Register Now for “Beyond Direct Marketing: Exploring New Ways to Sell”
Are you currently selling through a farmers’ market, csa, u-pick, or road-side stand? How well is it working? Direct-marketing can offer the satisfaction of a personal relationship with the customer, but wearing the ‘marketing hat’ has the disadvantage of consuming lots of time and energy.
In recent years, a variety of new wholesale markets such as food hubs, online marketplaces, restaurants, and grocery stores have begun recruiting regional products from small to mid-sized farms. Could these emerging wholesale markets be right for you?
You can find out at the upcoming Small Farms Summit on March 12th, 2014 from 9:30am – 3:30pm. The program, Beyond Direct Marketing: Exploring New Ways to Sell, features small farmers’ perspectives on the pros and cons of selling wholesale. Farmers that have made a successful switch to a new wholesale market will reflect on their decision making process, benefits and challenges, costs, and infrastructure needed. Farmer speakers will also address how well the new market meets their goals, values or other lifestyle preferences.
After sharing lunch, you’ll have the opportunity to join fellow farmers from your region to swap ideas about specific wholesale marketing opportunities in your area. This interactive ‘wholesale market mapping’ activity will result in generating regional needs for projects that the Cornell Small Farms Program may fund over the next few years.
To ensure the meeting addresses your top marketing interests, wholesale channel topics featured during the Summit will be selected directly from responses to this small farm marketing trends survey. We encourage you to take this pre-Summit survey by the deadline of Friday, February 21st. As a thank you, you will have the opportunity to register for one of three $100 gift card drawings to an agricultural supplier of your choice.
To register for the Small Farms Summit, Beyond Direct Marketing: Exploring New Ways to Sell, locate your nearest host location from the list below and then register online. If you prefer, you may also register via phone. The meeting is free to attend and lunch will be provided. General questions about the Summit should be directed to smallfarmsprogram@cornell.edu.
Small Farms Summit Regional Host Sites
Central NY: Mann Library, Agriculture Quad, Cornell University Campus
Address: Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853
Contact: Violet Stone at vws7@cornell.edu or 607-255-9227
Eastern NY: Albany County, Cornell Cooperative Extension office
Address: 24 Martin Road, Voorheesville, NY 12186
Contact: Gale Kohler at gek4@cornell.edu or 518-765-3500
Hudson Valley: Ulster County, Cornell Cooperative Extension office
Address: 232 Plaza Road, Kingston NY 12401
Contact: Carrie Anne Doyle at cad266@cornell.edu or 845-340-3990
Northern NY: St. Lawrence County, Cornell Cooperative Extension office
Address: Extension Learning Farm Classroom at 2043 SH 68, Canton, NY 13617
Contact: Brent Buchanan at bab22@cornell.edu or 315-379-9192 Ext 231
Western NY: Cattaraugus County, Cornell Cooperative Extension Office
Address: 28 Parkside Drive, Ellicottville, NY 14731
Contact: Lynn Bliven at lao3@cornell.edu or 585-268-7644
Long Island: Suffolk County, Cornell Cooperative Extension Office
Address: 423 Griffing Ave, Riverhead, NY 11901
Contact: Sandy Menasha at srm45@cornell.edu or 631-727-7850
Register Online | Take the Survey
vws7@cornell.edu category: News
posted: 02/13/14 11:43 AM by vws7@cornell.edu
Leave a Comment
Comments
Leave a Reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *