Tips for Selling to Grocery Stores

Many grocery stores are interested in buying products from local farmers or cooperatives who deal directly with local farmers. Visit grocers in your area and learn the potential for sales.

This tip sheet from ATTRA provides some helpful tips. Maybe oneday you could have your farm sign posted in a grocery store like the sign above.

For more information, click here.

Agritourism and “Pick-Your-Own"

The NCAT Marketing Tip Sheet Series  provides insight into how agritourism operators can combine agricultural sales with on-farm activities that involve the customers. These can include hayrides, mazes, pumpkin patches, farm tours, a bed and breakfast, or other endeavors.

“Pick-your-own” or “you-pick” operations allow customers to wander out into the fields or orchards to pick their own apples, berries, pumpkins, or other crops. Customers check in at the farmstand when finished and pay by weight or volume. This can be a fun activity, especially for kids, and can sometimes allow customers to get larger volumes at lower prices.

To read the entrie tip sheet click here.

Adding a Market Garden to Your Agritourism Operation

It only takes a few acres to have a market garden. Market gardens can expand a current agritourism operation by extending the months that visitors travel to your farm. ATTRA* has an excellent publication entitled, "Market Gardening:A Start Up Guide" that is available online by clicking here.

*ATTRA is a program developed and managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT).Funding  for ATTRA is through a cooperative agreement with USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. They information and technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, Extension agents, educators, and others involved in sustainable agriculture in the United States.

Risk Management and Your Agritourism Business Webinar

Agritourism and farm-based educational enterprises have become an important part of the U.S. economy. People are interested in how their food is produced and want to make connections with their local farmers. As important as it is to foster relationships with customers, it's also important to know the risks of opening your operation to the public, and learn how to protect your farm from potential accidents and hazards. You also want to keep your customers safe.

My colleagues in Ohio prepared this webinar for eXtension, learn more by clicking here.

Agritourism is for Families

I'm hearing great reports about agritourism events across our state. Families are enjoying taking their children to safe, learning environments where family can experience things together.

Last night a mother told me that fall was her  favorite  time of year, because she looked forward to taking her children to events on area farms.

The LSU AgCenter's Burden Station in Baton Rouge, is also getting in on agritourism. Click here to learn about what's happening.

Caroline Dorman Nature Preserve Sale

The Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve

Announces a

Mostly Native Plant Sale

Saturday, November 7, 2015

8 AM until 12 Noon

At Briarwood 2 miles south of Saline, LA on Highway 9

Over 1000 hard-to-find plants priced between

$5 and $20 including:

6 species of native azaleas: canescens, austrinum, flammeum,

viscosum, prunifolium, and arborescens

Ferns Heirloom Bulbs

Perennials Shrubs

Trees Daylilies

Louisiana Iris Much, much more

  

For more information:

318-576-3379

briarwoodnp@gmail.com

facebook.com/cdorman

www.briarwoodnp.org    

Benefits of Promoting Food Locally

At a recent workshop, MarketReady,  in Lafayette on September 30, 2015,  LSU AgCenter expert John Westra  told small producers that surveys have shown that the demand for local food is increasing.

“There are a lot of people who value knowing who produced their food,” Westra said. “It’s an opportunity for you to take advantage of.”

Establishing a relationship with buyers for restaurants and groceries is critical. “You need to build a line of communication,” he said. “Most of them want to know if there’s something available locally.”

For more tips, click here.