The Rural Voice, 2006-09, Page 41MOVING UP
THE FOOD CHAIN
Through Field Gate Organics Inc. organic beef
farmers are pooling their products
and resources to sell to consumers
through their own retail outlets.
By Keith Roulston
n farmers's frustration about the
meager portion of the consumer's
food dollar that finds its way back
to the farm, there are often
discussions about how to move up
the food delivery chain to gain more
of the revenue for primary producers.
For members of Field Gate Organics
Inc. that move has already -been
made.
Dan Murphy, retail manager for
the co-operative, explained at the
Growing Your Opportunities
conference earlier this year that his
company owns and operates two
retail outlets and sells through six
satellite stores, all of which are
supplied with packaged and labeled
products so there is no handling.
In the past two and a half years, he
said, the Field Gate Organic's sales
38 THE RURAL VOICE
have increased by 400 per cent.
It all began as a dream of a group
of organic beef farmers from the
Exeter and Zurich area seven years
ago who got together to look for
ways to expand their markets. They
started by forming a marketing
committee of three farmers to
research various options.
The problem they encountered,
said Murphy, who has been involved
in the retail, food services and
wholesale part of the food industry
since 1987, is that if you're trying to
get into large retail outlets, you can't
be sending one or two head of beef to
the abattoir each week. You've got to
have a steady supply of the cuts they
want.
In January 2003 the marketing
committee met with Zurich's Ted
Field Gate Organic's outlet at
Covent Garden Market in London
gives farmers direct contact with
consumers.
Soudant. They listed for him their
long-term goals and objectives which
included a return of their cost of
production plus a fair market price,
being able to sell what their farms
produced and spending their time on
farming, not marketing, being able to
grow and expand the group and to
have secure present and future
markets.
After hearing their concerns.
Soudant produced a proposal which
the group accepted. They hired him
to produce a business plan for a
marketing and distribution company.
Field Gate Organics was
incorporated on May 5, 2003, just 15
days before the discovery of one case
of BSE in Alberta turned beef
marketing on its head in Canada. It
turned the fledgling company's plans
around too, Murphy said. The
members' first choice was to sell
wholesale to retailers but they
decided they had to go further to
retail themselves. Now they're glad
they did, Murphy said.
In October that year they opened
their flagship location at London's
Covent Garden's Market. Since then
they've expanded to another owned