Spring 2003

The Food Connection

—Maura McDermott

How can food producers make better, more profitable connections with both consumers and other food producers?

Many answers to that question were presented at Future Farms 2002: A Supermarket of Ideas on November 15 and 16 at the NCED Marriott in Norman. The Kerr Center sponsored the gathering of 500 people, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (ODAFF), and the USDA Risk Management Agency, with help from the National Center for Appropriate Technology’s ATTRA program. Participants came from around Oklahoma and the nation.

With 47 sessions, six intensive workshops and a trade show, the conference lived up to its billing as a “supermarket of ideas” for farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs. Presenters were producers and educators who shared success stories, resources, and research with attendees eager to learn how to make more profitable connections.

The underlying message was that agriculture in Oklahoma, after years of contraction, is beginning to open up again for small farmers who often have been marginalized as prices and profits have fallen.

One reason for this expansion: increasing consumer demand for quality, locally-produced food.

Another reason: growers joining together to market their products, whether on a large scale, such as through a value-added cooperative, or small scale, such as at a local farmers market. Add to that a new willingness by agricultural producers to think “out of the box” and try new enterprises, and a renaissance in Oklahoma agriculture may be beginning.

Contributing to the success of these connections is the willingness of government agencies such as ODAFF and the USDA, as well as non-profit organizations such as the Kerr Center, to provide meaningful assistance to producers wanting to take advantage of these new opportunities.

Be a Local Hero
Shopper interest in buying locally produced food is increasing nationally and in Oklahoma. Driving the trend is consumer desire for better taste and better nutrition, concern for food safety and the environment, and a willingness to support local farmers and rural economies.

A recent national survey conducted by Ronald Wimberley, a sociologist at North Carolina State University (in collaboration with researchers from 12 American universities) questioned consumers about their food preferences, especially in regard to the globalization of agriculture.

Answers revealed overwhelming support for U.S. grown, locally grown, and food grown in ways that protect the environment. Approximately three-quarters stated it was of some or great importance to them that the food they buy was grown and processed in the US. About 68% would pay more for US grown, and even more say they would not relinquish food production to other countries even if that resulted in cheaper food.

More than 70 percent were willing to pay more for locally produced food or for food produced in ways that protect the
environment. Fifty-three percent prefer to buy food they know has been grown on small rather than large farms.
When it came to the safety of our food supply, over 90 percent were somewhat or very concerned after 9/11, perhaps reflecting the fact that the average food item travels 1500 miles to reach the consumer.

In Oklahoma, a recent survey of farmers market customers done by the Oklahoma Farmers Market Alliance, the Kerr Center, the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture, and Oklahoma State University, reinforces some of these findings. (Highlights were presented at Future Farms.)

Over 300 surveys at eleven farmers markets were distributed. Quality was a characteristic deemed “very important” by
89.1 percent when shopping for fresh produce. Other characteristics or factors that were very important included the availability of in-season produce and unusual varieties, quantities from which to choose, chemical residues (presumably lack of), and in line with the national survey, the knowledge that the food was grown in Oklahoma or grown by the vendor.

Price was also important. However, consumers didn’t expect bargain-basement prices at farmers’ markets; instead more than three-quarters expected to pay the same price as elsewhere or a higher price.

In some parts of the country, buying local whenever possible is becoming part of the culture and is a source of community pride. In rural western Massachusetts, the Be A Local Hero, Buy Locally Grown promotional campaign has helped local growers become highly visible, contributing to more sales on the farm, at farmers’ markets, and even in supermarkets.

An extensive study of consumer attitudes done by the group found that consumers believed that locally grown food tastes better and was fresher and of higher quality.

However, surveyors also found that an important underlying motivation to buy local was the belief that buying local contributes to the local economy.

The Massachusetts group now makes sure that the message they convey to consumers is always “buy locally-grown food that is fresher and tastes great and support your local economy and neighbors.”

Health concerns and the desire to eat more nutritious food is another factor driving farm-to-school programs around the country. The links between junk food and obesity in children has spurred parents and schools around the nation to include healthier, often locally-grown food in their lunches. In Oklahoma, the ODAFF’s Food Policy Advisory Council recently completed a survey of institutional food managers around the state. Getting a whopping 66% rate of reply (the norm is less than 10%), more than half indicated an interest in connecting with local producers for food. (A full report on the survey will be available later this year).

Support Your Local Economy
It seems clear that Oklahoma farmers are looking for new ideas. The majority of Future Farms conference attendees were farmers and ranchers looking to make their farms profitable and viable into the future.

It almost goes without saying that if you want to make more profit, you need to either cut money going out or increase the amount coming in. Both of these approaches were addressed at Future Farms.

One way to get retail price for farm products is to sell directly to customers whether on the farm, on the web, or at farmers’ markets.

The question of course is whether a farmer can make any real money doing this. Until recently, many in Oklahoma (though not in other parts of the country) perceived farmers markets, for example, as being the venue for hobbyists or backyard gardeners.

This perception is changing. In 2001, sales at nine farmers markets in the state were estimated at $1.3 million. Six new markets opened in 2002, bringing the total to 26. Some markets, such as the one in Muskogee, have experienced growth rates of 25 percent per year in recent times.

As part of the farmers’ market survey project, producers were also questioned. Who sells at farmers’ markets? For the most part it is “real” farmers and ranchers—2/3 listed some type of agricultural production as their primary occupation, 52 percent not working off the farm at all. And they are committed—on average selling 4.45 years at their farmers market.

While only 5 percent of those surveyed realized full time income from selling at farmers’ market, 43 percent obtained part-time income and 25 percent said the market income made up a portion of full-time income when combined with sales from other outlets. That farmers’ markets were an important source of income for these producers seems clear. (Only 27 percent considered the farmers market a source of hobby or extra income).

While farmers markets are enjoying a revival in popularity in the state, other opportunities are just getting established.
Utilizing produce grown on the farm in a restaurant was the topic of Dick Ortez’s talk. His homemade sauerkraut and salsa are popular items at his Boarding House Cafe in Stillwater. His motto is “nurturing your meal from seed to table.”
Jeff and Chris Emerson sell their farm’s natural beef through their Naturalfarms store in Tulsa. Both take great satisfaction in producing a quality product for their customers. At Future Farms, Emerson said that one of their best marketing strategies is “to convince people not to buy their meat in the same place they buy their underwear. Educate them on what is meant by quality meat.”

The CSA or community supported agriculture (or subscription farming) concept is definitely a strategy that is just getting started here. In a March 5 article in the Daily Oklahoman, Food Editor Sharon Dowell identified three fledgling CSAs in the state (compared to 16 in Missouri and six in Kansas).

In a CSA, a consumer pays a farmer or group of farmers in advance for a certain amount of produce from that farm. Among the advantages: the farmer is not at the mercy of the weather on market days, as at farmers markets; he/she gets retail prices and is able to concentrate marketing efforts, said Dan Nagengast who conducted a workshop on starting a CSA. He is a founding member of the Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance, a nine-farmer group with subscribers in the Lawrence, Kansas, area. The alliance has been in existence for almost ten years. His group is a good example of what can be accomplished when farmers connect with each other and also connect directly to the shopper.

While often CSA farmers deliver produce to their buyers or to a central location to be picked up, sometimes CSAs have consumers pick up produce on the farm or involve urban folks in activities on the farm. Several conference speakers addressed how to attract urban folks to the farm. In Oklahoma, opportunities abound for farmers in agritourism and other alternative enterprises, said James Maetzold, national alternative enterprises and agritourism leader at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Washington, DC.

With alternative enterprises, he says, the farmers “add value” to their own products and realize a larger income by performing marketing activities and incurring the risks by processing, packaging, storing, transporting, and selling directly to the consumer. The farmer becomes a competitor with agribusiness firms for a larger share of the consumer’s dollar.

He explained that in 1913, farmers received 46 percent of the consumer’s dollar compared to less than 20 percent today. This occurred because many small farmers carried out the marketing at the local level such as delivering milk, manning the butcher and bake shop, and selling in-season produce; or consumers visited farms to buy directly from the farmer/rancher. In 1950, farmers received 50 to 80 percent of the consumer’s dollar spent on fruits and vegetables. Today, the figure is less than 30 percent.

A farmer or rancher entrepreneur who diversifies into value-added agriculture or agritourism has several market opportunities, he continued. He categorized these as: food (processing, packaging, branding, specialty markets, farmers’ markets), roots (heritage and culture), agrieducation (schools, retreats, conferences), experiences (farm stays, ranch stays, B&Bs, pick-your-own), agritainment (petting farms, mazes, hayrides), and nature-based adventure (horseback riding, rock climbing, hunting, fishing).

Going into an alternative enterprise can sometimes save the farm. Okemah farmer Don McGehee, who has begun his own CSA, was facing foreclosure on the farm his great-grandfather bought in 1916 according to the recent Daily Oklahoman article. “I have farmed before,” McGehee said, “and I couldn’t make it work as far as the cash flow. With community-supported agriculture, this more or less guarantees me a market.”

His CSA gives him a direct connection to the people who eat the food he produces. The Japanese call this “food with the farmer’s face on it.”

The face attached to our food can be the face of one farmer or many. Maetzold echoed the idea that joining with neighbors to develop alternative enterprises is a good idea. Several speakers at Future Farms spoke about “new wave” or value-added cooperatives. Mike Frickenschmidt of the Oklahoma Agricultural Cooperative Council in Enid says that over 200 new wave coops have been started since 1990 in the US, with investment greater than $4 billion. Myron Bradt of Alva described the formation of Value-Added Products, a cooperative in western Oklahoma owned by wheat farmers. The cooperative owns a state-of-the art frozen dough production facility utilizing Oklahoma-grown wheat.

While VAP sells their products around the country, not just locally in Oklahoma, it is a great example of farmers connecting with each other to build something greater than them. The fact that the wheat used to make the dough is grown in the US and owned by farmers would seem to be in tune with what Americans want these days—to support American agriculture and the folks who are on the farm and ranch working every day to give us safe, healthy food.

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