Beltsville, MD – Years ago, Indiana farmer Brian Churchill won a grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program to experiment with new pest management strategies on his 100 acres of sweet corn, melons, tomatoes and other produce. Scouting for pests, withholding routine spraying and building habitat for beneficial insects cut his insecticide use drastically. He decided to use that as a marketing hook by inviting chefs to an “expo” and opening a now-thriving farm stand.
“We drive the point home about using less chemicals all the time,” he said. “The customers keep coming back and bringing friends with them…Our farm has grown a lot since the grant.”
Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers, a 20-page bulletin recently revised by the Sustainable Agriculture Network, features innovative SARE-funded research in a range of marketing options, including additional resources for further information. Throughout, farmers and ranchers like Churchill share how farmers markets, CSA, tourism, direct-marketing, season extension, adding value, restaurants, and/or the Internet improved their bottom line.
Marketing Strategies is the latest of a series of publications that feature the most creative research funded by SARE. Preview or download the entire publication at www.sare.org/publications/marketing.htm.
To order free print copies, visit www.sare.org/Webstore, call 301/504-5236 or email san_assoc@sare.org. Agricultural educators may place orders for print copies in quantity at no cost.
“Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers” was published by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. SARE is a program of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), USDA, and works with producers, researchers and educators to promote farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities. SAN operates under a cooperative agreement between CSREES and the University of Vermont and the University of Maryland to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. For more information about SARE grant opportunities and other SAN resources, visit www.sare.org.
