Page 6—Grower and Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 11, 2000
‘Pumpkin Town’
(Continued from Page 5)
track.
Of the top market needs
for berries, customers identi
fied blueberries and
strawberries. They wanted
apples and peaches for fruit
crops. For vegetables, cus
tomers wanted sweet corn
and tomatoes. And they
wanted baked goods, too.
There was an interest in
pick-your-own berries, vege
tables, and pumpkins. The
site was not good for orc
hards.
For strawberries, a real
concern was frost protection.
The farm had to irrigate to
protect from frost on June 1
and again the first weekend
of October.
The farm market serves
a small clientele, about 2,102
people from the small town of
Stephentown, but gets some
tourist traffic from New York
City.
The farm market started
small, said Riggs, in 1996,
using about one acre. The
huge strawberries that first
year “tasted wonderful,” she
said. In 1997, the farm har
vested about 15,000 pounds
per acre; in 1998, about
20,000 pounds per acre; but
in 1999, because of severe
weed problems, only about
7,500 pounds of strawberries
per acre. Work needs to be
done to ensure improved har
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vests, including some field re
pairs, she noted.
About 80 percent of the
business is pick your own.
The farm employs a strict
“rules of the berry patch” for
kids and others to follow. A
big rule is “no running.”
In 1999, the farm stand
operated from Aug. 20
through Oct. 18 and was self
service until Oct. 31. The
market is open from 10 a.m.-
6 p.m. Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, and Monday.
Some simple ideas that
Riggs followed for her star
tup farm market: use items
found on the farm of interest
to customers. She even pro
vided an insect collection
from college. “The butterflies
captivated every kid,” Riggs
said.
Some pitfalls she en
countered:
• The previous owners
supplied the least expensive
produce around. “Don’t op
erate that way,” she said. In
stead, ensure them of a
quality, healthy product
something worth a small
premium.
• Be wary of priorities.
Ensure that plants are or
dered, planted, and cared for
on time.
• Learn to spend time
inside the stand. It was hard,
Riggs noted, to spend time at
the cash register, especially
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as she considers herself an
outdoors-type person.
• Get the signs right.
Make them professional
looking and allow them to
define what your market is
all about.
• Run the farm, don’t
let the farm run you. And
don’t forget the vital, family
recreational activities to keep
the family from burning out.
The pleasures:
• Meeting a lot of really
great people, she said. Home
owners told Riggs they had
the “best produce ever
found.”
• A farm market can
provide a wonderful, creative
outlet.
• The market can be in
tellectually stimulating, she
said.
• The market allows
you to build your dreams and
contribute to society.
And having fun is im
portant, too. “If you’re
having fun doing what you
are doing, your customers are
going to like coming there,”
said Riggs.
Roadside Marketing
Larry Yager, Penn State
marketing agent, noted ways
growers adopted new ideas
and made some money.
One fruit grower got rid
of apples and put in a corn
maze. The first year, 8,000
people toured the maze at $5
apiece.
Another grower, un-
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happy with vegetable pro
duction, took three duck
ponds and stocked each of
them with fish trout in
one, catfish in another, and
bass in the third. His cost for
the fish $2.75 a pound. He
sold them at $3.95 a pound.
Potential sales were $1,200-
$1,600 off an acre of water.
“You can’t do that with fruit
and vegetable crops,” said
Yager.
Yager spoke about vari
ous ways in which farm mar
kets can adapt and change to
increase profitability at the
Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vege
table Convention in Hershey.
A market is a matter of
“projecting your image
lifestyle and habits and
trends,” Yager said.
Consumers are grazers
today, he said, eating on the
run. They crave fast food.
They don’t have the time to
prepare meals. To market to
their demands, farm mana
gers must realize that mar
keting “is not advertising
it is location. And the con
sumers’ first impression
comes from signage.”
Produce is now the focal
point of most supermarkets,
said the extension marketing
agent. Markup is 40-45 per
cent and more, and is
counted on to increase store
profitability.
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To survive, farm mar
keters must think more like
grocery store managers. Edu
cate the consumers with sig
nage. Develop signature
items, said Yager, items that
“make you unique,” he said.
Foremost, consumers
are looking for taste and
flavor in the produce they
buy.
Susan Barton, extension
specialist at the University of
Delaware, suggested that
growers visit Homestead
Gardens in Davidsonville,
Md. The signage is unique
and attractive to consumers,
making it an “excellent
garden center.
“They make a big
impact with their road fron
tage,” she said.
For signage, keep infor
mation on it as simple and as
short as possible. Make it
easy for people to see, using
bright colors, plant displays,
and “punchy and to the
point,” said Barton.
Signs should reflect the
image of the market, said
Barton. They could be as
simple as using commodity
bags hung over items to sell
or more complex signs that
provide some planting tips
for items. Phrasing should be
enticing. But the signs should
be consistent and reflect the
market’s general personality.
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