an analysis of vegetable farms’ direct marketing...
TRANSCRIPT
March 2002 RB 2002-03
An Analysis of Vegetable Farms’An Analysis of Vegetable Farms’An Analysis of Vegetable Farms’An Analysis of Vegetable Farms’An Analysis of Vegetable Farms’Direct Marketing ActivitiesDirect Marketing ActivitiesDirect Marketing ActivitiesDirect Marketing ActivitiesDirect Marketing Activities
in New York Statein New York Statein New York Statein New York Statein New York State
Wen-fei L. Uva
Department of Applied Economics and ManagementCollege of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY 14853-7801
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Wen-fei UvaSr. Extension Associate
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W.L. Uva i
Farm retail marketing or farmer-to-consumerdirect marketing is an important outlet for many NewYork vegetable products. Marketing direct to consum-ers takes special skills and abilities on the part of mar-keters, and also requires a favorable location with re-spect to land resources and local markets. Since manyfarmers and direct market managers lack the resourcesand experience to compete with supermarkets, it isimportant for direct marketing operators to differenti-ate themselves from the mass marketers. The goal ofthis study was to analyze the effectiveness of directmarketing activities and marketing strategies used byNew York vegetable farms. A survey designed to col-lect information on farm retail marketing practicesfrom New York vegetable farms was conducted dur-ing the winter of 2000-20001. Results were analyzedbased on business profiles of New York vegetablefarms with direct marketing activities, marketing chan-nels used, retail seasonality, product mix, importanceof different direct marketing activities, effectivenessof different marketing and business management tools,and future plans for various marketing activities.
The surveyed vegetable farms had averagetotal farm sales of $274,311 and average retail sales of$123,612. Direct marketing to consumers was an im-portant source of farm income for a majority of thesurveyed New York vegetable farms with retail mar-
keting activities. Sixty-nine percent of the respondentsreceived more than half of their farm gross income fromdirect sales to consumers. However, vegetable farmswith direct marketing activities generally did not relyon retail alone. Farms with higher gross sales utilizedmore marketing channels and depended more heavilyon wholesale. May through October is the most im-portant sales season for farmer-to-consumer directmarketing activities. The surveyed farms retailed morethan just the items they produced. Purchased items forresale were an important avenue to expand productline and increase the volume of products available forretail. Three most commonly used direct marketingmethods were roadside markets, farmers’ markets andpick-your-own. Among all the direct marketing com-ponents, fresh farm products – including fresh veg-etables, fruits, and meat products - were rated as mostimportant to the operation by most surveyed farms(83 percent). Ice cream stand had the second highestrating but was only rated by 3 percent of the surveyedfarms. Ornamental plants and holiday crops were ratednumber three by 43 percent and 54 percent of farms,respectively. The most commonly used promotion toolswere “word-of-mouth” and “newspapers”, and “la-bor related challenges” and “competition in the mar-kets” were the two major concerns among survey re-spondents.
ABSTRACT
ii Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
This survey was conducted by the CornellHorticulture Business Management and MarketingProgram in the Department of Applied Economicsand Management at Cornell University. Sincereappreciation goes to the New York State VegetableGrowers Association for providing funding for thisstudy. The author thanks Diane Eggert of New YorkState Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association and BobLewis of New York State Department of Agriculture& Markets for identifying vegetable farms withdirect marketing activities in the state to participatein the survey. Special appreciation also goes to Dr.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Anu Rangarajan in the Department of Horticultureand Dr. Nelson Bills in the Department of AppliedEconomics and Management at Cornell University,Monika Roth and Brian Caldwell of Cornell Coop-erative Extension, and Diane Eggert of New YorkState Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association forproviding assistance in developing the surveyquestionnaire and reviewing the report. Finally,special thanks are extended to New York Statevegetable operators for providing valuable com-ments and participating in the study.
W.L. Uva iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................... iAcknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................... iiExecutive Summary............................................................................................................................................... v
I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 1
II. STUDY APPROACH AND DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................ 2
III. RESULTS .......................................................................................................................................................... 4Surveyed Respondent Profile ....................................................................................................................... 5The Role of Direct Market Sales to Farm Income ....................................................................................... 7Marketing Channels Used by Vegetable Farms with Direct Marketing Activities ............................... 7Direct Marketing Seasonality ........................................................................................................................ 9Direct Marketing Methods ............................................................................................................................ 12Direct Marketing Product Enterprises ......................................................................................................... 12 Product Mix ................................................................................................................................................. 12 Items Purchased for Resale ........................................................................................................................... 15 Entertainment Activities .............................................................................................................................. 16 Organic Product Offerings .......................................................................................................................... 16 Restaurant/Cafe/Deli .................................................................................................................................... 16Future Plans ..................................................................................................................................................... 17Marketing Tools .............................................................................................................................................. 18Business Management Strategies Used to Improve Profitability ............................................................ 21Direct Marketers’ Views on Barriers, Opportunities and Training Needs ............................................. 23
IV. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................... 28
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................. 28
V. APPENDIX A .................................................................................................................................................. 31
VI. APPENDIX B -- SURVEY INSTRUMENT................................................................................................... 49
LIST OF TABLES
Table III-1. Direct Marketer Profile Classified by Retail Sales, NY (2000), PA (1996) and NJ (1992) ........ 5Table III-2. Descriptive Statistics of the Surveyed Direct Marketing Vegetable Farms’ Direct
Marketing (Retail) Sales, by Size of Retail Sales ........................................................................................ 5Table III-3. Comparison of Annual Total Farm Gross Sales and Direct Marketing (Retail) Sales, by
Total Farm Sales .............................................................................................................................................. 8Table III-4. Marketing Channels Used by NY Direct Marketing Vegetable Farms ...................................... 9Table III-5. Average Annual Direct Marketing (Retail) Sales for Different Direct Marketing Methods,
by Retail Sales ................................................................................................................................................. 13Table III-6. Frequency of Selling at Farmers’ Markets and Sales, by Retail Sales ........................................ 13Table III-7. Percentage of Sales and Businesses by Product Line ................................................................... 14Table III-8. Items Purchased for Resale by Product: Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations ............................. 15Table III-9. Organic Product Marketing by Retail Sales .................................................................................. 17Table III-10. Ranking of Top Barriers Facing Direct Marketing Operations, by Retail Location ............... 25Table III-11. Ranking of Top Opportunities Facing Direct Marketing Operations, by Retail Location .... 26
iv Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Page
Table III-12. Ranking of Top Training Needs for Direct Marketing Operations, by Retail Location ......... 27Table V-1. Areas of Crop Produced, by Total Farm Receipts .......................................................................... 31Table V-2. Crops Produced by New York Direct Marketing Vegetable Farms, by Total Farm Receipts ... 31Table V-3. Marketing Outlet Used by New York Vegetable Farms with Direct Marketing Outlets,
by Size of Businesses ...................................................................................................................................... 32Table V-4. Average Percentage of Retail Income Generated in Each Month, by Retail Sales ..................... 33Table V-5. Direct Marketing Methods Used by New York Vegetable Farms and Retail Sales
Generated by Each Marketing Method ....................................................................................................... 34Table V-6. Average Retail Sales and Percentage of Respondents Offering Each Product Line, by
Retail Sales ....................................................................................................................................................... 35Table V-7. Items Purchased for Resale for Each Product Line, by Retail Sales ............................................ 36Table V-8. On-farm Entertainment Activity Offerings and Charges, by Retail Sales .................................. 37Table V-9. Future Plans for Different Direct Marketing Components, by Retail Sales ............................... 38Table V-10. Ranking of Top Barriers Facing Direct Marketing Operations, by Retail Business ................. 39Table V-11. Ranking of Top Opportunities for Direct Marketing Operations, by Retail Business ............. 40Table V-12. Ranking of Top Training Needs for the Direct Marketing Operations, by Retail
Businesses ........................................................................................................................................................ 41
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure III-1. Distribution of Survey Respondents from New York Counties ............................................... 4Figure III-2. Distribution of Respondents by Retail Sales: Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations ................... 6Figure III-3. Years Involved in Direct Marketing, by Retail Sales .................................................................. 7Figure III-4. Percentage of Total Annual Farm Sales from Direct Marketing (Retail) Sales:
Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations .................................................................................................................. 8Figure III-5. Averge Number of Marketing Channels Used by Survey Respondents ................................. 10Figure III-6. Average Months of Retail Operation by Retail Sales: Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations ..... 10Figure III-7. Sales Generated in each Month as Percentage of Total Surveyed Retail Sales:
Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations .................................................................................................................. 11Figure III-8. Direct Marketing Methods Used by Respondents and Percentage ......................................... 12Figure III-9. Average Number of Product Lines by Retail Sales: Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations ........ 14Figure III-10. Incidence of On-Farm Entertainment Activities and Charges: Urban vs. Rural
Retail Locations ............................................................................................................................................... 16Figure III-11. Average Revenue from Restaurant, Cafe, and Deli Operations, by Retail Sales .................. 17Figure III-12. Future Plans for Different Direct Marketing Enterprises ........................................................ 18Figure III-13. Respondents’ Utilization of Different Marketing Tools, by Retail Location ......................... 19Figure III-14. Effectiveness Rating of Different Marketing Tools, by Retail Location ................................. 19Figure III-15. Annual Marketing Budget as Percentage of Retail Sales ........................................................ 20Figure III-16. Respondents’ Utilization of Different Business Management Tools, by Retail Sales .......... 21Figure III-17. Effectiveness Rating of Different Business Management Tools, by Retail Location ............ 22Figure V-1. Effectiveness of Different Marketing Tools, by Retail Sales ....................................................... 42Figure V-2. Effectiveness of Different Marketing Tools, by Retail Sales (cont.) ........................................... 43Figure V-3. Effectiveness of Different Marketing Tools, by Retail Sales (cont.) ........................................... 44Figure V-4. Effectiveness of Business Management Strategies, by Retail Sales ........................................... 45Figure V-5. Effectiveness of Business Management Strategies, by Retail Sales (cont.) ............................... 46Figure V-6. Effectiveness of Business Management Strategies, by Retail Sales (cont.) ............................... 47
LIST OF BOXES
Box 1. Definition of Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Methods Used in This Study ...................... 3
W.L. Uva v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Farmer-to-consumer direct marketing orfarm retailing is an important outlet for many NewYork vegetable products. This marketing channelexperienced a resurgence of interest in recentdecades. Some contributing factors include de-pressed wholesale farm prices and consolidation inthe produce industry in recent years. Many mediumand small size farms have adopted direct marketingto consumers as an alternative to sustain businessvitality. In addition, growing consumer interest innutrition and food quality, combined with increasedattention in the sustainable agriculture movementand in local community development, further fueledconsumer interest in direct purchasing from farmers.
Marketing direct to consumers takes specialskills and abilities on the part of marketers, and alsorequires a favorable location with respect to landresources and local markets. Since many farmersand direct marketing managers lack the resourcesand experience to compete with supermarkets, it isimportant for direct marketing operators to differen-tiate themselves from mass marketers. This reportsummarizes results of a survey designed to collectinformation on farmer-to-consumer direct marketing(retail) practices used by New York vegetable farms.
Objectives of this study are to:
Determine the economic dimension offarmer-to-consumer direct marketingactivities on New York vegetable farms.Analyze effectiveness of different marketingactivities and strategies used by New Yorkfarmer-to-consumer direct marketing veg-etable farms.Identify industry concerns and research ques-tions for future in-depth direct marketing stud-ies.
The direct marketing sales in this study referto farms selling their products (food and non-food)and services directly to consumers using variousretail outlets (roadside markets, farmers’ markets,pick-your-own, community supported agriculture,catalog, internet, etc.). The products sold couldinclude products grown on the farm as well asagricultural and non-agricultural products pur-chased for resale. A mail survey was developed tocollect information on farm direct marketing prac-tices, as defined above, from New York vegetable
farms with direct marketing sales in 2000.
Results from 122 completed surveys aresummarized in the analysis. The survey respon-dents’ average total annual gross sales were $274,311in 2000. Although the overall average retail sales ofthe surveyed respondents were $123,196 in 2000(including products grown on the farm and pur-chased for resale as well as services and entertain-ment activities), one-half of the respondents had lessthan $30,000 (median) annual retail sales. Themajority of surveyed farms produced more thanvegetables. Among the surveyed direct marketingvegetable farms, 46 percent also produced fruits andberries, and 45 percent also produced ornamentalcrops.
Direct marketing to consumers was animportant source of farm income for a majority ofthe surveyed direct marketing vegetable farms. Ofthe farms surveyed, 45 percent of total farm sales in2000 were from retail business. Sixty-nine percent ofthe respondents received more than half of theirfarm’s gross income from direct sales to consumers.Moreover, for 44 percent of the respondents, retailsales accounted for more than 90 percent of theirtotal farm receipts, compared with 7 percent of therespondents who attributed less than 10 percent offarm receipts to retail. Among respondents, theaverage percentage of sales from direct sales toconsumers was 72 percent.
The surveyed direct marketing vegetablefarms generally did not depend on retail alone.Among the five marketing channels identified in thissurvey – ‘wholesale to supermarkets’, ‘wholesale toother retail farm markets’, ‘wholesale to foodserviceoutlets’, ‘wholesale through other wholesale outlets’(wholesalers, brokers, processors, auction, etc.), and‘direct marketing to consumers’ - respondents usedan average of 2.3 marketing channels to sell theirproducts. ‘Wholesale to other retail farm markets’ isthe most commonly utilized wholesale outlet, whilefoodservice outlets was the least utilized wholesalechannel. Although only 29 percent of the respon-dents wholesaled through ‘other wholesale outlets’,this marketing channel is important to farm income.Twenty-nine percent of total surveyed farm saleswere generated from this wholesale channel, com-pared to 14 percent from ‘wholesale to other retailfarm markets’.
vi Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
New York direct marketing vegetable farmsgenerally only retail seasonally. The surveyedrespondents retailed an average of 6.4 months in2000. About one-quarter (24 percent) of respondentsretailed less than four months of the year, and only 8percent retailed year-round. Operations with higherretail sales operated longer retail seasons, andoperations with urban locations also had longerretail seasons. May through October is the mostimportant sales season for farmer-to-consumer directmarketing sales. Fall sales were very significant forNew York direct marketers, and December is amonth with potential to generate high sales.
Fresh vegetables, ornamental plants andfresh fruits were the top three retail product catego-ries for New York direct marketing vegetable farms.Other product categories sold by surveyed respon-dents included processed products, holiday crops(pumpkins and Christmas trees), gifts and accesso-ries, baked goods, ice cream, meat products, milkand cheese products, and other products (maplesyrup, mushrooms, entertainment activities, furni-ture, firewood and wool). Larger retail operationshad a broader product mix. New York direct mar-keting vegetable farms also retailed more than justitems that they produced on the farm. They pur-chased items for resale to expand the product line,increase variety, and supplement the volume ofproducts available for retail. The surveyed farms areleast likely to purchase vegetables and pumpkins toresell. On the other hand, for all other product linesidentified in this study, more than 50 percent offarms purchased some items in those product linesto resell.
Among the direct marketing methodsidentified in this study (roadside markets, farmers’markets, pick-your-own (PYO), community sup-ported agriculture (CSA), catalog sales, internetsales, and other methods (including direct order/custom sales)), New York direct marketing vegetablefarms with direct marketing activities generally used
one to two marketing methods to retail their prod-ucts. Three most commonly used direct marketingmethods were roadside markets, farmers’ marketsand pick-your-own (PYO). Roadside marketing wasused by three-quarters of respondents to markettheir products and generated three quarters of thedirect marketing sales surveyed.
Competition and labor related challengesare the top barriers to success in many direct market-ing operators’ minds. Identified competition in-cludes supermarkets, international trades and otherfarm markets. Labor related challenges mentionedinclude lack of labor pool and hard-to-find seasonalhelp, difficulty in finding good labor and keepingqualified labor, and high costs of labor. Other topbarriers were location, limited resources (capital,time and land), regulations, and marketing relatedissues (advertising, display, attracting new custom-ers, etc.).
While the top opportunity identified by therespondents was definitely diversification andexpansion, many farms have different plans on howthey want to expand and diversify their retailbusinesses. The expansion plans include on-farmentertainment/agri-tourism, product lines/crop mix,greenhouse/ornamental plant sales, farmers’markets, value-added products, internet/mail ordersales, diversification, longer season, and larger farmsize and longer operating hours. Respondents alsostrive to provide ‘farm fresh’, high quality and freshproducts, as well as good service. Expandingmarketing is another important opportunity identi-fied by respondents.
Direct marketing is an important source ofincome for New York vegetable farms with directmarketing activities. Many New York direct market-ing farms are considering expansion; therefore, moreattention to marketing and business managementwill be necessary to ensure future profitability andsuccess.
W.L. Uva vii
W.L. Uva 1
Farmer-to-consumer direct marketing orfarm retailing is an important outlet for many NewYork vegetable products. During the Depression ofthe 1930s, many farmers turned to roadside market-ing (Bond, 1941). Favorable wholesale prices duringand following World War II provided better alterna-tives, and interest in direct marketing to consumersdeclined. In the late 1950s, mechanization and otherproduction technologies changed price and costrelationships, and the larger volumes required tomarket through traditional wholesale channels againencouraged renewed interest in direct marketingamong many growers (How, 1980). This marketingchannel experienced a resurgence of interest thatbegan in the 1970s. Some contributing factorsinclude depressed wholesale farm prices andconsolidation in the produce industry in recentyears. While some growers are striving for econo-mies of scale in search of lower costs and higherefficiency to meet the needs of large buyers, manymedium and small size farms have adopted directmarketing to consumers as an alternative to sustainbusiness vitality, obtain higher prices, and maintaina competitive edge in the market. In addition,growing consumer interest in nutrition and foodquality, combined with increased attention in thesustainable agriculture movement and local commu-nity development, further fueled consumer interestin direct purchasing from farmers.
A USDA study showed that pressing issuesfacing farmer-to-consumer direct marketers areuncertainty of cost and returns, availability oftechnical assistance, and the overall regulatoryenvironment (Bills, et al. 2000). Marketing direct toconsumers takes special skills and abilities on thepart of marketers, and often requires a favorablelocation with respect to land resources and localmarkets. Since many farmers and direct marketingmanagers lack the resources and experience tocompete with supermarkets, it is important for directmarketing operators to differentiate themselves frommass marketers. Cornell researchers conductedseveral studies in the 1970s to obtain information onthe characteristics of direct marketing businesses inNew York and the customers who patronize them(Stuhlmiller and How, 1978; Stuhlmiller, et al. 1976;and Eiler and Rosenfeld, 1973). While there aresome recent studies on consumer preferences andshopping habits at farmers’ direct marketing outlets,there is a need for information on effective market-
ing activities and their economic feasibility, targetingthe needs of New York growers.
Direct marketing to consumers is an impor-tant marketing channel to New York vegetablefarms. According to the 1997 Census of Agriculture(USDA, 1999), 55 percent of the 1,585 vegetablefarms in New York conducted some direct market-ing activities, and about $13.2 million (or 5 percent)of total sales generated by these New York vegetablefarms traced to direct marketing activities. However,the direct sales definition used by the Census ofAgriculture is more narrowly defined than farmers’actual practices. The Census of Agriculture defineddirect sales as sales of crops, livestock, poultry, orother products sold directly to consumers for theirown consumption from roadside stands, farmers’markets, pick your own, door-to-door, etc. It onlyincluded sales of agricultural commodities solddirectly for human consumption, such as vegetables,fruit, eggs, milk, cattle, chickens, hogs, turkeys, etc.,and only commodities grown or raised on the farm.Nevertheless, in order to maintain their competitiveedge in the market, many farmers with direct-to-consumer sales have adopted various marketingstrategies to enhance the value of their products andservices. They often also sell nonfood products, i.e.ornamental plants and gift items, and productspurchased for resale, and receive income fromservices they provide. Therefore, the magnitude ofvegetable farms’ direct marketing activities is muchgreater than the census figures demonstrated. Thisstudy attempts to examine a comprehensive pictureof retail practices used by vegetable farms in NewYork and the impacts of those practices on farmprofitability.
Objectives of this study are to:
• Investigate the dynamics of farmer-to-consumer direct marketing activities onNew York vegetable farms.
• Analyze the effectiveness of different market-ing activities and strategies used by New Yorkfarmer-to-consumer direct marketing veg-etable farms.
• Identify industry concerns and research ques-tions for future study.
I. INTRODUCTION
2 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
This report summarizes the results of asurvey designed to collect information on farmer-to-
II. STUDY APPROACH AND DEFINITIONS
Various definitions are used for farm directmarketing studies. Although it often stands forfarmer-to-consumer direct sales – retail, sometimes itcould also include direct sales to food services andother specific outlets – wholesale (NY AgriculturalStatistics Service, 1988). This study only considersretail practices used by vegetable farms in New Yorkand the impacts of those practices on farm profitabil-ity. Therefore, “direct marketing sales” in this studyinclude sales generated by farms selling theirproducts (food and nonfood) and services directly toindividual consumers using various retail outlets.Direct sales to institutional customers, i.e.foodservice, are not included in this study. Theproducts sold could encompass products grown orprocessed on the farm as well as products purchasedfor resale, and the services provided also includedentertainment activities. This definition is differentfrom the one used by the Census of Agriculture;therefore, it is very important to note that manyresults in this report cannot be directly comparedwith the figures of direct sales in the Census ofAgriculture.
The direct marketing product and servicecategories included in this survey were:
♦ Fresh vegetables and melons♦ Fresh fruits and berries♦ Nursery and greenhouse crops (bedding
and potted plants, flowers, trees, etc.)♦ Holiday crops (pumpkins and Christ-
mas trees)♦ Meat products♦ Milk and chess products♦ Value-added/processing products♦ Baked goods♦ Ice cream♦ Gifts and gardening accessories♦ Entertainment activities♦ Other products (i.e. maple syrup, honey,
furniture, etc.)
The types of direct marketing retail outletsincluded in this survey were (see Box 1 for defini-tion):
♦ Roadside markets♦ Farmers’ markets♦ Pick-your-own (PYO)♦ Community supported agriculture
(CSA)♦ Catalogue and internet sales♦ Other direct sales (i.e. direct order, craft
show, etc.)
A mail survey was developed to collectinformation from New York vegetable farms onfarm direct marketing practices, as defined above.The survey questionnaire is included in Appendix B.A random sample of 500 vegetable farms with directmarketing sales were identified from two sources –the New York State Farmer’s Direct MarketingAssociation list and the “New York State Guide toFarm Fresh Products” published by New York StateDepartment of Agriculture and Markets. Therefore,only vegetable farms that reported direct marketingsales were selected to participate in the survey.
In November 2000, a draft of the question-naire was pre-tested by four farms that were not inthe sample list. The questionnaire was revised basedon input from the growers. In January 2001, thefinal questionnaire, along with a cover letter explain-ing the purpose of this study, was mailed to the listof 500 direct marketing vegetable farms in New YorkState. A postcard reminder was mailed to thesample list six weeks after the first mailing. In total,163 questionnaires (33 percent) were returned. Forvarious reasons, some of these were unusable (i.e.,incomplete, no longer in business, or had no veg-etable production to report.) A total of 122 surveyswere completed and included in this analysis.
Survey results were statistically tested to
consumer marketing (retail) practices used by NewYork vegetable farms in 2000.
W.L. Uva 3
examine possible relationships among farm charac-teristics, specifically, retail sales, retail locations anddirect marketing practices. Retail locations of thesurveyed vegetable farms were classified as being inurban or rural areas, based on the Census Bureau’sdefinition of urbanized and rural areas. Accordingto the Census Bureau, urbanized areas are placeswith populations of at least 50,000, and they usuallyconsist of a central city and the surrounding area
that has close social and economic ties to the centralcity with a density of at least 1,000 people per squaremile; and rural areas are everywhere that is noturban. Based on Census 2000 data, New Yorkcounties meeting the urban definition include Bronx,Erie, Kings, Monroe, Nassau, New York, Queens,Suffolk and Westchester. Therefore, surveyedrespondents with retail locations in these countiesare categorized as urban retail locations.
Box 1. Definition of Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Methods Used inThis Study
• Roadside Market: a temporary or permanent structure, located along a public road and used for selling farmproducts directly to consumers by an individual farm operation. A roadside market can vary from an open standin front of the farm offering limited products to elaborate buildings equipped with refrigerated display cases,lighting, shopping carts, and multiple checkout systems, operating year-round.
• Farmers’ Market: a building, structure, or place used by two or more agricultural producers for retailing farmproducts. Each marketer operates independently. Farmers’ market facilities may range from an open lot wherefarmers park their vehicles and display products to enclosed buildings with display counters and other accommo-dations. The farmer usually pays a fee for the occupied space to cover maintenance and advertising.
• Pick-Your-Own (PYO) Operation: permits customers to come to the farm and harvest farm products directlyfrom the field. These operations may also sell already harvested products from a roadside market in conjunctionwith the PYO operation. In such a case, the farm is considered using more than one direct marketing method.
• Community-Supported-Agriculture (CSA) Operation: requires customers to subscribe or purchase member-ship, where people buy “shares” at the beginning of the production season in exchange for a season’s worth ofproducts produced on the farm.
• Catalog and Internet Sales: does not involve a physical retail facility. Farm products are marketed to customersby catalogs or over the internet, and sales are conducted via phone, mail or internet. Products are generallydelivered to customers’ homes.
• Other Methods: includes direct custom orders, fairs, craft shows and clubs.
4 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
III. RESULTS
The survey respondents were spatially dis-tributed throughout New York State. As shown inFigure III-1, direct marketing vegetable farms from44 of the 62 counties in New York are represented inthis survey, and the responses were distributedacross the four regions of the state as follows:
♦ Western NY 37 responses♦ Central NY 31 responses♦ Northeastern NY 25 responses♦ Hudson Valley 21 responses♦ New York City and
Long Island 8 responses
Table III-1 shows that the surveyed respon-dents’ retail sales pattern is similar to the surveys offruit and vegetable direct marketing farms in Penn-sylvania (Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture, 1997)and direct marketing operations in New Jersey(Nayga et al., 1995). A chi-square goodness-of-fit testshowed that the three direct marketer profiles arenot statistically different (DF = 10, P-value = 0.438).
Figure III-1. Distribution of Survey Respondents from New York Counties
NY City/Long Island
W.L. Uva 5
Surveyed Respondent ProfileThe 122 direct marketing vegetable farms
surveyed had an overall average of $123,612 in di-rect retail sales in 2000; however, one-half had lessthan $30,000 (median) in retail sales. About a quar-ter (24 percent) of respondents had annual retailsales of less than $10,000, and 20 percent rangedfrom $10,000-24,999 and $100,000-249,999 in annualretail sales (Table III-2).
Thirty-one percent of farms in this study hadretail locations in urban areas (as defined in the pre-vious section), and 69 percent of surveyed farms hadretail locations in rural areas only. It should benoted that some surveyed farms had more than oneretail location, and they could have both urban andrural retail locations.
Direct marketing vegetable farms with ur-ban retail locations were more likely to have higher
Survey respondents NY PA NJ by retail sales (N = 122) (N = 406) (N = 409)
% of survey respondentsUnder $10,000 24 28 31
$10,000-24,999 20 19 14
$25,000-49,999 13 17 12
$50,000-99,999 14 14 10
$100,000-249,999 20 13 15
$250,000 and over 9 9 18
All Farms 100 100 100* A chi-square goodness-of-fit test showed that the NY, PA, NJ direct marketerprofiles are not statistically different (DF = 10, P-value = 0.438).
Sources: Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture (1997) and Nayga et al. (1995).
Table III-1. Direct Marketer Profile Classified byRetail Sales, NY (2000), PA (1996) and NJ (1992)*
Respondents by % of Average Standard retail sales Farms retail sales Median Min. Max. deviation
(%) -------------- ($) --------------
Under $10,000 (N=29) 24 4,944 5,000 850 9,800 2,783
$10,000-24,999 (N=24) 20 15,587 15,000 10,000 24,000 4,868
$25,000-49,999 (N=16) 13 32,660 30,000 25,000 45,500 6,888
$50,000-99,999 (N=17) 14 70,147 65,500 50,000 92,000 13,354
$100,000-249,999 (N=24) 20 158,413 145,000 100,000 240,000 44,594
$250,000 and over (N=12) 9 781,010 650,000 325,000 1,641,612 143,065
All Farms (N=122) 100 123,196 30,000 850 1,641,612 262,332a “Direct marketing (or retail) sales” refers to farms selling their products and services directly to individual consumers using various re-
tail outlets. The products sold could include food and non-food items and encompass products grown or processed on the farm aswell as products purchased for resale.
Table III-2. Descriptive Statistics of the Surveyed Direct Marketing VegetableFarms’ Direct Marketing (Retail) Sales, by Size of Retail Salesa
6 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
retail sales than direct marketers with only rural re-tail locations. The surveyed farms with retail loca-tions in urban areas had average annual retail salesof $248,523, of which 50 percent had $105,000 (me-dian) or more in retail sales, and farms with retaillocations only in rural areas had average annual re-tail sales of $69,703, and a median of $21,900. FigureIII-2 shows that more than half (52 percent) of re-spondents with only rural retail locations had lessthan $25,000 in retail sales in 2000, whereas, only 24percent of respondents using urban retail locationsfell into that category. By contrast, while only 21percent of respondents with rural retail locationsgenerated more than $100,000 in retail sales in 2000,almost half of the respondents (47 percent) with ur-ban retail locations were in that sales category.
The surveyed farms had an average of 21.4years of direct marketing experience. Thirty-sevenpercent of respondents had less than ten years of re-tailing experience, 22 percent had 11 to 20 years, 27percent had 21 to 40 years, and 14 percent had morethan 40 years of retailing experience. Farms with
higher retail sales had longer average direct market-ing histories, except for businesses with $50,000-99,999 annual retail sales (Figure III-3).
The majority of surveyed direct marketingvegetable farms produced additional products otherthan vegetables. Among the surveyed vegetablefarms, 46 percent also produced fruits and berries,45 percent also produced ornamental plants, and 17percent of the businesses also produced other prod-ucts, including Christmas trees, field crops, maplesyrup, animal products, mushrooms, and honey.The direct marketing vegetable farms are equallylikely to combine fruit or ornamental crops into theirproduction. Twenty-eight percent of the respon-dents grew only vegetable crops in 2000, 26 percentgrew vegetable and fruit crops, 26 percent grew veg-etable and ornamental crops, and 20 percent grew allthree major types of crops. Larger farms are morelikely to diversify and grow a larger acreage of mul-tiple types of crops for sale. In Appendix A, TablesV-1 and V-2 show the acreage and combination ofcrops (fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants) pro-duced by different sized operations.
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>=$250,000
Respondents by retail sales
% o
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ents
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Figure III-2. Distribution of Respondents by Retail Sales:Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations
W.L. Uva 7
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espo
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Figure III-3. Years Involved in Direct Marketing, by RetailSales*
*Average number of retailing years identified by different letters are significantly different from eachother. Means are separated by LSD multiple comparison analysis (α=0.05).
The Role of Direct Market Sales to FarmIncome
For a majority of the surveyed direct mar-keting vegetable farms, direct marketing to consum-ers was an important source of farm income. Of thefarms surveyed, the average total annual gross farmsales were $274,311 in 2000 (Table III-3). Forty-fivepercent of total 2000 surveyed farm sales were fromdirect sales to consumers; however, large vegetableoperations were less dependent on direct marketingsales for their farm income. The other marketingchannels used by the surveyed farms will be dis-cussed in the next section.
For 44 percent of the respondents, retailsales accounted for more than 90 percent of their to-tal farm sales, compared with 7 percent of the re-spondents who attributed less than 10 percent offarm sales to retail. Figure III-4 shows that 69 per-cent of the respondents received more than half oftheir farm’s gross sales from direct marketing to con-sumers. Retailing in urban or rural locations did not
affect the degree of reliance on retail sales to gener-ate farm income.
Marketing Channels Used by VegetableFarms with Direct Marketing Activities
Although direct marketing was an impor-tant source of income, direct marketing vegetablefarms generally did not depend on retail alone. Fivemarketing channels were identified in this survey:
Wholesale to supermarketsWholesale to other farm marketsWholesale to foodservice outletsWholesale through other wholesale out-lets (wholesalers, brokers, processors,auction, etc.)Direct marketing to consumers
The surveyed respondents used an averageof 2.3 marketing channels to sell their products. Thechannel most commonly utilized by respondents to
8 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Respondents by % of Average total Average % of retail contributiontotal farm sales farms gross sales retail sales to total farm sales
% --- $/year --- $Under $10,000 (N=25) 20 5,225 5,010 96
$10,000-49,999 (N=32) 26 23,037 18,255 79
$50,000-99,999 (N=11) 9 76,551 56,700 74
$100,000-249,999 (N=25) 21 154,057 97,521 63
$250,000-499,999 (N=7) 6 352,540 162,429 46
$500,000-749,999 (N=7) 6 602,998 253,171 42
$750,000-999,999 (N=4) 3 855,107 385,833 45
Over $1,000,000 (N=11) 9 1,587,657 607,601 38
All Farms (N=122) 100 274,311 123,612 45a “Direct marketing (or retail) sales” refers to farms selling their products and services directly to individual consumers using various
retail outlets. The products sold could include food and nonfood items and encompass products grown or processed on the farm aswell as products purchased for resale.
Table III-3. Comparison of Annual Total Farm Gross Sales and Direct Market-ing (Retail) Sales, by Total Farm Sales
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Figure III-4. Percentage of Total Annual Farm Sales fromDirect Marketing (Retail) Sales: Urban vs. Rural RetailLocations
W.L. Uva 9
wholesale their products was ‘wholesale to otherfarm markets’ (48 percent), while the wholesalechannel utilized the least by respondents was‘foodservice outlets’ (only 22 percent). Amongwholesale outlets, sales to ‘other wholesale outlets’generated the highest sales volume. Although only29 percent of the respondents wholesaled through‘other wholesale outlets’, 29 percent of total sur-veyed farm sales were generated from this whole-sale channel, compared with 14 percent from ‘whole-sale to other farm markets’ reported by 48 percent ofrespondents (Table III-4).
Farms with higher gross sales depend lesson retail for income (Table III-4). Figure III-5 showsthat large farms also tend to utilize more marketingchannels. However, the average number of market-ing channels used by farms with total gross sales be-tween $100,000 to 999,999 are not statistically differ-ent. As farm size increases, although most farmsstill wholesaled to other farm markets, sales to su-permarkets and other wholesale outlets becamemore important to farm income. Small to mediumsize farms – farms with total gross sales of less than$500,000 – tend to focus on a combination of two tothree outlets to wholesale their products. Largefarm operations – farms with total gross sales ofmore than $500,000 - tend to concentrate a majorityof their wholesale efforts on one type of wholesaleoutlet (often on other wholesale outlets) and supple-ment it by additional wholesale outlets (supermar-kets and other farm markets). Detailed informationcomparing marketing outlets used by different size
farms is presented in Table V-3 in Appendix A.
Direct Marketing Seasonality
New York vegetable farms with direct mar-keting activities generally only retail seasonally.About one quarter (24 percent) of respondents re-tailed less than 4 months of the year, 55 percent re-tailed between 5 to 8 months, and the remaining 21percent retailed 9-12 months. Only 8 percent of thesurveyed farms retailed all-year-round.
The average number of months of retailingwas 6.4 months in 2000. Operations with urban re-tail locations had a statistically longer direct market-ing season (an average of 7.2 months) than opera-tions with only rural retail locations (an average of 6months). As seen in Figure III-6, operations withhigher retail sales generally had a longer direct mar-keting season. This observation also applied to re-spondents within the urban and rural groups.
Figure III-7 shows that May through Octo-ber is the most important sales season for farmer-to-consumer direct marketing activities. More than 80percent of the total retail sales from the surveyedvegetable farms was generated during these sixmonths. Fall sales were very important for NewYork direct marketers. October sales accounted for17 percent of retail sales generated by surveyedfarms in 2000, followed by May (16 percent). Whilethe seasonal pattern is similar for operations with
Table III-4. Marketing Channels Used by NY Direct Marketing VegetableFarmsMarketing channel % of respondents % of total surveyed farm
sales from this channel
Wholesale to supermarkets 36 8.3
Wholesale to other farm markets 48 13.7
Wholesale to foodservice outlets 22 4.1
Wholesale to other wholesale outletsa 29 29.1
Direct retail to consumersb 100 44.8a Other wholesale outlets include wholesalers, brokers, processors, auction, etc.b “Direct marketing (or retail) sales” refers to farms selling their products and services directly to individual consumers using
various retail outlets. The products sold could include food and nonfood items and encompass products grown or pro-cessed on the farm as well as products purchased for resale.
10 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Figure III-6. Average Months of Retail Operation by RetailSales: Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations
*Average number of months of operation identified by different letters are significantly different from each other within eachlocation category. Means are separated by LSD multiple comparison analysis (α=0.05).
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Urban Rural All respondentsRespondents by retail Locations
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age
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<$10,000 $10,000-24,999 $25,000-49,999���$50,000-99,999
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Figure III-5. Average Number of Marketing Channels Usedby Survey Respondents
*Average number of months of operation identified by different letters are significantly different from each other within eachlocation category. Means are separated by LSD multiple comparison analysis (α=0.05).
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W.L. Uva 11
urban and rural retail locations, respondents withurban retail locations had earlier and stronger springsales than respondents with only rural retail loca-tions.
Businesses generally had 15 to 20 percent oftheir retail sales generated in each month betweenMay and October. The average monthly retail salesfor all respondents was the highest in May ($38,055),followed by October ($26,785). However, mediumand large direct marketing farms (groups with$25,000 or more retail sales) had their highest aver-age monthly sales value in October. Moreover, morefarms in this survey retailed in October than in May,regardless of size and location. Table V-4 in Appen-dix A shows the percentage of farms retailing ineach month by retail sales and locations.
December is a month with high sales poten-tial. Although only 6 percent of the total surveyedretail sales was generated in December, the 41 per-cent of businesses who retailed in December in 2000generated an average of 14 percent of their retailsales in this month. While Table V-4 in Appendix A
shows farms with urban retail locations are morelikely to retail in December, December presents amarketing opportunity for farms with only rural re-tail locations as well. Fifty-four percent of respon-dents with urban retail locations operated in Decem-ber and generated 4 percent of this group’s total re-tail sales in this month. By contrast, 35 percent offarms with only rural retail locations operated in De-cember, and their December sales accounted for 6percent of total retail sales of this group.
Direct marketers tend to expand their seasonto November and December, not January and Febru-ary. Few respondents operated their retail outlets inJanuary (14 percent) and February (15 percent). Forthose who operated in these two months, they onlygenerated an average of 4 and 5 percent of their re-tail sales in each of these two months. Smaller directmarketing farms (under $50,000 retail sales) withonly rural retail locations are more likely than theirurban counterparts to operate in January and Febru-ary. However, the situation is reversed for largerdirect marketing farms ($100,000 or more retailsales) in this survey.
Figure III-7. Sales Generated in Each Month as Percentage of TotalSurveyed Retail Sales: Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations
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12 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Direct Marketing Methods
New York direct marketing farms usuallyused multiple methods to retail their products. Di-rect marketing methods identified in this study in-clude roadside markets, farmers’ markets, pick-your-own (PYO), community supported agriculture(CSA), catalog sales, internet sales, and others – di-rect order, custom sales, fairs, and shows, etc.Among these, the surveyed farms used an averageof 1.7 methods to retail their products. The numberof methods utilized by different size direct market-ing operations was not statistically different.
The three most commonly used methodswere roadside markets, farmers’ markets and PYO.Roadside markets were used by 77 percent of therespondents and generated 77 percent of the totalsurveyed retail sales. However, 40 percent of the re-spondents retailed at farmers’ markets but generatedonly 8 percent of the total surveyed retail sales, and38 percent retailed through PYO but generated only9 percent of the total surveyed retail sales (Figure III-8). Table III-5 shows that roadside markets, PYOand farmers’ markets had the highest average an-nual sales of $123,787, $27,717 and $25,528, respec-tively. Larger retail operations had higher averagesales for all marketing methods except for CSA.
Table V-5 in Appendix A presents directmarketing methods used by different size retailfarms. Medium and large direct marketing veg-
etable farms (more than $50,000 retail sales) dependmostly on roadside markets for retail revenue. Forsmaller retail farms (less than $50,000 retail sales),farmers’ markets are more important for retail in-come . By contrast, none of the respondents withmore than $500,000 in retail sales operated in farm-ers’ markets. As seen in Table III-6, respondentswho retailed in farmers’ markets sell at farmers’markets an average of 2.3 times a week and gener-ated an average of $390 per farmers’ market visit.Larger businesses ($100,000-249,999 and $250,000-499,999 retail sales) generated more than double thesales per farmers’ market visit compared withsmaller businesses. This could be because largerbusinesses sold more days at farmers’ markets perweek and had a more diversified product mix to ex-pand sales and season. PYO is important to the re-tail revenue for small and medium farms (less than$100,000 retail sales); however, larger size retailfarms ($100,000 and over retail sales) also often usePYO in conjunction with their roadside market op-erations. CSA was utilized more by smaller retailoperations.
Direct Marketing Product Enterprises
The direct marketing product enterprisesincluded in this survey are fresh vegetables, freshfruits, pumpkins, Christmas trees, processed prod-ucts, gift and garden accessories, baked goods, icecream, meat products, milk and cheese products,
and other products (i.e. maplesyrup, mushrooms, entertain-ment activities, furniture, wool,etc.). In addition to analyzingthe tangible product lines, wealso investigate the intangibleand service aspects of directmarketing enterprises – enter-tainment activities, organicproduct offerings, and restau-rant/café/deli.
• Product Mix
Fresh vegetables, orna-mental plants and fresh fruitswere the top three items retailedby the surveyed farms. About30 percent of total surveyed re-tail revenue was from sale offresh vegetable products by 96
Figure III-8. Direct Marketing Methods Used byRespondents and Percentage
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W.L. Uva 13
percent of the respondents. Fifty-one percent of therespondents marketed ornamental plants directly toconsumers and accounted for 25 percent of total sur-veyed retail sales, and 65 percent of the respondentsmarketed fresh fruits, accounting for 17 percent ofthe total surveyed retail sales (Table III-7). Based onthe product lines identified in Table III-6, the sur-veyed farms had an average of 4.8 product lines.
Although not statistically different, respon-dents with urban retail locations had a slightlyhigher number of product lines (5.4) than respon-dents with only rural retail locations (4.6). FigureIII-9 demonstrates that larger operations had abroader product mix, and increasing product lines iscrucial as farms expand their direct marketing op-erations in rural locations. Larger direct marketing
Table III-5. Average Annual Direct Marketing (Retail) Sales for Different DirectMarketing Methods, by Retail Salesa
Direct marketing methodsRespondents by Roadside Farmers’ Catalog Internet retail sales markets markets PYO sales sales CSA Othersb
--------------- $ ---------------Less than $10,000 3,456 3,222 3,382 750 475 600 1,300$10,000-24.999 11,856 12,050 13,500 1,000 500 9,800 N/A$25,000-49,999 21,483 20,980 11,067 N/A 200 1,000 N/A$50,000-99,999 47,719 18,500 23,375 N/A N/A N/A 3,000$100,000-249,999 125,625 74,333 25,250 33,500 2,333 2,000 10,000$250,000 and over 672,909 80,000 81,436 12,000 3,000 N/A N/ATotal 123,787 25,528 27,717 16,150 1,456 3,350 2,456a “Direct marketing (or retail) sales” refers to farms selling their products and services directly to individual consumers using various
retail outlets. The products sold could include food and nonfood items and encompass products grown or processed on the farm aswell as products purchased for resale.
b Others include direct order and custom sales.
Table III-6. Frequency of Selling at Farmers’ Markets and Sales, byRetail Sales
Avg. sales Avg. selling Avg. months of sellingRespondents by retail sales per daya days per week at farmers’ markets
$ # of days months
Under $10,000 (N=29) 110 1.7 5.3
$10,000-24,999 (N=24) 381 1.8 5.0
$25,000-49,999 (N=16) 370 2.7 5.1
$50,000-99,999 (N=17) 259 3.2 5.8
$100,000-249,999 (N=24) 878 2.8 6.9
$250,000 and over (N=12) 1,111 3.0 6.0
Total (N=122) 390 2.3 5.6a Includes sales from marketing products and services directly to individual consumers. The products sold could in-
clude food and nonfood items and encompass products grown or processed on the farm as well as products pur-chased for resale.
14 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Table III-7. Percentage of Sales and Businesses by Product LineProduct % of Respondents % of Total Surveyed Retail Sales
Fresh vegetables 96 29.7Ornamentals 51 24.6Fresh fruits 65 16.6Pumpkins 59 6.7Christmas trees 29 4.7Processed products 44 4.3Gifts and accessories 18 3.8Entertainment activities 38 3.4Baked goods 31 2.8Other productsa 11 1.2Ice cream 5 0.9Meat products 21 0.4Milk and cheese products 11 0.3a Others include maple syrup, mushrooms, entertainment activities, furniture, and wool.
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Figure III-9. Average Number of Product Lines by Retail Sales:Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations
* Average number of product lines identified by different letters are signficantly different from each otherwithin category. Means are separated by LSD multiple comparison analysis (α=0.05).
W.L. Uva 15
farms with only rural retail locations ($50,000 ormore retail sales) had higher average numbers ofproduct lines than their counterparts with urban re-tail locations. Table V-6 in Appendix A shows thepercentage of farms involved in each product lineand the average sales from each product line for dif-ferent sizes of direct marketing operations.
• Items Purchased for Resale
The surveyed farms retailed more itemsthan those they produced. They purchased items forresale to expand the product line, increase variety,and supplement the volume of products for retail.Table III-8 illustrates that the surveyed farms wereleast likely to purchase fresh vegetables and pump-kins for resale. Among farms that retailed fresh veg-etables (60 percent of surveyed respondents), 39 per-
cent also purchased fresh vegetables for resale, andthey purchased an average of 16 percent of theirfresh vegetables for resale. Only 35 percent of farmsthat retailed pumpkins purchased pumpkins to re-sell, and an average of 18 percent of their pumpkinsales were from items bought for resale. On theother hand, more than 50 percent of farms that re-tailed all other product lines identified in this studypurchased some items in those product lines to re-sell. Over 90 percent of farms that retailed milk andcheese products and gift and accessory items pur-chased more than three-quarters of their products(77 percent) to resell.
For all product lines except baked goods,respondents with urban retail locations are morelikely to purchase items for resale than farms withonly rural retail locations. Larger farms are morelikely to purchase more items for resale. Appendix
Table III-8. Items Purchased for Resale by Product: Urban vs. Rural Retail Locations
Respondents by retail locationsUrban Rural All respondents
Avg. % of Avg. % of Avg. % ofPropensity of sales generated Propensity of sales generated Propensity of sales generated
respondents to from items resondents to from items respondents to from itemspurchase this purchased purchase this purchased purchase this purchased
product for resalea for resaleb product for resalea for resalea product for resalea for resaleb
--------------- % ----------- --------------- % ----------- --------------- % -----------
Fresh vegetables 45 14 36 16 39 16Ornamentals 60 26 60 25 60 25Fresh fruits 61 41 52 26 53 31Pumpkins 39 17 37 19 37 18Christmas trees 92 85 62 49 74 63Processed products 88 83 72 53 75 62Gifts and accessories 100 100 93 66 95 77Baked goods 35 59 62 44 55 50Ice cream 100 100 80 61 83 68Otherc 75 63 50 30 55 44Meat products 86 72 41 35 58 46
Milk and cheese 100 100 90 70 92 77a The propensity of respondents to purchase this product for resale for each product line was calculated by respondents purchased
items of a product line for resale as a percentage of respondents direct marketing that product line to consumers.b Averages were calculated by averaging the percentage of sales generated from items purchased for resale for each farm and not
weighted based on size of businesses.c Other includes maple syrup, mushrooms, entertainment activities, furniture, and wool.
16 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
A Table V-5 summarizes the pattern of purchasingitems for resale by product line for different size di-rect marketing operations.
• Entertainment Activities
More than one-third (38 percent) of the re-spondents offered on-farm entertainment activities,such as farm tours, hay rides, petting zoos, seasonalfestivals, events, and parties, and generated 3.4 per-cent of total surveyed direct marketing sales. None-theless, half of the farms offering entertainment ac-tivities offered them for free. Farms with urban andrural retail locations had similar marketing patterns(Figure III-10). The surveyed farms had averagesales of $11,236 from entertainment activities in2000. Although not statistically different, farms withurban retail locations had higher average sales fromentertainment activities ($15,389) than farms withonly rural retail locations ($9,494). The surveyedfarms offered an average of three months of enter-tainment activities in 2000, most commonly in Sep-tember and October.
Table V-8 in Appendix A summarizes theon-farm entertainment activities offered by differentsize direct marketing vegetable farms. Larger farmswere more likely to offer entertainment activitiesand charge for them. Seventy-five percent of farms
with $250,000 or more retail sales offered entertain-ment activities. Although one-quarter of these farmsdid not charge for patronage of these activities, theiraverage revenue from entertainment activities ex-ceeded $31,000 ($31,652) in 2000. By contrast, almostof half (46 percent) of farms with annual retail salesbetween $10,000-24,999 offered entertainment activi-ties, but only 27 percent of them charged for theirofferings and had an average revenue from enter-tainment activities of $155 in 2000, the lowest amongall direct marketing groups. The surveyed farmsgenerally offered entertainment activities in two tothree months, except for farms with $250,000 ormore retail sales which offered an average of 4.2months of entertainment activities.
• Organic Product Offerings
Twenty-two percent of the surveyed directmarketing vegetable farms offered organic productsto their retail customers with an average of fouryears’ organic product direct marketing experience(Table III-9). Smaller retail operations were morelikely to be involved in retailing organic productsand had longer experience with organic productmarketing. None of the surveyed respondents in thelargest retail operation category (more than $250,000retail sales) was involved in marketing organic prod-ucts. Retail location did not affect the marketingpattern.
• Restaurant/Café/Deli
Only 9 percent of the sur-veyed farms operated a restau-rant, café or deli in 2000. Theyoperated an average of 4.3months in 2000 and had aver-age annual sales of $18,900.The average revenue from res-taurant, café and deli opera-tions is not significantly differ-ent between farms with urbanretail locations ($21,000) andfarms with only rural retail lo-cations ($18,000). Nonetheless,farms with urban retail loca-tions had a shorter operatingseason – an average of 2.3months in 2000, mostly in thefall – compared with 5.1months for farms with only ru-ral retail locations. Large retail
18 20 19
1617 19
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Urban (N=38) Rural (N=84) All respondents (N=122)Retail locations
% o
f res
pond
ents
(%)
Charge for entertainment activities Offer entertainment activities for free
Figure III-10. Incidence of On-Farm Entertain-ment Activities and Charges: Urban vs. RuralRetail Locations
W.L. Uva 17
operations are more likely to operate a restaurant,café or deli and had higher average sales (Figure III-11).
Future Plans
The surveyed New York direct marketingvegetable farms were asked to identify changes theyforesee for different direct marketing components intheir operation in the next five years. Figure III-12shows that most of the respondents were planning toexpand one or more direct marketing components.
The components identified by most respondents forfuture expansion are holiday crops (pumpkins andChristmas trees) and fresh farm markets (40 per-cent), followed by entertainment activities (30 per-cent), ornamental plants (29 percent), and processedproducts (28 percent). Some potential growth trendsto watch for include CSA, internet sales, ice creamstands and catalog sales. Although only relativelyfew respondents foresaw changes in these directmarketing components in the near future, the major-ity of them were planning for expansion.
Table V-9 in Appendix A shows future plans
Table III-9. Organic Product Marketing by Retail SalesAverage years involved in
Respondents by retail sales % of respondents retailing organic products% years
Under $10,000 (N=29) 43 4.2$10,000-24,999 (N=24) 26 6.5$25,000-49,999 (N=16) 19 4.5$50,000-99,999 (N=17) 12 3.5$100,000-249,999 (N=24) 22 1.5
$250,000 and over (N=12) 0 0.0Total (N=122) 22 4.0
500 400 750
10,000
26,500 26,250
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
Less than$10,000
$10,000-24.999
$25,000-49,999
$50,000-99,999
$100,000-249,999
$250,000 andmore
Respondents by retail sales
Aver
age
sale
s ($
)
Figure III-11. Average Revenue from Restaurant,Cafe, and Deli Operations, by Retail Sales
18 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
for different direct marketing components by differ-ent size surveyed farms. Farms with less than$10,000 retail sales were most likely to focus on ex-panding in fresh farm markets, farmers’ markets andentertainment activities. Farms with $10,000-24,999and $25,000-49,999 retail sales were most likely tocontinue to expand their fresh farm markets and en-tertainment activities, as well as holiday crop sales.For farms with $50,000-99,999 and $100,000-249,999retail sales, although many were still planning to ex-pand their farm fresh market sales, an increased per-centage of them expected no changes or even a re-duction in this component. The planned directionsfor expansion for farms in these two categories wereevenly spread over many areas based on individualmarketing strategies. The largest farms category($250,000 or more retail sales) are most likely to ex-pand into holiday crops, ornamental plants and en-tertainment activities.
Marketing Tools
The respondents were asked to identify mar-keting tools they used to promote retail sales andrate the effectiveness of these marketing tools on a 1to 5 scale, where 1 is not effective and 5 is very effec-tive (Figures III-13 and 14). The marketing toolsrated included newspaper advertising, TV advertis-ing, radio advertising, road signs (include bill-boards), direct mailing, sales promotion (coupons,special discounts, etc.), internet marketing, in-storepromotion (free samples, point-of-purchase displays,brochures, etc.), community relationships (sponsor-ing community events), participating in locally-grown promotion programs, participating in tourismprograms, and word-of-mouth. The most commonlyused marketing tools are “word-of-mouth” by 84percent of the respondents, followed by “newspa-pers” (73 percent), “road signs” (57 percent), and“community relations” (55 percent). Respondentswith urban retail locations were more likely to use
Figure III-12. Future Plans for Different Direct Marketing Enterprises
40 40
30 2928
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1412
11 10
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15
30
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rm m
arkets
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nment a
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ies
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tal plan
ts
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and
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rant e
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ents
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W.L. Uva 19
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Figure III-14. Effectiveness Rating of Different Mar-keting Tools, by Retail Location
*, ** Respondents with urban retail locations and respondents with only rural retail locationsare significantly different at P<0.1 or 0.05, respectively.
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Figure III-13. Respondents’ Utilization of DifferentMarketing Tools, by Retail Location
*, ** Respondents with urban retail locations and respondents with only rural retail locationsare significantly different at P<0.1 or 0.05, respectively.
20 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
regional promotion, yellow pages, sales promotion,and internet to market their businesses and productsthan respondents with only rural retail locations. Onthe other hand, respondents with only rural retaillocations were more likely to use newspapers, tour-ism, and radio promotion than their urban counter-parts. However, tourism promotion and sales pro-motion are the only two marketing techniques uti-lized significantly differently by the two groups.Additional marketing tools identified under “other”included attending trade shows and hosting tours.
The overall rating was the highest for word-of-mouth (4.5) which was also used by most farms(84 percent). The second highest rated marketingtool was TV advertising (4.2); however, it was onlyused by 7 percent of the respondents. The marketingtools receiving third and fourth highest ratings weredirect mailing (4.1) and community relations (4.0),used by 30 percent and 55 percent of respondents,respectively. Although newspaper advertising wasthe second most frequently used marketing tool, itonly received an average 3.2 effectiveness rating.Respondents with urban retail locations gave higherratings to TV advertising, direct mailing, sales pro-motion, and community relationships than respon-dents with only rural retail locations. By contrast,respondents with onlyrural retail locationsgave higher ratings toyellow pages, newspa-per advertising, radioadvertising, internet, in-store promotion, andtourism promotion.Only ratings for news-paper advertising, radioadvertising, and com-munity relations are sta-tistically different. Al-though businesses withurban locations weremore likely to useinternet promotion,businesses with onlyrural locations foundinternet promotion to bea more effective market-ing tool.
Figures V-1, V-2, and V-3 in AppendixA present the effective-ness of different mar-
keting tools rated by different size retail businesses.Word-of-mouth is rated as very effective by all farmcategories except the largest retail farms ($250,000 ormore). Most commonly used marketing tools areword-of-mouth, road signs and newspapers.Smaller farms (less than $10,000, $10,000-24,999 and$25,000-49,999) also stressed community relations.Larger farms ($10,000-249,999 and more than$250,000) utilized more marketing tools. In-storepromotion was used by more than half of the farmsin these two categories, and farms with more than$250,000 annual retail sales also frequently usedsales promotion, tourism promotion and TV adver-tising.
The surveyed farms spent an average of 3.1percent of retail sales on promoting their retail op-erations and products (Figure III-15). Respondentswith only rural retail locations generally spent ahigher percentage of their retail sales on marketingcompared with respondents with urban retail loca-tions, except businesses with $10,000-24,999 and$25,000-49,999 retail sales. Overall, respondentswith only rural retail locations spent an average of3.4 percent of their retail sales on marketing and re-spondents with urban retail locations spent an aver-age of 2.4 percent of retail sales on marketing.
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Figure III-15. Annual Marketing Budget as Percentageof Retail Sales
W.L. Uva 21
Business Management Strategies Used toImprove Profitability
Respondents were also asked to identifybusiness management strategies they used to im-prove the profitability of their retail operations andrate how effective those tools were on a 1 to 5 scale,where 1 is not effective and 5 is very effective. Busi-ness management strategies identified in the surveyinclude developing a business plan, developing amarketing plan, expanding product lines (value-added, organic, new products and varieties, etc.),adding services, competitive pricing, branding, uti-lizing loyal buyers’ programs, providing customereducation, maintaining a mailing list, promotingagri-tourism, collaborating with other marketers,promoting ‘buy local’, keeping financial records fordecision-making, and providing training for employ-ees. As seen in Figure III-16, keeping financialrecords for decision-making was utilized by mostrespondents (60 percent), followed by expandingproduct lines (59 percent), competitive pricing (48
percent), and promoting buy local (44 percent). Re-spondents with urban retail locations were morelikely to use many of the business management strat-egies than respondents with only rural retail loca-tions, especially keeping financial records and col-laborating with other marketers. On the other hand,respondents with only rural retail locations weremore likely to develop business and marketing plansthan their urban counterparts.
Figure III-17 shows that branding was ratedas most effective overall (4.5); however, it was usedby only 8 percent of the respondents. Keeping finan-cial records to support decisions had the secondhighest rating of 4.2 and used by most respondents(60 percent), followed by continuous employee edu-cation (4.1) and maintaining a mailing list (4.1) by 24percent and 34 percent of the respondents, respec-tively. Although competitive pricing was used by 48percent of the respondents, the effectiveness ratingcame in second to last (3.4), only higher than loyalbuyers’ programs. While respondents with urbanand rural locations generally had similar ratings for
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ents
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Figure III-16. Respondents’ Utilization of Different BusinessManagement Tools, by Retail Sales
*Respondents with urban retail locations and respondents with only rural retail locations are signficantly dif-ferent at P<0.1.
22 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
business management tools identified in this survey,farms with urban retail locations rated competitivepricing as significantly more effective than did farmswith only rural retail locations, and they rated devel-oping marketing plans, developing business plansand expanding product lines as slightly more effec-tive than did farms with only rural retail locations.Other business management tools identified by re-spondents include minimizing costs, becoming moreefficient, diversifying investment, and hard workand long hours.
Figures V-5, V-6, and V-7 in Appendix Apresent the effectiveness of different business man-agement strategies rated by different size retailfarms. Continuous education was rated as more ef-fective (4.5 or greater) by small and medium sizefarms (less than $10,000, $25,000-49,999, and
$50,000-99,999) except farms with $10,000-24,999 an-nual retail sales. Collaborating with others is ratedas more effective (4.5 or greater) by medium andlarger farms ($25,000-49,999, $50,000-99,999, and$250,000 or more) except farms with $100,000-249,999 annual retail sales. Adding services wasrated the highest by most of the largest direct mar-keters ($250,000 or more).
Different size farms had different resourcesand management skills. They also focused on differ-ent management strategies. The most commonlyused strategy by farms with less than $10,000 annualretail sales to improve profitability was expandingproduct lines, identified by 50 percent of the farmsand rated only 3.2; no other strategies were ratedhigher than 50 percent by the farms in this category.The most commonly used strategies by farms with
Figure III-17. Effectiveness Rating of Different Business Management Tools,by Retail Location
**Respondents with urban retail locations and respondents with only rural retail locations are significantly different atP<0.05.
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W.L. Uva 23
$10,000 – 24,999 annual retail sales were keeping fi-nancial records (65 percent) and expanding productlines (61 percent), rated 4.3 and 4.4, respectively.The other strategies identified by more than half ofthe farms in this size category were developing amarketing plan (52 percent, rated 3.9) and develop-ing a business plan (52 percent, rated 3.8). The onlybusiness management strategy used by more than 50percent of the farms with $25,000 – 49,999 annualretail sales was promoting buy local (53 percent) andrated only 3.4.
As farms grew larger, the need for keepingfinancial records was recognized by more farm op-erators. Seventy-one percent of farms with $50,000-99,999 annual retail sales and 83 percent of farmswith $100,000-249,999 annual retail sales found thatkeeping financial records helped them improve prof-itability. The effectiveness was rated 4.3 and 4.4, re-spectively. Expanding product lines was the secondmost commonly used strategies by farms in thesetwo categories (65 percent and 74 percent), and itwas rated only 3.5 by farms with $50,000-99,999 an-nual retail sales and 4.3 by farms with $100,000-249,999 annual retail sales. The most commonlyused strategies by large farms ($250,000 or more an-nual retail sales) were adding services (73 percent)and developing a business plan (73 percent), and theeffectiveness on improving profitability was 5.0 and3.5, respectively. Additional strategies used by morethan half of the farms in this category included 73percent for maintaining a mailing list and 55 percentfor collaborating with others, promoting agri-tour-ism, branding, and expanding product lines.
Direct Marketers’ Views on Barriers,Opportunities and Training Needs
In their own words, respondents identifiedthe top three barriers or problems facing their directmarketing operations and the top three opportuni-ties for the future success of their direct marketingoperations. Table III-10 shows that competition in asaturated market and labor related challenges arethe top barriers to success in many direct marketingoperators’ minds. Concerns include competitionfrom supermarkets, discount stores, import goods,and other farm markets, and labor related challengesincluding lack of labor pool and hard-to-find sea-sonal help, difficulty in finding good labor and keep-ing qualified labor, and high costs of labor. Othertop barriers were location, limited resources (capital,land and products), changing market and consumer
demand (one-stop shopping and year-round sup-ply), and regulations and community developmentpressure. Limited resources and marketing skillswere bigger concerns for farms with only rural retaillocations, and farms with urban locations worriedmore about changing market demands. While directmarketing vegetable farms in most size categoriesidentified competition in the market as the numberone barrier, the farms with the smallest retail opera-tions (under $10,000 annual retail sales) saw limitedresources as their top barrier; moreover, the largestretail operations ($250,000 or more retail sales) per-ceived high operating costs as their topmost barrierto success (Appendix A Table V-10).
While the top opportunity identified by therespondents was definitely diversification and ex-pansion, farms have many different visions on howthey want to expand and diversify their retail busi-nesses. Their plans included expanding productlines, developing entertainment activities and agri-tourism, diversifying marketing outlets and methods(additional direct marketing methods and wholesaleoutlets), extending season, and increasing farm sizeand operating hours. Respondents also were striv-ing for farm fresh to provide high quality and freshproducts as well as good service to help future suc-cess. More marketing is another important opportu-nity identified by respondents. Other opportunitiesinclude good retail locations , market and consumertrends on eating more fresh fruits and vegetablesand desire to buy from local farmers. Direct market-ers with urban retail locations see more emphasis onmarketing as a greater opportunity than direct mar-keters with only rural retail locations. On the otherhand, direct marketers with only rural retail loca-tions see providing freshness and quality products,having a good retail location, maintaining a farm im-age, consumer trends on eating more fruits and veg-etables and buying from local farmers as greater op-portunities than their urban counterparts. Respon-dents in different retail size categories all felt thatexpanding and diversifying is the top opportunityfor their direct marketing operation (Appendix ATable V-11).
Respondents also identified the top threetraining or publications topics they would like to seeavailable to them or their employees to help theirdirect marketing operation success. The results weresummarized in Table III-12. Marketing strategy re-lated topics were identified by most respondents asincluding effective promotion strategies, sales strate-gies, store design and layout, differentiation strate-
24 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
gies, development of new products and markets,customer relations and services, and internet mar-keting. Production and post-harvesting topics camein second, including small scale harvesting and culti-vating techniques, product variety and seed selec-tion, and techniques to improve shelf-life. Customereducation is also on the top of direct marketers’minds. Topics requested in this category include in-formation on how to use seasonal vegetables, how totake care of products at home, sustainable agricul-ture and buying local. Information on the economicsenvironment and market trends, employee trainingand motivation, obtaining grants and funding sup-port, and government standards and regulations areother important education topics. Besides marketing
related training, respondents with urban retail loca-tions focused on information for customer educa-tion, and respondents with only rural retail locationslooked for production techniques related training.Respondents of different size operations generallyrequested marketing related topics as their top train-ing and education needs. Nonetheless, respondentswith $25,000-49,999 annual retail sales ranked infor-mation on customer education higher than market-ing related topics. Moreover, few of the respondentsin the largest direct marketing group ($250,000 ormore) identified any training or education needs,and the ones who did identified employee trainingand market analysis as the most important (Appen-dix A V-12).
W.L. Uva 25
Tabl
e II
I-1
0. R
anki
ng
of T
op B
arri
ers
Faci
ng
Dir
ect
Mar
keti
ng
Ope
rati
ons,
by
Ret
ail L
ocat
ion
Res
pond
ents
with
urb
an re
tail
Res
pond
ents
with
onl
y ru
ral
loca
tions
reta
il lo
catio
nsAl
l res
pond
ents
Ran
kR
ank
Ran
kW
eigh
ted
Ran
kR
ank
Ran
kW
eigh
ted
Ran
kR
ank
Ran
kW
eigh
ted
12
3su
m*
12
3su
m*
12
3su
m*
Com
petit
ion
54
427
217
986
2611
1311
3
Labo
r rel
ated
cha
lleng
es10
32
3813
131
6623
163
104
Loca
tion
63
024
74
231
137
255
Lim
ited
reso
urce
s0
12
410
63
4510
75
49
Mar
ket d
eman
d an
d pr
ices
an
d co
nsum
er tr
ends
27
323
25
420
412
743
Reg
ulat
ion
and
com
mun
ity
deve
lopm
ent p
ress
ure
31
213
54
326
85
539
Hig
h op
erat
ing
cost
s1
33
121
85
242
118
36
Prod
uctio
n an
d te
chno
logy
ch
alle
nges
13
312
35
322
48
634
Pers
onal
tim
e an
d m
anag
e-
men
t ski
lls1
13
85
33
246
46
32
Mar
ketin
g sk
illsN
/AN
/AN
/AN
/A5
43
265
43
26
Wea
ther
11
16
12
714
23
820
Busi
ness
tran
sitio
n2
10
82
20
104
30
18
* W
eigh
ted
Sum
was
cal
cula
ted
by 3
* n
umbe
r of r
ank
1 +
2 *
num
ber o
f ran
k 2
+ 1
* nu
mbe
r of r
ank
3.
26 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Tabl
e II
I-1
1. R
anki
ng
of T
op O
ppor
tun
itie
s Fa
cin
g D
irec
t M
arke
tin
g O
pera
tion
s, b
y R
etai
l Loc
atio
nR
espo
nden
ts w
ith U
rban
Ret
ail
Res
pond
ents
with
Onl
y R
ural
Loca
tions
Ret
ail L
ocat
ions
All R
espo
nden
tsR
ank
Ran
kR
ank
Wei
ghte
dR
ank
Ran
kR
ank
Wei
ghte
dR
ank
Ran
kR
ank
Wei
ghte
d1
23
sum
12
3su
m1
23
sum
------
------
------
-Num
ber o
f res
pond
ents
-----
------
-----
Expa
nsio
n an
d D
iver
sific
atio
n13
108
6726
2722
154
3937
3022
1
•Exp
andi
ng p
rodu
ct li
nes
74
332
139
966
2013
1298
•Div
ersi
fyin
g m
arke
ting
outle
ts1
33
124
76
325
109
44
•Exp
andi
ng e
nter
tain
men
t act
iviti
esan
d pr
omot
e ag
ri-to
uris
m4
20
163
36
217
56
37
•Exp
andi
ng s
ize
of b
usin
ess,
pro
duct
ion
and
grow
ing
seas
on1
11
65
80
316
91
37
•Pur
chas
ing
mor
e ite
ms
for r
esal
e0
01
11
01
41
02
5
Prov
ide
serv
ice,
fres
hnes
s, a
nd
qual
ity p
rodu
cts
21
08
99
348
1110
356
Mor
e m
arke
ting
72
126
61
121
133
247
Goo
d lo
catio
ns3
11
128
31
3111
42
43
Mar
ket a
nd c
onsu
mer
tren
ds0
10
23
41
183
51
20
Farm
imag
e &
repu
tatio
nN
/AN
/AN
/AN
/A2
51
172
51
17
Spen
ding
mor
e tim
e in
man
ag-
in
g th
e bu
sine
ss0
30
63
01
103
31
16
Cus
tom
er lo
yalty
11
05
10
47
21
412
Com
petit
ive
in e
very
way
12
07
11
05
23
012
Agric
ultu
ral e
duca
tion
02
04
10
14
12
18
Off-
farm
em
ploy
men
t0
01
10
01
10
02
2
* W
eigh
ted
sum
was
cal
cula
ted
by 3
* n
umbe
r of r
ank
1 +
2 *
num
ber o
f ran
k 2
+ 1
* nu
mbe
r of r
ank
3.
W.L. Uva 27
Tabl
e II
I-1
2. R
anki
ng
of T
op T
rain
ing
Nee
ds f
or D
irec
t M
arke
tin
g O
pera
tion
s, b
y R
etai
l Loc
atio
nR
espo
nden
ts w
ith u
rban
reta
ilR
espo
nden
ts w
ith o
nly
rura
llo
catio
nsre
tail
loca
tions
All r
espo
nden
tsR
ank
Ran
kR
ank
Wei
ghte
dR
ank
Ran
kR
ank
Wei
ghte
dR
ank
Ran
kR
ank
Wei
ghte
d1
23
sum
12
3su
m1
23
sum
------
------
------
-Num
ber o
f res
pond
ents
-----
------
-----
Mar
ketin
g st
rate
gy re
late
d to
pics
76
336
1711
786
2617
1012
2
Prod
uctio
n re
late
d tra
inin
g0
11
35
41
245
52
27
Cus
tom
er e
duca
tion
41
115
11
27
52
322
Mar
ket a
naly
sis
and
trend
info
rmat
ion
11
05
33
015
44
020
Empl
oyee
trai
ning
and
mot
ivia
tion
21
19
03
17
24
216
Gra
nts
and
fund
ing
assi
stan
ce--
----
--3
03
123
03
12
Reg
ulat
ions
10
03
20
28
30
211
Fina
ncia
l pla
nnin
g an
d m
anag
emen
t0
01
11
10
51
11
6
Net
wor
king
, col
labo
ratin
g0
10
21
03
61
13
8
Smal
l far
ms
10
03
20
00
10
03
Pric
ing
01
13
11
27
12
310
Succ
essi
on p
lann
ing
----
----
02
04
02
04
* W
eigh
ted
sum
was
cal
cula
ted
by 3
* n
umbe
r of r
ank
1 +
2 *
num
ber o
f ran
k 2
+ 1
* nu
mbe
r of r
ank
3.
28 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
IV. CONCLUSION
The results of this survey provide a profileof direct marketing vegetable farms in New Yorkand their direct marketing activities and strategies.The findings show that direct marketing is an effec-tive value-added strategy for vegetable farms inNew York, and an important source of income forthese farms. Moreover, it demonstrates that thescope of direct retail sales conducted by New Yorkvegetable farms is much greater than just food prod-ucts sold for human consumption and crops pro-duced on the farm as defined in the Census of Agri-culture.
According to the 1997 Census of Agricul-ture, 879 of 1,585 vegetable farms in New York gen-erated total sales of $13.2 million from selling agri-culture products directly to individuals for humanconsumption in 1997, which is an average of $15,017per farm. However, when using the broader defini-tion of direct farm-to-consumer marketing sales asdefined in this study, the average “direct marketingsales” of survey respondents in this study reached$123,000, and 50 percent of respondents had directmarketing sales more than $30,000 in 2000. There-fore, the total economic impact of direct marketingactivities performed by New York vegetable farms ismuch greater than demonstrated by the Census ofAgriculture data. This also implies that diversifyingto nonfood products and services and purchasingproducts to resell could potentially increase direct
marketing vegetable farms’ income significantly.Hence, farmer-to-consumer direct marketing activi-ties are becoming ever more diversified and sophis-ticated. Moreover, this study indicated that directmarketing vegetable farms in New York are also ex-panding to other marketing channels. As a result, itis important for direct marketers to enhance theirmarketing knowledge and skills as well as businessmanagement competency and access to qualitywholesale products to satisfy different sectors of cus-tomers and improve profitability.
While this study showed that New York’sdirect marketing vegetable farms face diverse chal-lenges in the market, they also enjoy many opportu-nities. Many of the direct marketing farms are con-sidering expansion and are optimistic about the mar-ket. However, collecting information and identify-ing opportunities alone will neither improve marketsnor answer all questions for direct marketers. Moreattention to marketing and business managementwill be necessary to ensure future profitability andsuccess. Results from this survey also showed thatvegetable farms with direct marketing are a very di-versified group, and the needs for each group to ex-pand, improve and succeed are different. Addi-tional marketing and business management researchor educational programs need to be developed andtailored to the specific needs of each group.
REFERENCES
Bills, N., M. Roth, and J. Maestro-Scherer. 2000. Di-rect Marketing Today: Challenges and Opportuni-ties. U.S. Department of Agriculture. NationalAgricultural Statistics Service. Washington, D.C.
Bond, M.C. 1941. Selling Farm Products ThroughRoadside Markets. Cornell Extension Bulletin 466,Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. June.
Bureau of Marketing Development, PennsylvaniaDept. of Agriculture. 1997. Results of the Penn-sylvania Direct Marketing Survey. Harrisburg,PA. June.
.Eiler, D.A. and D.G. Rosenfeld. 1973. Customers at
Selected New York State Roadside Markets. A.E.Res. 73-12, Dept. of Agricultural Economics,Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
How, R.B. 1980. Developing Direct Programs for BothFarmers and Consumers. A.E. Staff Paper 80-24,Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Cornell Uni-versity, Ithaca, NY.
New York Agricultural Statistics Service. 1988. NewYork Direct Marketing Survey, 1988. New YorkDept. of Agriculture and Markets. Albany, NY.
W.L. Uva 29
Nayga, R.M., M.S. Fabian, D.W. Thatch, and M.N.Wanzala. 1995. “Farmer-to-Consumer DirectMarketing: Sales and Advertising Aspects ofNew Jersey Operations.” Journal of Food Distri-bution Research, 26(1): 38-52.
Stuhlmiller, E.M. and R.B. How. 1978. Selected Char-acteristics of Direct Marketing Businesses, Six Coun-ties, New York, 1976. A.E. Res. 78-7, Dept. of Ag-ricultural Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca,NY.
Stuhlmiller, E.M., R.B. How, and K.W. Stone. 1976.Consumer Use and Experience with Home Gardensand Produce Purchased Directly from Farmers. A.E.Res. 76-20, Dept. of Agricultural Economics,Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
USDA. 1999. 1997 Census of Agriculture. U.S. De-partment of Agriculture, National AgriculturalStatistics Service, Washington, D.C.
30 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
W.L. Uva 31
V. APPENDIX A
Table V-1. Areas of Crop Produced, by Total Farm ReceiptsRespondents bytotal farm receipts Vegetables Fruits Ornamentals
Under $10,000 100 2.7 48 2.3 22 938
$10,000-49,999 100 13.3 29 3.5 39 17,500$50,000-99,999 100 20.2 30 17.2 40 29,479$100,000-249,999 100 27.2 61 37.3 65 30,962$250,000-499,999 100 84.1 57 77.8 43 18,520$500,000-749,999 100 116.0 71 6.6 43 30,733$750,000-999,999 100 101.7 50 23.5 50 29,000Over $1,000,000 100 131.0 64 29.9 65 54,765All farms 100 37.9 46 22.7 45 32,837
Table V-2. Crops Produced by New York Direct Marketing VegetableFarms, by Total Farm ReceiptsRespondents Vegetables,by total farm Vegetables Vegetables Vegetables fruits & receipts only & fruits & ornamentals ornamentals Total
------------- % of farms -----------
Under $10,000 39 39 13 9 100
$10,000-49,999 45 16 26 13 100$50,000-99,999 50 10 20 20 100$100,000-249,999 13 22 26 39 100$250,000-499,999 14 43 29 14 100$500,000-749,999 0 57 29 14 100$750,000-999,999 0 25 25 50 100Over $1,000,000 9 27 27 36 100All farms 28 26 26 20 100
32 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Tabl
e V
-3. M
arke
tin
g O
utl
et U
sed
by N
Y V
eget
able
Far
ms
wit
h D
irec
t M
arke
tin
g O
utl
ets,
by
Size
of
Bu
sin
esse
sR
espo
nden
ts b
yO
ther
reta
ilFo
od s
ervi
ceO
ther
who
lesa
leto
tal f
arm
rece
ipts
Supe
rmar
ket
farm
mar
kets
outle
tsou
tlets
Ret
ail
% o
f%
of
% o
f%
of
% o
fAv
g. %
tota
lAv
g. %
tota
lAv
g. %
tota
lAv
g. %
tota
lAv
g. %
tota
l%
of
of fa
rmsu
rvey
ed%
of
of fa
rmsu
rvey
ed%
of
of fa
rmsu
rvey
ed%
of
of fa
rmsu
rvey
ed%
of
of fa
rmsu
rvey
edfa
rms
sale
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
sale
sfa
rms
sale
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
sale
sfa
rms
sale
ssa
les
Und
er $
10,0
0017
6.0
1.5
178.
82.
24
5.0
0.3
42.
00.
110
097
.195
.9$1
0,00
0-49
,999
2617
.35.
932
25.5
7.9
1915
.33.
713
20.0
3.4
100
81.8
79.2
$50,
000-
99,9
9945
18.4
10.0
5512
.57.
218
3.0
0.7
2726
.78.
010
077
.074
.1$1
00,0
00 -
249,
999
4228
.511
.958
15.3
9.2
2911
.02.
650
26.3
13.0
100
62.8
63.3
$250
,000
-499
,999
5738
.823
.071
21.6
16.6
4330
.711
.743
5.7
2.6
100
46.9
46.1
$500
,000
-749
,999
576.
53.
457
35.0
19.6
296.
01.
657
56.3
33.3
100
42.4
42.0
$750
,000
-999
,999
6740
.525
.710
028
.028
.633
2.0
0.6
00.
00.
010
044
.345
.1$1
,000
,000
& o
ver
3617
.84.
210
011
.211
.227
27.0
4.7
7353
.141
.710
036
.838
.3
All
farm
s36
20.6
8.3
4817
.513
.722
14.2
4.1
2932
.729
.110
071
.744
.8
W.L. Uva 33
Tabl
e V
-4. A
vera
ge P
erce
nta
ge o
f R
etai
l In
com
e G
ener
ated
in E
ach
Mon
th, b
y R
etai
l Sal
es
Res
pond
ents
by
Mon
th
reta
il sa
les
Jan.
Feb.
Mar
chAp
rilM
ayJu
neJu
lyAu
g.Se
pt.
Oct
.N
ov.
Dec
.
-----
-----
% o
f Res
pond
ents
-----
-----
Urb
an (N
=6)
4040
2020
4080
8080
8080
4040
Und
er $
10,0
00R
ural
(N=2
3)4
913
2239
6187
8374
6126
17Al
l (N
=29)
1114
1421
3964
8682
7564
2921
Urb
an (N
=3)
00
5050
5050
100
100
100
5010
050
$10,
000-
24,9
99R
ural
(N=2
1)24
1619
2929
4967
6771
6738
38Al
l (N
=24)
2217
2230
3048
7070
7465
4339
Urb
an (N
=5)
00
2020
4080
100
100
100
100
2020
$25,
000-
49,9
99R
ural
(N=1
1)10
1010
040
5080
100
100
8040
30Al
l (N
=15)
77
137
4060
8710
010
087
3327
Urb
an (N
=5)
00
00
8080
8080
100
100
4020
$50,
000-
99,9
99R
ural
(N=1
2)17
1733
4258
9292
9292
7533
33Al
l (N
=17)
1212
2435
6588
8888
9482
3529
Urb
an(N
=11)
2736
3645
6410
010
010
010
010
073
73$1
00,0
00-2
49,9
99R
ural
(N=1
2)8
88
5083
9210
010
010
010
075
58Al
l (N
=24)
1722
2248
7496
100
100
100
100
7465
Urb
an (N
=8)
1414
1471
100
100
100
100
100
100
8686
$250
,000
or m
ore
Rur
al (N
=4)
00
2550
100
100
100
100
100
100
7575
All (
N=1
2)9
918
5510
010
010
010
010
010
077
77U
rban
(N=3
8)17
2023
3771
9410
010
010
097
6054
All
farm
sR
ural
(N=8
4)12
1217
2950
6887
8887
7741
35A
ll (N
=122
)14
1519
3256
7691
9292
8347
41
34 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Tabl
e V
-5. D
irec
t M
arke
tin
g M
eth
ods
Use
d by
New
Yor
k V
eget
able
Far
ms
and
Ret
ail S
ales
Gen
erat
ed b
yEa
ch M
arke
tin
g M
eth
odR
espo
nden
ts b
y R
etai
l Sal
es
Und
er $
10,0
00$1
0,00
0-24
,999
$25,
000-
49,9
99$5
0,00
0-99
,999
$100
,000
-249
,999
$250
,000
and
ove
r(N
=29)
(N=2
4)(N
=16)
(N=1
7)(N
=24)
(N=1
2)
% o
f%
of
% o
f%
of
% o
f%
of
surv
eyed
surv
eyed
surv
eyed
surv
eyed
surv
eyed
surv
eyed
% o
fre
tail
% o
fre
tail
% o
fre
tail
% o
fre
tail
% o
fre
tail
% o
fre
tail
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
Roa
dsid
e m
arke
ts57
4070
5675
4894
6687
7210
086
Farm
ers’
mar
kets
5435
2621
6339
359
3919
92
PYO
2115
2220
3812
7124
437
648
Cat
alog
sal
es4
14
0b0
00
09
29
1
Inte
rnet
sal
es7
14
0b6
0b0
013
0b9
2
CSA
40b
43
60b
00
40b
00
Oth
ersa
257
00
00
60b
40b
00
a Oth
ers
incl
ude
dire
ct o
rder
, cus
tom
sal
es, f
airs
, and
sho
ws.
b R
ound
ed to
zer
o du
e to
less
than
0.5
%
W.L. Uva 35
Tabl
e V
-6.
Ave
rage
Ret
ail S
ales
an
d P
erce
nta
ge o
f R
espo
nde
nts
Off
erin
g Ea
ch P
rodu
ct L
ine,
by
Ret
ail S
ales
Res
pond
ents
by
reta
il sa
les
$10,
000-
$25,
000-
$50,
000-
$100
,000
-$2
50,0
00-
Und
er $
10,0
0024
,999
49,0
0099
,999
249,
999
and
over
Tota
l(N
=29)
(N=2
4)(N
=16)
(N=1
7)(N
=24)
(N=1
2)(N
=122
)
% o
f A
vg.
% o
fAv
g. %
of
Avg.
% o
f
Avg.
% o
fAv
g. %
of
Avg.
% o
fA
vg.
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
farm
s s
ales
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
farm
ssa
les
%$
%$
%$
%$
%$
%$
%$
Fres
h ve
geta
bles
100
2,20
796
7,44
496
18,5
3695
32,0
0096
56,3
5510
019
5,82
896
42,4
45O
rnam
enta
ls29
1,66
035
5,75
656
7,35
050
16,8
8374
38,8
9491
2614
1751
59,2
06
Fres
h fru
its43
2,23
443
4,87
063
12,7
6075
20,3
8591
27,6
2410
012
4,03
765
31,4
82
Pum
pkin
s21
675
483,
600
633,
260
567,
250
9115
,886
100
43,9
1759
13,9
92
Chr
istm
as tr
ees
112,
000
226,
680
1910
,733
131,
367
489,
909
8254
,889
2819
,962
Proc
esse
d
prod
ucts
251,
829
392,
667
311,
550
503,
131
6518
,740
8230
,300
4511
,987
Gift
& a
cces
sorie
s11
950
0N
/A6
2,00
025
4,18
817
16,2
5082
50,8
8918
25,9
33
Bake
d go
ods
71,
200
173,
500
192,
200
313,
075
5713
,932
8219
,948
3011
,161
Ice
Cre
am0
N/A
0N
/A0
N/A
63,
750
139,
000
1840
,000
518
,458
Oth
ers*
141,
225
93,
000
0N
/A13
8,50
013
25,2
6718
37,5
0011
13,7
46
Mea
t pro
duct
s14
1,76
326
2,05
06
2,00
013
900
261,
850
365,
625
202,
402
Milk
& c
hees
e
pro
duct
s0
N/A
460
00
N/A
1975
026
1,71
727
12,3
3311
3,85
8
* O
ther
s in
clud
e m
aple
syr
up, m
ushr
oom
s, e
nter
tain
men
t act
iviti
es, f
urni
ture
, and
woo
l.
36 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Tabl
e V
-7.
Item
s P
urc
has
ed f
or R
esal
e fo
r Ea
ch P
rodu
ct L
ine,
by
Ret
ail S
ales
Res
pond
ents
by
reta
il sa
les
Und
er $
10,0
00$1
0,00
0-24
,999
$25,
000-
49,9
99$5
0,00
0-99
,999
$100
,000
-249
,999
$250
,000
and
ove
r(N
=29)
(N=2
4)(N
=16)
(N=1
7)(N
=24)
(N=1
2)
% fa
rms
% fa
rms
% fa
rms
% fa
rms
% fa
rms
% fa
rms
sell
the
Avg.
%se
ll th
eAv
g. %
sell
the
Avg.
%se
ll th
eAv
g. %
sell
the
Avg.
%se
ll th
eAv
g. %
item
sale
site
msa
les
item
sale
site
msa
les
item
sale
site
msa
les
also
from
also
from
also
from
also
from
also
from
also
from
resa
lere
sale
resa
lere
sale
resa
lere
sale
resa
lere
sale
resa
lere
sale
resa
lere
sale
Fres
h ve
geta
bles
96
3315
3116
5321
5518
8226
Orn
amen
tals
311
7543
131
7822
7640
8021
Fres
h fru
its3
840
2956
3477
3957
2591
63
Pum
pkin
s50
4036
3430
1340
1643
1227
12
Chr
istm
as tr
ees
3333
6041
6767
6734
8275
8978
Proc
esse
d
prod
ucts
5750
5650
5050
100
7380
6089
82
Gift
& a
cces
sorie
s67
50N
/AN
/A10
080
100
7410
049
100
100
Bake
d go
ods
00
7561
5035
6750
8539
8976
Ice
Cre
amN
/AN
/AN
/AN
/AN
/AN
/A10
05
6767
100
100
Oth
ers*
750
500
N/A
N/A
500
6750
100
95
Mea
t pro
duct
s0
050
340
010
067
6750
100
100
Milk
& c
hees
e
prod
ucts
N/A
N/A
100
100
N/A
N/A
100
6783
6710
010
0
* O
ther
s in
clud
e m
aple
syr
up, m
ushr
oom
s, e
nter
tain
men
t act
iviti
es, f
urni
ture
, and
woo
l.
W.L. Uva 37
Tabl
e V
-8.
On
-far
m E
nte
rtai
nm
ent
Act
ivit
y O
ffer
ings
an
d C
har
ges
by R
etai
l Sal
esAm
ong
resp
onde
nts
offe
ring
Res
pone
nts
offe
ring
ente
rtain
men
t act
iviti
es,
Aver
age
sale
s fro
mR
espo
nden
ts b
y re
tail
sale
sen
terta
inm
ent a
ctiv
ities
% c
harg
ing
fees
for t
hem
ente
rtain
men
t act
iviti
es
#(%
)%
$
Und
er $
10,0
00 (N
=29)
7(2
4%)
43%
371
$10,
000-
24,9
99 (
N=2
4)11
(46%
)27
%15
5
$25,
000-
49,9
99 (
N=1
6)3
(19%
)67
%1,
000
$50,
000-
99,9
99 (
N=1
7)5
(29%
)40
%3,
400
$100
,000
-249
,999
(N
=24)
9(3
8%)
56%
7,83
3
$250
,000
and
ove
r (N
=12)
9(7
5%)
75%
31,6
52
Tota
l (N
=122
) 3
850
%11
,236
38 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Tabl
e V
-9.
Futu
re P
lan
s fo
r D
iffe
ren
t D
irec
t M
arke
tin
g C
ompo
nen
ts, b
y R
etai
l Sal
esR
espo
nden
ts b
y R
etai
l Sal
es
Und
er $
10,0
00
$
10,0
00-2
4,99
9
$
25,0
00-4
9,99
9D
irect
Mrk
tg. E
nter
pris
eEx
pand
No
Cha
nge
Dec
reas
eEx
pand
No
Cha
nge
Dec
reas
eEx
pand
No
Cha
nge
Dec
reas
e
-----
------
---- %
resp
onde
nts
------
------
----
Fres
h fa
rm m
arke
t32
*21
048
*17
1340
*33
13Pr
oces
sed
prod
ucts
1829
426
40
137
0O
rgan
ic p
rodu
cts
1421
013
40
70
0O
rnam
enta
l pla
nts
187
018
130
2027
0H
olid
ay c
rops
a18
114
3913
440
*20
7Ba
kery
110
04
130
013
0Ic
e cr
eam
sta
nd0
00
00
07
00
Gift
& a
cces
sorie
s15
00
80
00
00
Ente
rtain
men
t act
iviti
es25
00
349
027
70
PYO
1811
013
130
77
20R
esta
uran
t etc
.4
00
04
413
70
Cat
alog
sal
es4
40
80
00
00
Inte
rnet
sal
es11
40
180
07
00
CSA
40
08
00
70
0Fa
rmer
s’ m
arke
ts25
214
2213
020
400
$50
,000
- 99
,999
$
100,
000
– 24
9,99
9
$25
0,00
0 an
d ov
erEx
pand
No
Cha
nge
Dec
reas
eEx
pand
No
Cha
nge
Dec
reas
eEx
pand
No
Cha
nge
Dec
reas
e
-----
------
---- %
resp
onde
nts
------
------
---Fr
esh
farm
mar
ket
29*
596
5217
2227
649
Proc
esse
d pr
oduc
ts18
240
3922
027
360
Org
anic
pro
duct
s12
00
84
00
00
Orn
amen
tal p
lant
s24
240
4313
973
180
Hol
iday
cro
psa
2429
1257
*13
482
*9
0Ba
kery
618
039
00
3645
0Ic
e cr
eam
sta
nd0
00
134
018
00
Gift
& a
cces
sorie
s12
60
269
018
640
Ente
rtain
men
t act
iviti
es18
60
264
064
180
PYO
2435
1826
170
1845
0R
esta
uran
t etc
.0
60
40
09
270
Cat
alog
sal
es0
00
90
09
00
Inte
rnet
sal
es6
00
44
027
00
CSA
00
04
00
00
0Fa
rmer
s’ m
arke
ts30
012
930
00
00
a Hol
iday
cro
ps in
clud
e pu
mpk
ins
and
Chr
istm
as tr
ees.
* Th
e di
rect
mar
ketin
g co
mpo
nent
iden
tifie
d by
mos
t res
pond
ents
for e
xpan
sion
W.L. Uva 39
Tabl
e V
-10
. Ran
kin
g of
Top
Bar
rier
s Fa
cin
g D
irec
t M
arke
tin
g O
pera
tion
s, b
y R
etai
l Bu
sin
ess
Ran
king
Und
er $
10,0
00$1
0,00
0- 2
4,99
9$2
5,00
0-49
,999
$50,
000-
99,9
99$1
00,0
00-2
49,9
99$2
50,0
00 a
nd o
ver
Com
petit
ion
13
34
58
32
21
15
20
31
21
24
2W
eigh
ted
sum
1413
1527
3211
Labo
r cha
lleng
es1
32
23
42
23
33
03
33
00
00
01
Wei
ghte
d su
m15
1212
918
13R
etai
l loc
atio
ns1
43
12
30
22
02
12
03
01
10
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m16
108
813
0Li
mite
d re
sour
ces
16
21
10
02
22
10
11
31
11
10
0W
eigh
ted
sum
2311
64
22
Mar
ket d
eman
d, p
rices
10
11
23
2 a
nd c
onsu
mer
tren
ds2
11
04
20
31
10
12
0W
eigh
ted
sum
36
315
156
Reg
ulat
ions
and
11
30
01
1co
mm
unity
dev
elop
men
t2
01
02
03
pres
sure
31
10
10
0W
eigh
ted
sum
412
05
39
Hig
h op
erat
ing
cost
s1
20
00
04
23
20
33
13
11
11
12
Wei
ghte
d su
m13
51
77
16Pr
oduc
tion
chal
leng
es1
11
00
11
23
20
02
13
30
01
11
Wei
ghte
d su
m12
70
18
6Pe
rson
al ti
me
and
12
20
20
0 m
anag
emen
t ski
lls2
30
01
00
32
20
01
1W
eigh
ted
sum
148
08
11
Wea
ther
, sho
rt gr
owin
g1
01
00
10
seas
on2
11
10
00
31
31
26
4W
eigh
ted
sum
38
32
94
Busi
ness
tran
sitio
n1
02
00
10
20
20
00
03
00
00
21
Wei
ghte
d su
m0
100
05
1M
arke
ting
skills
11
21
01
02
12
00
20
31
01
10
0W
eigh
ted
sum
610
41
70
* W
eigh
ted
sum
was
cal
cula
ted
by 3
* n
umbe
r of r
ank
1 +
2 *
num
ber o
f ran
k 2
+ 1
* nu
mbe
r of r
ank
3.
40 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Tabl
e V
-11
. R
anki
ng
of T
op O
ppor
tun
itie
s fo
r D
irec
t M
arke
tin
g O
pera
tion
s, b
y R
etai
l Bu
sin
ess
Ran
king
Und
er $
10,0
00$1
0,00
0- 2
4,99
9$2
5,00
0-49
,999
$50,
000-
99,9
99$1
00,0
00-2
49,9
99$2
50,0
00-a
nd o
ver
Expa
nsio
n an
d1
115
45
77
dive
rsifi
catio
n2
98
22
115
310
62
25
4W
eigh
ted
sum
6137
1821
4835
Prov
ide
serv
ice,
fres
h1
11
33
30
and
qua
lity
prod
ucts
20
32
04
13
02
01
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m3
1113
1017
2M
ore
mar
ketin
g1
43
10
41
22
10
00
03
00
10
10
Wei
ghte
d su
m16
114
013
3G
ood
reta
il lo
catio
ns1
24
02
01
22
10
10
03
10
00
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m11
140
80
3M
arke
t and
con
sum
er1
00
11
01
trend
s2
00
13
10
30
01
00
0W
eigh
ted
sum
00
69
23
Farm
imag
e, re
puta
tion
10
00
02
22
02
11
01
30
10
01
0W
eigh
ted
sum
05
22
78
Mor
e tim
e in
man
agin
g1
13
00
20
busi
ness
20
00
00
03
10
00
01
Wei
ghte
d su
m4
90
06
1C
usto
mer
loya
lty a
nd1
00
10
10
good
cus
tom
er re
latio
n2
00
01
00
30
12
00
1W
eigh
ted
sum
01
52
31
Bein
g co
mpe
titiv
e1
01
01
00
20
00
11
13
00
00
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m0
30
52
2Ag
ricul
tura
l edu
catio
n1
01
00
00
20
00
02
03
00
00
01
Wei
ghte
d su
m0
30
04
1O
ff-fa
rm e
mpl
oym
ent
10
00
00
02
00
00
00
30
00
01
0W
eigh
ted
sum
00
00
10
* W
eigh
ted
sum
was
cal
cula
ted
by 3
* n
umbe
r of r
ank
1 +
2 *
num
ber o
f ran
k 2
+ 1
* nu
mbe
r of r
ank
3.
W.L. Uva 41
Tabl
e V
-12
. R
anki
ng
of T
op T
rain
ing
Nee
ds f
or t
he
Dir
ect
Mar
keti
ng
Ope
rati
ons,
by
Ret
ail B
usi
nes
sR
anki
ngU
nder
$10
,000
$10,
000-
24,
999
$25,
000-
49,9
99$5
0,00
0-99
,999
$100
,000
-249
,999
$250
,000
-and
ove
rM
arke
ting
rela
ted
topi
cs1
94
25
70
28
30
35
03
42
11
50
Wei
ghte
d su
m47
207
2236
0Pr
oduc
tion
rela
ted
topi
cs1
33
00
00
21
30
01
03
11
00
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m12
160
02
0C
usto
mer
edu
catio
n1
01
20
20
21
01
00
03
10
11
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m3
39
16
0M
arke
t ana
lysi
s an
d1
11
01
01
trend
info
rmat
ion
21
00
11
13
00
00
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m5
30
52
5Em
ploy
ee tr
aini
ng1
00
00
02
20
01
20
13
01
00
10
Wei
ghte
d su
m0
12
41
8G
rant
& fu
ndin
g1
01
10
10
assi
stan
ce2
00
00
00
30
10
11
0W
eigh
ted
sum
04
31
40
Reg
ulat
ions
12
00
01
02
00
00
00
31
10
00
0W
eigh
ted
sum
71
00
30
Fina
ncia
l pla
nnin
g an
d1
00
00
10
man
agem
ent
20
10
00
03
10
00
00
Wei
ghte
d su
m1
20
03
0N
etw
orki
ng a
nd1
01
00
00
colla
bora
ting
with
oth
ers
21
00
00
03
10
00
20
Wei
ghte
d su
m3
30
02
0Sm
all f
arm
11
00
00
0m
anag
emen
t2
00
00
00
30
00
00
0W
eigh
ted
sum
30
00
00
Succ
essi
on p
lann
ing
10
00
00
02
10
00
10
30
00
00
0W
eigh
ted
sum
20
00
20
* W
eigh
ted
sum
was
cal
cula
ted
by 3
* n
umbe
r of r
ank
1 +
2 *
num
ber o
f ran
k 2
+ 1
* nu
mbe
r of r
ank
3.
42 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Less than $10,000
5.0
4.0 4.0 3.83.5 3.4 3.3
3.0 3.0 2.92.6
2.0 2.0
1
2
3
4
5
TV (4
%)
Direct
Mailing (
32%)
Word-of-Mou
th (82
%)
Communit
y Rela
tions (
64%)
In-sto
re Prom
otion (
14%)
Road S
igns (
50%)
Intern
et (14
%)
Sales P
romoti
on (1
4%)
Region
al ID Prom
otion (
32%)
Touri
sm Promotio
n (18
%)
Newsp
apers
(54%
)
Yello
w Pages
(4%)
Radio
(4%)
$10,000 - 24,999
4.8
4.2 4.0 4.0 4.03.7 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.4 3.3
3.0
1.3
1
2
3
4
5
Word-of
-Mouth
(70%
)
Community
Relatio
ns (5
7%)
TV (9%)
Radio (1
7%)
Road Signs
(61%
)
Sales P
romotio
n (13
%)
In-store
Promotion
(39%
)
Direct
Mailing (
22%)
Touris
m Promoti
on (4
3%)
Newsp
apers
(78%
)
Interne
t (17%
)
Regiona
l ID Promoti
on (3
0%)
Yellow Pag
es (1
3%)
Figure V-1. Effectiveness of Different Marketing Tools*, by Retail Sales
*On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not effective and 5 is very effective. Percentage of respondents in parentheses ( ).
W.L. Uva 43
Figure V-2. Effectiveness of Different Marketing Tools*, by Retail Sales
*On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not effective and 5 is very effective. Percentage of respondents in parentheses ( ).
$25,000 - 49,999
4.1 4.1 4.0 4.03.7 3.7 3.6
3.1 3.0 3.02.8
2.5
1
2
3
4
5
Communit
y Rela
tions
(53%
)
Word-of-M
outh
(93%)
Sales P
romotio
n (13%
)
In-sto
re Prom
otion
(13%
)
Radio
(20%)
Direct
Mailing
(20%
)
Road S
igns (
73%)
Newsp
apers
(53%
)
TV (7
%)
Region
al ID Promoti
on (1
3%)
Touri
sm Pro
motion (
27%)
Yello
w Pages
(13%
)
Intern
et (0%
)
$50,000 - 99,999
4.7 4.6 4.4
3.63.3 3.2 3.2
2.8 2.72.2
2.0
1
2
3
4
5
Direct
Mailing
(35%
)
Word-of
-Mouth
(82%
)
Road Sign
s (76
%)
Newsp
apers
(100
%)
In-store
Promotion (
35%)
Radio (2
9%)
Community
Relatio
ns (35
%)
Touris
m Promoti
on (2
4%)
Sales P
romoti
on (18
%)
Regiona
l ID Prom
otion (
29%)
Yello
w Pages
(6%)
TV (0
%)
Internet
(0%)
44 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
*On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not effective and 5 is very effective. Percentage of respondents in parentheses ( ).
Figure V-3. Effectiveness of Different Marketing Tools*, by Retail Sales
$100,000 - 249,999
5.04.6
4.44.0 3.9 3.8
3.3 3.3 3.3 3.1 3.02.6
2.3
1
2
3
4
5
TV (4
%)
Word-of
-Mouth
(91%
)
Commun
ity Rela
tions
(61%
)
Direct
Mailing
(22%
)
Road Sign
s (57
%)
In-store
Promotion (
57%)
Interne
t (13%
)
Region
al ID Prom
otion
(30%
)
Newsp
apers
(78%
)
Touri
sm Prom
otion (
30%)
Sales P
romoti
on (9
%)
Radio
(30%)
Yello
w Pages
(35%
)
$250,000 and more
4.94.7
4.3 4.2 4.1 4.03.6
3.3 3.2 3.1 3.02.6
2.3
1
2
3
4
5
Road Signs (
91%)
Radio (2
7%)
Community Rela
tions (
36%)
Internet
(55%)
In-store
Promotio
n (64%
)
Tourism Promotio
n (64%
)
Sales P
romotion (6
4%)
Yellow Pag
es (3
6%)
Word-of-M
outh (91%
)
TV (64%
)
Regional
ID Promotion (3
6%)
Direct
Mailing (7
3%)
Newsp
apers
(27%
)
W.L. Uva 45
$10,
000
- 24,
999
3.53.
83.83.83.9
3.94.
14.24.3
4.34.3
4.3
4.4
5.0
12
34
5
Loya
l buy
ers'
pro
gram
(9%
)
Dev
elop
a b
usin
ess
plan
(52%
)
Prom
ote
agri-
tour
ism
(39%
)
Con
tinuo
us e
duca
tion
(26%
)
Com
petit
ive
pric
ing
(48%
)
Dev
elop
a m
arke
ting
plan
(52%
)
Add
serv
ices
(30%
)
Col
labo
rate
with
oth
ers
(22%
)
Cus
tom
er e
duca
tion
(30%
)
Prom
ote
buy
loca
l (30
%)
Mai
ntai
n a
mai
ling
list (
26%
)
Kee
p fin
anci
al re
cord
s (6
5%)
Expa
nd p
rodu
ct li
nes
(61%
)
Bra
ndin
g (9
%)
Figu
re V
-4.
Effe
ctiv
enes
s of
Bu
sin
ess
Man
agem
ent
Stra
tegi
es, b
y R
etai
l Sal
es
*On
a sc
ale
of 1
to 5
, whe
re 1
is n
ot e
ffect
ive
and
5 is
ver
y ef
fect
ive.
Per
cent
age
of re
spon
dent
s in
par
enth
eses
( ).
Less
than
$10
,000
2.83.
03.2
3.23.23.33.
53.63.73.84.
0
4.5
12
23
34
45
5
Bran
ding
(0%
)
Loya
l buy
ers'
pro
gram
(2%
)
Cust
omer
edu
catio
n (3
2%)
Add
serv
ices
(25%
)
Deve
lop
a bu
sine
ss p
lan
(39%
)
Com
petit
ive
pric
ing
(39%
)
Expa
nd p
rodu
ct li
ne (5
0%)
Keep
fina
ncia
l rec
ords
(43%
)
Colla
bora
te w
ith o
ther
s (2
1%)
Prom
ote
buy
loca
l (32
%)
Mai
ntai
n a
mai
ling
list (
32%
)
Deve
lop
a m
arke
ting
plan
(29%
)
Prom
ote
agri-
tour
ism
(7%
)
Cont
inuo
us e
duca
tion
(7%
)
46 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
Figu
re V
-5.
Effe
ctiv
enes
s of
Bu
sin
ess
Man
agem
ent
Stra
tegi
es, b
y R
etai
l Sal
es
*On
a sc
ale
of 1
to 5
, whe
re 1
is n
ot e
ffect
ive
and
5 is
ver
y ef
fect
ive.
Per
cent
age
of re
spon
dent
s in
par
enth
eses
( ).
$25,
000
- 49,
999
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.43.43.43.53.63.
84.04.
2
4.5
5.0
12
23
34
45
5
Bran
ding
(0%
)
Deve
lop
a bu
sine
ss p
lan
(20%
)
Deve
lop
a m
arke
ting
plan
(20%
)
Add
serv
ices
(20%
)
Prom
ote
buy
loca
l (53
%)
Cust
omer
edu
catio
n (3
3%)
Com
petit
ive
pric
ing
(47%
)
Prom
ote
agri-
tour
ism
(27%
)
Mai
ntai
n a
mai
ling
list (
47%
)
Keep
fina
ncia
l rec
ords
(33%
)
Loya
l buy
ers'
pro
gram
(7%
)
Expa
nd p
rodu
ct li
ne (4
0%)
Cont
inuo
us e
duca
tion
(13%
)
Colla
bora
te w
ith o
ther
s (7
%)
$50,
000
- 99,
999
3.03.
23.33.33.
53.8
3.84.
04.34.34.34.
5
4.5
12
23
34
45
5
Bra
ndin
g (0
%)
Loya
l buy
ers'
pro
gram
(6%
)
Cus
tom
er e
duca
tion
(35%
)
Com
petit
ive
pric
ing
(47%
)
Prom
ote
agri-
tour
ism
(18%
)
Expa
nd p
rodu
ct li
ne (6
5%)
Dev
elop
a b
usin
ess
plan
(24%
)
Prom
ote
buy
loca
l (47
%)
Dev
elop
a m
arke
ting
plan
(41%
)
Add
serv
ices
(24%
)
Mai
ntai
n a
mai
ling
list (
41%
)
Kee
p fin
anci
al r
ecor
ds (7
1%)
Col
labo
rate
with
oth
ers
(12%
)
Con
tinuo
us e
duca
tion
(12%
)
W.L. Uva 47
$100
,000
- 24
9,99
9
3.53.
74.04.
2
4.24.24.3
4.34.3
4.4
4.44.4
4.85.0
12
23
34
45
5
Com
petit
ive
pric
ing
(48%
)
Add
serv
ices
(30%
)
Colla
bora
te w
ith o
ther
s (1
7%)
Cont
inuo
us e
duca
tion
(57%
)
Prom
ote
agri-
tour
ism
(26%
)
Mai
ntai
n a
mai
ling
list (
22%
)
Expa
nd p
rodu
ct li
nes
(74%
)
Deve
lop
a m
arke
ting
plan
(43%
)
Cust
omer
edu
catio
n (2
6%)
Prom
ote
buy
loca
l (61
%)
Keep
fina
ncia
l rec
ords
(83%
)
Deve
lop
a bu
sine
ss p
lan
(57%
)
Bran
ding
(17%
)
Loya
l buy
ers'
pro
gram
(4%
)
$250
,000
and
mor
e
3.03.
23.43.5
3.53.63.
83.8
3.84.
0
4.0
4.0
4.5
5.0
12
23
34
45
5
Cust
omer
edu
catio
n (9
%)
Expa
nd p
rodu
ct li
nes
(55%
)
Com
petit
ive
pric
ing
(45%
)
Cont
inuo
us e
duca
tion
(18%
)
Deve
lop
a bu
sine
ss p
lan
(73%
)
Mai
ntai
n a
mai
ling
list (
64%
)
Prom
ote
buy
loca
l (36
%)
Bran
ding
(55%
)
Prom
ote
agri-
tour
ism
(55%
)
Deve
lop
a m
arke
ting
plan
(27%
)
Loya
l buy
ers'
pro
gram
(45%
)
Keep
fina
ncia
l rec
ords
(27%
)
Colla
bora
te w
ith o
ther
s (5
5%)
Add
serv
ices
(73%
)
Figu
re V
-6. E
ffec
tive
nes
s of
Bu
sin
ess
Man
agem
ent
Stra
gegi
es, b
y R
etai
l Sal
es
*On
a sc
ale
of 1
to 5
, whe
re 1
is n
ot e
ffect
ive
and
5 is
ver
y ef
fect
ive.
Per
cent
age
of re
spon
dent
s in
par
enth
eses
( ).
48 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
W.L. Uva 49
NeNeNeNeNew Yw Yw Yw Yw York Vork Vork Vork Vork Veeeeegggggetaetaetaetaetabbbbbllllle Gre Gre Gre Gre Growowowowowererererer
DirDirDirDirDirect Markect Markect Markect Markect Marketinetinetinetineting Surg Surg Surg Surg Survvvvveyeyeyeyey
January 2001
This project is sponsored by
Horticultural Business Management and Marketing ProgramDepartment of Applied Economics and Management
Cornell University
New York State Vegetable Growers Association
New York State Farmers Direct Marketing Association
APPENDIX B -- SURVEY INSTRUMENT
50 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
This survey is part of a study to assess the economic importance and complexity of directmarketing activities performed by New York vegetable growers and their importance to NewYork’s economy.
· ConfidentiaConfidentiaConfidentiaConfidentiaConfidentiality is guarlity is guarlity is guarlity is guarlity is guaranteed.anteed.anteed.anteed.anteed.· Please include all the direct retailing to consumer activities on your farm in 20002000200020002000.· Please provide your best estimabest estimabest estimabest estimabest estimatestestestestes if book figures are not available.· Please return the questionnaire in the ready-to-mail envelope.
1. What crops did you produce on your farm in 2000?
√ √ √ √ √ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy PrPrPrPrProduction totaoduction totaoduction totaoduction totaoduction totalllll
____Vegetables _________acres
____Fruits and berries _________acres
____Nursery and greenhouse crops _________ft2 or acres
____ Others: Others: Others: Others: Others: plplplplplease specify __________________ease specify __________________ease specify __________________ease specify __________________ease specify __________________ _________________
2. Do you retail directly to consumers (including roadside markets, pick-your-ownoperations, farmers’ markets, etc.)?
Please check one: Yes ________ No ________
* IF NO* IF NO* IF NO* IF NO* IF NO, pl, pl, pl, pl, please stop herease stop herease stop herease stop herease stop here and re and re and re and re and returetureturetureturn the surn the surn the surn the surn the survvvvveyeyeyeyey.....
* IF Y* IF Y* IF Y* IF Y* IF YESESESESES, pl, pl, pl, pl, please continue.ease continue.ease continue.ease continue.ease continue.
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
T T T T Thank yhank yhank yhank yhank you.ou.ou.ou.ou.
1. The county where your farm is located: ________________________________
2. The county(ies) where you retail to consumers (if different from above):
_______________________________________________________________
3. Total years your farm has been involved in direct retailing to consumers: _____ years
4. Please check check check check check oneoneoneoneone of the following that best indicates your farm’s total annual grosssales in 2000 (include all sales – wholesale, retail sales and purchased for resale).
____ Under $10,000 ____ $500,000 - $749,999____ $10,000 - $49,999 ____ $750,000 – $999,999____ $50,000 - $99,999 ____ $1,000,000 - $2,499,999____ $100,000 - $249,999 ____ $2,500,000 - $4,999,999____ $250,000 – $499,999 ____ Over $5,000,000
W.L. Uva 51
5. Please indicate ALL of the marketing methods that describe your operations in 2000:
% of% of% of% of% of tota tota tota tota total fl fl fl fl farararararm sam sam sam sam salllllesesesesesWWWWWholholholholholesaesaesaesaesallllle:e:e:e:e:
Supermarkets & grocery stores _______%
Other retail farm markets _______%
Food service (restaurants, etc.) _______%
Other outlets (shipper/packer, broker, processor, etc.) _______%
DirDirDirDirDirect rect rect rect rect retail to consumers:etail to consumers:etail to consumers:etail to consumers:etail to consumers: _______%
100%100%100%100%100%
PlPlPlPlPlease consider the fease consider the fease consider the fease consider the fease consider the followinollowinollowinollowinollowing questions based on yg questions based on yg questions based on yg questions based on yg questions based on your rour rour rour rour retail operetail operetail operetail operetail operaaaaation onltion onltion onltion onltion onlyyyyy.....
6. How would you describe your rrrrretailetailetailetailetail location(s)? (Check ALL that apply)
____ Urban (a central city area with populations of at least 50,000 or more and a density of at least 1,000 people per square mile)
____ Suburb: ______ miles to the closest central city area (population of 50,000 +)
____ Rural: : : : : _______ miles to the closest population center (population of 5,000 +)
____ Near or at a tourist region
____ Off a major U.S. interstate or state highway: _______ miles off the highway
7. What is the size of your total retail area? _______ ft2 or acres
What were your total retail sales in 2000? $________
8. Please describe the seasonality of your retail operation:
MonthlMonthlMonthlMonthlMonthly ry ry ry ry retail saetail saetail saetail saetail sallllles as % ofes as % ofes as % ofes as % ofes as % of tota tota tota tota total rl rl rl rl retail saetail saetail saetail saetail sallllles (Tes (Tes (Tes (Tes (Totaotaotaotaotal = 100%)l = 100%)l = 100%)l = 100%)l = 100%)
____% Jan. ____% May ____% Sept.
____% Feb. ____% June ____% Oct.
____% March ____% July ____% Nov.
____% April ____% August ____% Dec.
2
52 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
9. Please indicate ALL the products you rrrrretailetailetailetailetailededededed direct to consumers in 2000:
√ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy AnnuaAnnuaAnnuaAnnuaAnnualllll % Pur% Pur% Pur% Pur% Purchasedchasedchasedchasedchased g g g g grrrrross saoss saoss saoss saoss sallllleseseseses fffffor ror ror ror ror resaesaesaesaesallllleeeee
___ Fresh vegetables (including potatoes) $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Fresh fruits, berries & melons $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Nursery and greenhouse crops (bedding andpotted plants, flowers, trees, etc.) $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Pumpkins $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Christmas trees $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Meat, poultry and eggs $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Dairy products (milk, cheese, etc.) $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Valued-added/processed food products(Cider, juice, wine, preserves, honey, mapleproducts, snack food, etc.) $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Baked goods $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Ice cream $_______ ⇒_______%
___ Gift and other gardening accessories $_______ ⇒_______ %
___ Others: plOthers: plOthers: plOthers: plOthers: please specify __________________ease specify __________________ease specify __________________ease specify __________________ease specify __________________ $_______ ⇒_______ %
10. Please check and describe all direct marketing methods used in your operation in2000:
√ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy AnnuaAnnuaAnnuaAnnuaAnnual gl gl gl gl grrrrross saoss saoss saoss saoss sallllleseseseses
___ Retail farm store, roadside stand $____________
___ Entertainment activities: farm tours, hay rides, $____________petting zoo, festivals, parties, etc.
___ Pick-your-own fields $____________
___ Restaurant/café/deli $____________
___ Catalog sales $____________
___ Internet sales $____________
___ Community supported agriculture (CSA) $____________
___ Farmers’ market stands (_____ times/wk.) $____________
___ Others- plOthers- plOthers- plOthers- plOthers- please specify: _______________________ease specify: _______________________ease specify: _______________________ease specify: _______________________ease specify: _______________________ $____________
3
W.L. Uva 53
11. Please check which direct marketing aspects are included in your retail business andindicate their importance to your operation. (1=not important; 5=very important.)
√ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy CirCirCirCirCirclclclclcle Onee Onee Onee Onee OneNot imporNot imporNot imporNot imporNot importanttanttanttanttant V V V V Very imporery imporery imporery imporery importanttanttanttanttant
___ Fresh farm product market: 1 2 3 4 5vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy, etc.
___ Processed & value-added food market 1 2 3 4 5___ Organic products 1 2 3 4 5___ Garden center: bedding & garden plants 1 2 3 4 5___ Pumpkin and christmas tree sales 1 2 3 4 5___ Bakery 1 2 3 4 5___ Ice cream stand 1 2 3 4 5___ Gardening accessory and gift shop 1 2 3 4 5___ Entertainment activities: farm tours, 1 2 3 4 5
hay rides, petting zoo, festivals, parties, etc.___ Pick-your-own fields 1 2 3 4 5___ Restaurant/café/deli 1 2 3 4 5___ Catalog sales 1 2 3 4 5___ Internet sales 1 2 3 4 5___ Community supported agriculture (CSA) 1 2 3 4 5___ Farmers’ market stands 1 2 3 4 5
12. Please indicate the months each department is in operation.Months in operMonths in operMonths in operMonths in operMonths in operaaaaationtiontiontiontion
√ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy (month) - (month)(month) - (month)(month) - (month)(month) - (month)(month) - (month)___ Fresh farm product market: vegetables, fruits, ________ - _______
meat, dairy, etc.___ Processed & value-added food market ______ - _________ Garden center: bedding & garden plants ______ - _________ Pumpkin and christmas tree sales ______ - _________ Bakery ______ - _________ Ice cream stand ______ - _________ Gardening accessory and gift shop ______ - _________ Entertainment activities: farm tours, hay rides,
petting zoo, festivals, parties, etc. ______ - _________ Pick-your-own fields ______ - _________ Restaurant/café/deli ______ - _________ Catalog sales ______ - _________ Internet sales ______ - _________ Community supported agriculture (CSA) ______ - _________ Farmers’ market stands ______ - ______
4
54 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
5
13. How many years has the farm been involved in each direct marketing aspect, andwhat changes do you foresee for each department in the next five years?
√ √ √ √ √ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy Expected chanExpected chanExpected chanExpected chanExpected changgggges in nees in nees in nees in nees in next 5 yxt 5 yxt 5 yxt 5 yxt 5 years (cirears (cirears (cirears (cirears (circlclclclcle one)e one)e one)e one)e one)YrsYrsYrsYrsYrs. in. in. in. in. in StarStarStarStarStarttttt NoNoNoNoNo
operoperoperoperoperaaaaationtiontiontiontion -up-up-up-up-up ExpExpExpExpExpandandandandand chanchanchanchanchangggggeeeee RRRRReduceeduceeduceeduceeduce EliminaEliminaEliminaEliminaEliminatetetetete
___ Fresh farm product market: ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5veg., fruits, meat, dairy, etc.
___ Processed & value-added ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5food market
___ Organic product ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Garden center: bedding & ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5
garden plants___ Pumpkin & christmas tree sales ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Bakery ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Ice cream stand ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Gardening access. & gift shop ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Entertainment activities: farm ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5
tours, hay rides, petting zoo,festivals, parties, etc.
___ Pick-your-own fields ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Restaurant/café/deli ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Catalog sales ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Internet sales ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Community supported ag (CSA) ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Farmers’ market stands ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5___ Others- please specify: ____ yrs 1 2 3 4 5
______________________
14. Please indicate which marketing tools you used to promote your direct marketingoperation and rate their effectiveness. (Scale: 1 = not effective; 5 = very effective.)
√ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy NotNotNotNotNot VVVVVeryeryeryeryeryefefefefeffffffectiectiectiectiectivvvvveeeee efefefefeffffffectiectiectiectiectivvvvveeeee
___ Yellow pages of phone directory 1 2 3 4 5___ Newspaper advertising 1 2 3 4 5___ TV advertising 1 2 3 4 5___ Radio advertising 1 2 3 4 5___ Road signs, billboards advertising 1 2 3 4 5___ Direct mailing 1 2 3 4 5___ Sales promo. (coupons, discounts, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5___ Internet (Web-site, e-mail) 1 2 3 4 5___ In-store promotion (free samples, 1 2 3 4 5
product display & signs, info. brochures)___ Community relations 1 2 3 4 5
W.L. Uva 55
14. Marketing tools (cont.)
√ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy NotNotNotNotNot VVVVVeryeryeryeryeryefefefefeffffffectiectiectiectiectivvvvveeeee efefefefeffffffectiectiectiectiectivvvvveeeee
___ Participate in regional/state-grown 1 2 3 4 5promotional programs
___ Participate in tourism promotional program,i.e. brochures 1 2 3 4 5
___ Word of mouth___ Other: please specify __________________ 1 2 3 4 5
15. What percentage of sales was your promotional budget?
_______ % of total retail sales
16. Please indicate the tools you’ve used to improve the profitability of your retailoperation and rate how effective they were. (Scale: 1 = not effective; 5 = very effective.)
√ ALLALLALLALLALL tha tha tha tha that at at at at applpplpplpplpplyyyyy NotNotNotNotNot VVVVVeryeryeryeryeryefefefefeffffffectiectiectiectiectivvvvveeeee efefefefeffffffectiectiectiectiectivvvvveeeee
___ Developed a business plan 1 2 3 4 5
___ Developed a marketing plan 1 2 3 4 5
___ Expanded product lines (value-added, organic, 1 2 3 4 5added new products or varieties, etc.)
___ Added services (delivery, guarantee, extnd. hrs., etc.) 1 2 3 4 5___ Competitive pricing 1 2 3 4 5
___ Branding 1 2 3 4 5
___ Utilized frequent buyer’s program 1 2 3 4 5
___ Provided customer edu. (newsletter, handouts, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5
___ Maintained a mailing list 1 2 3 4 5
___ Promoted agri-tourism 1 2 3 4 5
___ Collaborated w/other farms & marketers 1 2 3 4 5(buying, advertising, etc.)
___ Promoted “buy locally grown” 1 2 3 4 5
___ Kept financial records and made management 1 2 3 4 5decisions based on them
___ Provided continuous training for mngrs./staff 1 2 3 4 5
___ Other: please specify ___________________ 1 2 3 4 5
6
56 Analysis of Vegetable Farms’ Direct Marketing Activities in NYS
17. What are the top three barriers/pbarriers/pbarriers/pbarriers/pbarriers/prrrrrobobobobobllllleeeeemsmsmsmsms facing your retail operation?
Most important barrier/problem:________________________________________________________________
Second:__________________________________________________________________________
Third:____________________________________________________________________________
18. What are the top three opporopporopporopporopportunitiestunitiestunitiestunitiestunities for the future success of your retail operation?
Most important opportunity:________________________________________________________________
Second:__________________________________________________________________________
Third:____________________________________________________________________________
19. What are the top three trtrtrtrtraininaininaininaininaining or pubg or pubg or pubg or pubg or publicalicalicalicalication topicstion topicstion topicstion topicstion topics you would like to see available toyou and your employees to help you market successfully.
Most important topic:________________________________________________________________
Second:_______________________________________________________________________________
Third:____________________________________________________________________________
20. Other comments:
TTTTThank yhank yhank yhank yhank you vou vou vou vou very mery mery mery mery much fuch fuch fuch fuch for yor yor yor yor your assistance. Plour assistance. Plour assistance. Plour assistance. Plour assistance. Please rease rease rease rease returetureturetureturn this surn this surn this surn this surn this survvvvveyeyeyeyey, in the en, in the en, in the en, in the en, in the envvvvvelopeelopeelopeelopeelopeppppprrrrrooooovided, to :vided, to :vided, to :vided, to :vided, to :
Dr. Wen-fei UvaDepartment of Applied Economics and Management
456 Warren HallCornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853-7801
7
RB No Title Author(s)
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