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The Citizen, 1994-11-16, Page 15Ecological farmers share marketing experiences After years of sharing advice on how to grow organic crops, mem­ bers of the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO) spent part of their annual meeting in Ethel Saturday sharing advice on how to market their products. "When EFAO got started the problem was 'how to we do it (grow things)', where do we get the information," said Tony McQuail, association president. While there is still a need to share production information "now one of the impor­ tant messages is how to connect with the market". Four farmers with very different operations spoke to the group. Bev Budd operates Huron Community Garden near Goderich with her husband Bob. They first made their land available for a Community Shared Agriculture project run by another gardener five years ago. Later they took over the operation themselves. Under the concept consumers pay in advance for a share of the harvest at the market garden opera­ tion. Shares are $450 for a full share, designed for a family of four. Half shares at $225 are also avail­ able. Reductions in share costs are made for those who will pl’edge to work in planting or harvesting. In 1994 there were 38.5 shares in the garden where 40 different kinds of vegetables, some with several vari­ eties, were grown. While the arrangement effective­ ly looks after marketing, there's a lot of public relations involved, said Mrs. Budd, who handles that end of the operation. She spends a lot of time talking to members on pick-up days when they come to get their vegetables, explaining the realities of seasonality in food pro­ ductions or telling them how to cook something new that has been grown in the garden. "People are really hesitant to try things they have never eaten before," she said. To encourage a close connection with consumers the garden also holds a harvest hoedown at the end of the season. They also have ani­ mals around for children to feed and look at. This encourages people to drop in. "Once we have people out there we can market anything else we want," she said. Eric Eberhardt operates Gentle Rain health food store in Stratford, growing some vegetables on his OMAFRA offers lamb seminar OMAFRA, the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency and the Ontario Huron Cty. Museum pleased with acquisition The Huron County Museum is now the proud owner of a Link Trainer, an aircraft simulator used for instrument training for the British Commonwealth Air Train­ ing Plan during the early 1940s. The equipment, owned by Mr. A. Lillow of Blucvale was sought by many national museums and the Huron County facility is pleased to be the recipient of the Link Trainer. The simulator was important piece of equipment to the five county air bases which served as training centres during the second world war. Mr. Lillow maintained such equipment during his war service and re-assembled the full-opera­ tional trainer after its trip from Bluevale. own farm in the Scbringville area and selling organic materials from a wide area in his retail store. He had specific advice on things such as pricing and presentation of an organic product. The consumer is willing to pay a premium for organ­ ic products but there's a limit, he said. Also, he said, the farther the product is going from the farm gate to be sold, the more attractive the presentation must be. A simple type black and white label may be fine at a roadside market but in a city store a professional looking label will sell more. It’s easier to fill an existing mar­ ket than to create a new one, he advised. "Stop fighting the market." He advised developing close relationships with partners in mar­ keting: talking to shop owners or distributors. And if you retail your own products, don't undercut your purchasing partners, he warned. Determine who your potential consumers are and where they do their shopping, he suggested. "Is your product best suited to the mass market, alternative market or local market." The mass market, with all its competition, is the most difficult to penetrate. Dave Reibling of Oak Manor, an organic farming and milling opera­ tion near Tavistock, said the most difficult problem is building and holding a market. He foresaw the potential for organic flour in 1975 and started up a stone-ground milling operation. Since then, how­ ever, others have seen the potential and have started other milling oper­ ations. To stay ahead of the compe­ tition he has had to develop value-added products like whole­ grain organic pasta. "What we need out there is more consumers," he said. "I don't like shipping product to the U.S." Gerry Poechman of Hanover recently became the first producer of certified organic eggs in Canada. Operating in a bam that "has been out of date for 20 years" he had no real difficulty with qualifying for organic certifications. He didn't have any idea how large the poten­ tial market was, he said. Neither did the distributor he first approached. The distributor thought he might be able to place 10 cases of eggs a week to start, working up to 20 cases a week after a year. Agricultural Training Institute are sponsoring a seminar series titled "Save the Lambs". The seminars will offer informa­ tion from American and Canadian experts which will allow producers to wean more lambs per ewe and make more money. The local seminar will be held on Dec. 7 at the Atwood Community Centre, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and Shop & Save, It's time to start feeding your birds Now in-stock a good selection of: • mixed feeds 4 • sunflower seeds • peanuts • niger seed • locally grown sunflower seeds We also have a complete line of feeders on display 10% off all farm sets & farm toys LONDESBORO SEED PLANT Custom Seed Cleaning Londesboro Bob Szusz 523-4399 Since Mr. Poechman had 100 cases a week to sell, that wasn't an inviting prospect. So he took a cou­ ple of months to travel and do mar­ ket research himself. He found out there were 200 natural food stores in Toronto. One of these would take 10 cases all by itself. He set up to sell 20 cases a week, and work up to 50 but "The sur­ prise is I'm essentially sold out." Today his problem is not getting rid of those 100 cases but finding enough eggs to meet the demand. He's been advertising to find other producers who can help. "I've taken a multiple approach to marketing" he said, splitting his shipments between Toronto, Mon­ treal and the local market. He attends the Walkerton Farmers Market and sells through a natural food store in Hanover. When there is a chance to talk to consumers directly he takes it. "People really enjoy meeting the farmer. If you want to market you have to be sociable," he said. "Either be the kind who likes to converse with people on a regular basis or be the kind who likes to deal with distrib­ utors." His marketing approach was to stress the family farm, with a label that advertises G. and M. (Marlene, his wife) Poechman Family Farm. His frustrations with marketing his product are slow payment (the eggs usually sell within a week in the store but it takes several weeks for the store owner to pay him) and retail mark-ups (his eggs are sold for as much as $3.45 a dozen in stores in Montreal). A member of OntarBio, the organic grains co-operative, Mr. Poechman encouraged the idea of getting together for marketing. At OntarBio each member has differ­ ent skills and those skills put together allowed everyone to do what they liked best with good results. Elected directors of EFAO at the meeting were Tony McQuail, Luc­ know; Ruth Knight, Clifford; Chris Hoskins, Wingham; Peter Lehy, Peterborough; Mike Beretta, Blue­ vale; Bob Budd, Goderich; Harold Saunders, Denfield, Rita Stoller, Seeley's Bay and Ted Zettel, Chep­ stow. The executive will be elected at the first directors meeting. running until 4 p.m. Pre-registra- tion will cost $30 and $40 at the door. Additional registrants from the same farm will pay a $20 fee. Anyone wising to pre-register should contact Arlie at 846-0965. Checks, payable to Minister of Finance, must be received by John Martin, Health Management, OMAFRA, Wellington Place, RR1 Fergus, Ont., N1M 2W3, by Dec. 1. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1994. PAGE 15. F arm Brussels Livestock report Lambs sell higher, light class hits $176 Sales at Brussels Livestock for the week ending Nov. 11 were: fed cattle, 907; cows, 345; veal calves, 109, sheep and goats, 108; stockers, 1,600; and pigs, light run. The market at Brussels Livestock saw fed steers and heifers selling on a fully active steady trade. Cows sold $2 lower. Veal calves sold $2 higher, with the lambs selling $5 higher. Friday saw stockers selling on a steady market. There were 670 steer on offer selling from $88 to $94 to the high of $105.50. Forty-five steers consigned by Prospect Feed Lots Ltd., Wyoming, averaging 1,358 lbs. sold for an average of $91.49 with sales to $103.75. One fyindred and four steers consigned by Lome Hammell, Dobbinton, averaging 1,287 lbs. sold for an average of $89.21 with sales to $104. Thirty- six steers consigned by Maple Ridge Farms, Brussels, averaging 1,318 sold for an average of $92.58 with sales to $101. Four steers consigned by Gordon Daer, Auburn, averaging 1,250 lbs. sold for an average of $93.37 with sales to $98.25. Thirty-two steers consigned by Cunningham Farms, Lucan, averaging 1,447 lbs. sold for an average of $91.23 with sales to $96.10. One steer consigned by Hammond Bros., Monkton, weighing 1,370 lbs. sold for $94.25. Eleven steers consigned by Alton O'Neil, Lucan, averaging 1,440 lbs. sold for an average of $90.39 with sales to $94. Eighteen steers consigned by Johnston Farms, Bluevale, averaging 1,332 lbs. sold for an average of $88.77 with sales to $93.10. Thirty-nine steers consigned by Dale and John Taylor Farms, Creemore, averaging 1,387 lbs. sold for an average of $89.94 with sales to $93. Seventeen steers Consigned by Doug Shiell, Wingham, averaging 1,399 lbs. sold for an average of $90.41 with sales to $93. Thirty-nine steers consigned by Murray Shiell, Wingham, averaging 1,444 lbs. sold for an average of $89.80 with sales to $92. There were 220 heifers on offer selling from $88 to $94 to the high of $96.50. Six heifers consigned by Rolf Huber, Wingham, averaging 958 lbs. sold for an average of $93.26. with sales to $96.50. Eight BRUSSELS LIVESTOCK Division of Gamble & Rogers Ltd. UPCOMING SALES____________________ _________________________ TUESDAYS 9 a.m. THURSDAYS FRIDAYS Finished Cattle & Cows Dropped Calves Veals followed by Goats Sheep & Lambs 10:00 a.m. Stocker Cattle 1:00 p.m. Pigs 9:00 a.m. OB > 887-6461 heifers consigned by Aaron Fischer, Ayton, averaging 1,149 lbs. sold for an average of $86.99 with sales to $93. Three heifers consigned by Dale Weppler, Ayton, averaging 1,230 lbs. sold for an average of $89.02 with sales to $92.75. Thirty-five heifers consigned by Murray Curran, Dungannon, averaging 1,112 lbs. sold for an average of $85.32 with sales to $91.75. Two heifers consigned by Frank High, Seaforth, averaging 1,210 lbs. sold for an average of $84.43 with sales to $91.75. Two heifers consigned by Geo Pearson, Ethel, averaging 975 lbs. sold for $91. Two heifers consigned by Adrian Rehorst, Teeswater, averaging 1,135 lbs. sold for an average of $89.99 with sales to $90.75. Twelve heifers consigned by Russel and Paul Little, Arthur, averaging 1,149 lbs. sold for an average of $87.13 with sales to $90. There were 345 cows on offer selling from $45 to $61 to the high of $68.50. Two cows consigned by John Bennett, Goderich, averaging 1,100 lbs. sold for an average of $61.11 with sales to $65. One cow consigned by Robert Thompson, Ripley, weighing 2,050 lbs. sold for $61.50. One cow consigned by Don Steinacker, Mitchell, weighing 1,330 lbs. sold for $60. There were 109 veal on offer selling from $85 to $104.50 to a high of $117.50. A veal consigned by Wayne Gingerich, Zurich, weighing 670 lbs. sold for $117.50. A veal consigned by Murray Clarke, Kincardine, weighing 505 lbs. sold for $116. A veal consigned by Moses Shetler, Lucknow, weighing 655 lbs. sold for $115.50. Lambs, 50 - 80 lbs., sold $132 to $176; 81 - 95 lbs., $119 to $131; and 96 lbs. and over, $110 to $115. Sheep sold $40 to $70. Goats sold $33 to $97. Stockers: steers, 400 - 499 lbs., sold $96 to $123; 500 - 599 lbs., $96 to $124; 600 - 699 lbs., $84 to $111; 700 - 799 lbs., $69 to $106.50; and 800 lbs. and over, $90 to $106. Heifers, 300 - 399 lbs., sold $106 to $127; 400 - 499 lbs., $96 to $125; 500 - 599 lbs., $85.50 to $117.50; 600 - 699 lbs., $74 to $101; and 700 lbs. and over, $75 to $96.