Issue
For many small and medium-sized farms, traditional commodity markety channels no longer provide sufficient returns to support a family through farming. The value-added contribution by U.S. producers of consumer food expenditures has fallen from 22.8 percent in 1950 to only 7.9 percent in 2000. By allowing farmers to retain a higher share of consumer food expenditures, direct marketing, along with agritourism, have proved to be alternatives for keeping these farms economically viable. Global competition and modern production technologies have pushed the price of raw agricultural commodities downward so that many farmers and ranchers have found it difficult to remain in production agriculture. However, some farmers and ranchers have mastered the art of obtaining a higher profit margin from their agricultural land holdings by marketing food products and farm recreation directly to the consumer. 

What has been done?
Two UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty members convened the first annual Arizona Direct Farm Marketing and Tourism (DFMT) conference in 1995 at the same time they finished putting together a 250-page layman's publication on the topic. The educational curriculum was designed to provide producers with an A-Z publication for finding the essentials needed to start and develop a direct farm marketing enterprise. Producers have been able to network and learn from each other at the annual conference by sharing their failures and success stories. The 8th annual conference was held at Young's Farm in Dewey, AZ in 2003. The event draws both regular and new participants who are investigating whether they should try direct farm marketing. Generally 50 to100 individuals attend the annual conference and the handbook curriculum has reached thousands of people.
An interim board was recently formed to organize an Arizona Farmers' Direct Marketing Association. Issues the association will address include being a collective voice in the state for direct farm marketing issues, educational programs, collective buying of insurance products for members, coordinating better with Arizona Grown, developing a farmers' market directory, and creating an association Web site.
The Western Extension Marketing Committee and University of Arizona Cooperative Extension recently published a book, "Western Profiles of Innovative Agricultural Marketing: Examples from Direct Farm Marketing and Agri-Tourism Enterprises." The book is a collaborative effort with authors from seven Western states. Using a case-study approach, farmers learn concepts that can be applied to stabilize and enhance their businesses. Examples include failures and successes of 17 enterprises located in Western urban and rural settings. Six thousand copies of the book will be distributed throughout the West. 

Impact
Participants at the direct farm marketing conference (DFMT) in 2003 not only rated the topics presented as being relevant to their operation but indicated that they thought there was a high probability (3.2 on a 4.0 scale) that they would incorporate the information learned at the conference into their business operations. One hundred percent of the respondents said the conference enhanced their knowledge of the topics presented, and 100 percent said they would share the information they learned in the following ways: with another colleague (75 percent); with family (57 percent); with friends (46 percent); with community leaders (46 percent); with educators (32 percent) and with others (11 percent). One participant is networking with others who attended the conference to develop an organic farming enterprise that will include a restaurant and grass-fed beef program. 

The DFMT Handbook is still widely accessed and maintains the #1 listing for "Direct Farm Marketing" on the Google search engine (rank is based on web sites selected by users). Requests to utilize the handbook for a short course or class have come from other Western states, and Australia, Canada, South Africa. 

"I actually used the information from your website to begin looking into marketing my eggs! I must have used a ream of paper and 2 ink cartridges printing it off. I found the section on business planning extremely helpful." –participant.

Funding
Arizona Cooperative Extension

Contact
Russell Tronstad, Associate Professor & Specialist

Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics
The University of Arizona
Economics Bldg. (#23) 
Tucson, AZ 85721 
Tel: (520) 621-2425; FAX (520) 621-6250
Email: tronstad@ag.arizona.edu
 

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