The Rural Voice, 2003-02, Page 39Ag News
Shift needed from cost/price to value/quality
Continued from page 34
farmers push production, prices will
decline. Instead they need to shift
from a cost/price goal to a
value/quality goal. "You need to start
doing it now," he urged.
An opportunity to do that comes
from changing demographic called
the WOOFers: well-off old folks.
"Are we targeting the WOO`Fer
market?" he asked, noting thousands
of people turn 50 every day in
Canada and by 2011 seniors will
make up 30 per cent of the
population.
The aging Baby Boomers want to
live forever and enjoy life. They
don't want big five pound roasts of
beef, they want smaller portions of
top quality.
One producer who has read the
market and taken advantage is Joe
Hudson of Bonnie Best Farms who is
the leading producer of Omega'3
eggs, eggs with good cholesterol
instead of bad cholesterol that have
snapped up five per cent of the egg
market as people look to have
healthier diets,4SSurgeoner said. Now
Omega 3 milk is also on the way.
One of the ways to capture more
of the value/quality market is through
branding, Surgeoner said but for this
to happen there have to be more
quality control and identity
presentation programs in place such
as the Quality Starts Here beef
program. "You're only as good as the
last steak you ate," he warned of the
need to be vigilant about quality.
Internationally, Canada has an
outstanding branding opportunity
because of perceptions of Canada as
"green, clean and pristine" with
visions of Lake Louise with the
Rocky Mountains in the background.
WOOFers also hold the potential
for new markets for new farm
products that are health -oriented.
"We'll reach for the kitchen cabinet
as often as the medicine cabinet," he
predicted. "We boomers want to
control our destiny and we know diet
is a major factor."
People are worried about the
environment, Surgeoner said,
because the more people we put into
a limited space, the more concern we
have to the environment. He pointed
out a Maclean's Magazine survey
that showed the three biggest worries
of those polled were air quality (22
per cent), water quality and global
warming (15 per cent each).
Forging new links with consumers
and letting them know the steps
farmers have been taking to protect
the environment will help win
support because "nobody cares how
much you know until they know how
much you care," Surgeoner said.
Caring about the views of urbanites
is essential to winning the support of
urbanites, he said.
Meeting consumers will let
farmers say: "We farmers provided
you with cleaner air."0
Caiori
Ot:efied
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FEBRUARY 2003 35