Before any enterprise is started,
Marketing should be the first thing on a person’s
mind. It is the most important aspect of any farm business and
the only action that results in revenue.
Over the years, we have seen changes in all
aspects of agricultural production, but a lot of producers
have not kept pace with the changing conditions when it
comes to marketing. Here in the Southeast, tobacco was a
major cash income crop and auction markets were scattered
all over the area up into the 1990’s. Now, they are a thing
of the past since tobacco is now contracted with the large
tobacco companies. The same thing can be said for hogs
except the old sows that are sold at the local auction
markets and are made into sausage. When I was in college in
the 1960’s, professors were saying the swine industry would
never become integrated as the poultry industry, but now we
know different.
We are now seeing alliances formed within the
cattle industry and major changes will be forthcoming. Most
cattle producers still have the opportunity to take their
cattle to market on a given weekday, but, is that really
marketing or just selling? There is a difference.
In marketing, you make plans to get the highest price on a
given day; in selling you simply take what is offered.
Marketing may require you to group your livestock with other
livestock from other producers in order to assemble the
right size package for a buyer such as truckload lots of
cattle. Research has shown that cattle sold in truckload
lots will bring from 3 to 10 cents more per pound than
cattle sold one by one.
Large corn and small grain producers have the
grain elevators and the opportunity of forward contracting
if so desired, but what about the small producer who is not
large enough to get into the futures? Also, there is the
small sheep and goat producers who may not have a ready
market in their area. When the Ostrich and Emu excitement
ran out and all the breeding stock were sold that could be
sold, what happened to the market? Some animals were turned
out to fend for themselves and be taken in by humane
societies. Sheep and goat producers need to be working
together to develop markets that will be processing meat for
the consumer. Prices have been good for breeders who have
the popular bloodlines and the foundation stock in demand.
When the market becomes saturated with bucks, does, rams and
ewes, you are going to need a market that will eventually
process for the consumer. This may involve special sale days
at a local market where producers would travel many miles
with their stock. Associations could work together with
market managers to arrange special sales for the smaller
commodities.
Marketing also involves every producer
promoting their products. I recall the “Beef Referendum”
many years ago when cattle producers would be voting to give
$1.00 per head to promote beef. I was conducting an
extension meeting for farmers and overheard a farmer ask his
neighbor if he was going to support the beef checkoff. He
replied, “hell no, let the supermarkets promote beef”. If
someone is not interested in promoting their own product,
they are not going to help their industry. There are many
ways to promote your farm products and several can be done
rather inexpensively. Some of these may be:
*Attractive
farm signs promoting your farm and what you produce. Rusted
out signs with weeds grown up over the sign are not going to
attract potential buyers.
*Website, you
do not need to spend thousands of dollars for a website.
An attractive website promoting your farm and products can
be less than $200 per year. Or if you want to develop your
own, it could be free or almost free. There are some
companies that offer free hosting but you have to wade
through the "pop up" ads. Some internet service providers
such as Comcast offers server space for personal websites
included with your subscription fee. A free website can be
developed with your ISP and then purchase a domain to point
to the free hosted site.
*Classified ads
in popular breed magazines. Don’t purchase the full page or
½ page ad, but purchase a small classified pointing to your
website that has all the information about the products as
well as your contact information. A full page ad in a
magazine could cost several hundred dollars but a $25.00
classified ad pointing to your website will provide much
more information.
*If your
association has a free classified page for members in their
newsletter or website, take advantage of that and place a
small classified pointing to your website.
*Inexpensive
business cards with three important items,
name, phone number and website address.
*Farm
name on your truck along with phone number and web address.
*Develop an
email database of interested customers. This can be expanded
into a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter.
*Become
actively involved in a breed association promoting your
livestock or products.
*Look
for something unusual about what you do, and publicize it,
such as farm and educational tours.
Marketing
will continue to change over the years and the agricultural
producer will need to stay in tune with marketing trends to
stay in the black.
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