> P.S. Me and another farmer have been making a weekly trip to Chicago to
> sell pork and eggs. Its been going pretty well. We are still working out
> the logistics of selling chickens. (Processing and distribution is a
> serious problem of farmer direct marketing.) I've been roasting at least
> one pig each weekend. It has not been an easy task but we are very near
> not needing a commodity hog market. Next weekend will be our first two
> events to go and sell pork sandwiches and kielbasa. We just picked up our
> new concession trailer (and Licensed kitchen) this Monday. It has been fun
> working with various health departments to get permits to cook and process
> our pork. (Regulations and even knowledge of the rules by various health
> departments and FSIS are also a serious obstacle for small farmers.) I
> think Joel Salitin is right that in the end it is the persistent that
> succeed.
I just wanted to make explicit something that Greg has mentioned
implicitly. That is, for farms to sustainably and successfully
market directly (or more so anyway), they probably need to put more
effort into supplying value-added products. It is my opinion,
Lester, that if you wanted to help out these farmers, this would be a
good issue to address. Next might be marketing strategies and
channels. Greg seems to have natural talent for all of these
including talent as a good farmer. Increasingly, farmers all over
the world need to be such Renaissance men and women if they are to
survive. It isn't enough anymore "just" to be able to produce.
Anita
Anita Graf
313-F Conner Hall
Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-7509
(706) 542-1915 phone
(706) 542-0739 fax
agraf@agecon.uga.edu
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