The discussion with the consumer is taking place and always has taken
place as you said. And the farmers who have consumer contact, I’m
guessing, have done a splendid job of cultivating the customer
relationship with good sound information. One of the activities I enjoy
most at my farm is talking with my customers and sharing with them what
we do here that’s beneficial to them, to me and to the pastureland. I
have been told that my current farm practices would qualify as “organic”
by one of the certifying organizations, and the fee is very attractive.
Our current discussion on the subject of organic certification needs to
be taken beyond the limits of this list and this group of participants
because of the well stated, genuine, and I believe honest perspectives
of all the participants. My hunch is that consumers don’t have any idea
that we see certification through such different eyes. This issue is
complex with many potential winners and losers, and I don’t believe that
consumers appreciate this.
Please remember that I’m a marketer of small farm and small ranch
products also. At small farms.com, we intentionally created a structure
for selling by the farmer, where the farmers use their own words to tell
consumers what they offer, where the products are available, and how the
farmer can be contacted. We fully expect and desire to facilitate
customer to farmer contact. I believe smallfarms.com to be the best
small farmer / small rancher marketing web site on the internet. We
have free registration offers to farmers right now. Most of you know
this as I have taken every opportunity to talk about the site. So how
come if it’s free and has good features, I still need to promote
smallfarms.com?
People are busy. They have many, many other concerns, causes, and
interests to pursue. If we’re to be successful at informing consumers
of the organic certification quagmire we need to ramp up what we’re
doing.
glenn
Buy from the Farmer
http://www.smallfarms.com
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