Fruit and vegetable growers from Michiana learned a variety of management strategies and production tips during the Michiana Fruit and Vegetable Growers meeting on last Tuesday at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen.
Steve Engleking, Purdue Extension educator in LaGrange County, offered different options for those who are looking at diversifying their marketing strategies. He shared with growers that profitability is what we are all about and at the end of the day we all want to make money selling our produce.
"You have to do your homework. Small farms, by nature, are limited resource operations," said Engleking. "That means time, labor, scale and capital are all limiting resources."
Planning ahead will help avoid mistakes and wasting resources that you do have, he said. Producers who take the time to develop and follow through with their business and marketing plans in the end do a better job at achieving profitability.
"Those who fail to plan, plan to fail," said Engleking.
Developing the marketing plan is often omitted from the business plan. Business owners tend to think about what it costs to produce in their business plans and what they are going to do as far as revenues on selling. They also consider how they can control costs and increase revenues but a lot of time they don't take the time to develop the marketing plan that they really need.
"Marketing is everything you do—from how you pick your produce, how you package it, how you clean it, the image of your farm, etc.," he said.
The image of your farm is also critical, he said. When someone is driving up your driveway or nearing your farm on the road, they are going to ask themselves, "Is this somewhere that I want to buy my produce from?" Marketing includes your farm's image and the image of yourself in regards to your own cleanliness, how you dress, etc.
Another factor of marketing that many people are misled by is, who are their competitors? Engleking said that many people think that Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, etc. are their competitors, when in reality they are not.
"Your competitor is the person down that road who is growing produce like you are. It's not the chain stores like Walmart and Meijer," he said. "Local products are by far superior to what is offered at the chain stores."
Engleking encouraged the development of SMART goals when it comes to marketing plans.
• Specific—goals need to be specific, not broad or general.
• Measurable—there needs to be a benchmark created that you can accomplish.
• Achievable—make sure that the goals set are something that can be reached.
• Realistic—marketing goals need to be something that aren't "high-in-the-sky" goals.
• Timely—you have to put a time frame on your goals whether it's a few months, a year, two years, etc.
"When setting marketing goals, we have to remember that it isn't about selling products, it's about selling the benefits of your products to customers. Make sure you are letting consumers know what the benefits are of selling your blackberries, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.," he said.
In addition to marketing goals, it's important that you are marketing your products to the best of your ability.
Engleking said your product needs to stand out. Let the consumer know why they need to buy yours over someone else's. Maybe your product has a longer shelf life of your produce over your competitors' products.
You also need to make sure you have the right price for your products. Don't price yours lower just because you want people to buy it. Sell the benefits of the product and they will adjust to the price. Remember, when you are deciding on how much to charge for your items, you have to factor in the costs of the seed, plowing the field, property taxes on ground and equipment, insurance, fertilizer, planting, labor, harvesting, processing, etc. You must factor all inputs in to know what price you need to achieve in order to make a profit, he said.
In addition, the proper placement is important. Knowing your customers, what they want and how they like to take ownership of it is important.
The average American family spends 10 percent of their income on food and more than half of all meals are eaten outside of the home. People are buying convenience more now than they were 30 to 40 years ago, said Engleking.
"When I was a child, we would have French fries, but they weren't like they are today. My mom would actually cut the potatoes and fry them or bake them," he said. "Now, people are paying for convenience foods and they can buy pre-cut, frozen French fries at the store."
Engleking reemphasized that as producers, you have to sell the benefits of your products, make it easy for the customer to take ownership and make sure they can get what they want, when they want it.
For final tips, Engleking emphasized that having a "face" of your farm or business is also important. Making sure you have someone who is good with people, friendly, happy, helpful will give your business a better image and encourage more to buy from you.
Making your products more appealing will also help the success of your business. Shelf and/or table color is critical. By using black or dark-colored shelves and tables to display your products, you encourage the customer to focus on the products, not the table or shelves.
In his final comments, Engleking shared a quote from Don Nugent, former CEO of Graceland Fruit in Michigan: "We as farmers need to be producing what our customers want to buy, not what we want to produce."