month, so not seeing anyone else around I trotted past the trees to check out this “poor field.”

Actually as I rounded the trees I saw red, even in the first two rows which were weak and obviously over picked. As I walked across the center of the field I saw the best U-pick field I have seen in a few years and began to wonder what on earth this fellow had been talking about. I looked around for him and there he was in the first two rows of the field. I know what you are thinking, but yes I did walk over and tell him if he moved another 10 rows in his containers would be full in 5 minutes but he said he was fine where he was.

Slowly the morning picked up and the cars started coming in. Since I knew I would have some spare time I began multitasking – no, this generation did not invent the term. Farmers have always multitasked – we just had different words for it. Seems to me I can remember being told to quit standing around and make myself useful while I was waiting for something else to happen on a farm chore – that was the invention of multitasking!

In this mode I had a small generator cover that I was going to paint a beautiful Navaho red with oil based paint – very carefully as I did not want to be covered from head to toe as I waited for customers to drive in. On that note it would have been much easier if I could have found a brush that did not look like a toilet boil cleaner – oh well that’s farming.

Over the next hour or so I did manage to do a reasonable job on the paint and had just pushed it behind the table when in came a couple with 2 young children of walking age – 2 and 3, I am guessing. They were a bubbly family and all piled out in search of that special summer treat – fresh strawberries. As mom and I chatted, oblivious to the whereabouts of the children we suddenly summoned by a plaintive “mommy”. As we both turned to look, there was little missy, both hands palms toward us – perfectly painted in Navaho Red!

"Crap", was all I could think – this is not going to be good. But to my surprise mom broke out in laughter and said, “Oh my god, I hope my daughter did not ruin your painting!” She then proceeded to apologize as we frantically tried to get oil based paint off tiny little soft hands with wet tissue. Of course it was also all over her clothes but mom was perfectly happy in that these clothes were for gardening and picking berries and it did not matter. I could have kissed that woman, but then that would also be a different story. All in all by the time they did emerge from the field – mom was correct. It was hard to see the paint amongst the strawberry stains from ear to ear and on most of her little daughter’s sun dress. You know there are customers that renew your faith in the human race!

And then there are the others. Picture a dark BMW SUV, all tinted windows, driving way to fast down the farm dirt road towards me and I just know this one is likely not to be as much fun. There are about 10 cars in a nice row parked down from the table and I wave the SUV towards them but no – the driver wants the space between the table and the first car and proceeds to shoe horn himself into a space meant for a Smart car or skateboard. He then slides out of the car wearing the fancy sunglasses and without apparently really looking at me (hard to tell with the shades) he asks, “Where is the farm?”

Well may be you might have been able to play that one straight but I could not. I replied, “You are standing on it”. The back door then crept open and squinting into the sun emerged a Goth styled and pierced teenager who said his dad wanted to pick some strawberries for Fathers’ Day. And pick they did – 3 lbs and left in another dust cloud.

The small children are really the reason I enjoy the interactions so much and there must have been 20 or so young kids that day and they were all so excited and I had tons of fun with all of them. The parents would bring their containers to be pre-weighed and in some cases they were not significant enough to even record but I would always ask the youngsters if they could get on my little scale.

They would than get very concerned looking and of course the parents would be smiling in the background and I would tell the children I had to weigh them to be certain they did not eat more than 10 lbs of berries. If they did I warned them I would have to either keep them on the farm or make them pay. Of course then I told them I was joking but one little guy actually wanted me to keep him – as long as he could drive the tractor I had parked there – he was about 3 years old.

And finally – it is a small world.

I was just about closing at 2 pm and an older couple walked up (yes, older than me!) and asked if they could pick and also asked if the cedar trees behind me were a maze. Indeed they are I replied and they told me they were related to farmers in Ontario that had quite a few mazes on their farm.I asked if that was Saunders Farm and I could have pushed them both over with a feather at that point. They had no idea that I would know Mark & Angela Saunders and Mark’s parents, Bill & Ann and that I actually had them out in BC speaking to farmers about 15 years ago. So you see this NAFDMA world is indeed very connected.

This article was written by Brent Warner P.Ag., White Loaf Ridge Associate and previously published in the July 2010 NAFDMA Newsletter. For more information on NAFDMA visit www.nafdma.com.