(Continued from Pago 1)
necessarily service. We have
much to learn about real ser
vice from the Europeans and
others.
In France, for example,
service is a skilled, respected
career. In fact, what is so re
nowned about expensive
French restaurants, besides
the food, is the service. There
is none of the proverbial
French snootiness. The entire
staff greets you by name at
the door. You feel like a wel
come guest, not a customer.
This attention works as
well in New York as in Paris.
Following a $lO lunch near
Roscoe, the French
proprietress thanked my wife
and me personally and shook
our hands.
Did I remember that effort
and will I go back?
What does this have to do
with marketing agricultural
products?
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Farmstand
The universal point is that
we all like to be fussed over,
to be made to feel important.
This is true whether we are
buying a fancy dinner, a
truckload of tomatoes, or a
single cucumber. Here I am
not referring to the proverbial
joking of the salesman, but to
working at being considerate
of your customers.
Try to remember some
thing personal about them;
preferences, family events,
sports teams followed. If this
does not come readily, then
write something down when
a transaction is completed
and study your notes in idle
minutes. Instilling a real ser
vice mentality in employees is
difficult, but remember that
example is the best teacher.
Perhaps what really char
acterizes service is sincerity.
If I serve you because service
and your satisfaction are im
portant to me, that is sincere.
(Contlmwd from Pago 10)
ready discovered this benefit
of black mulch and use it to
produce many vegetables for
the early market.
Researchers in New
Hampshire found no differ
ence in early tomato yield be
tween plants grown on red
and black mulch. However,
when they laid white mulch
between the row middles for
both mulch colors, they ob
served higher yields with
black mulch. This was only
for one year and the study
was going to be repeated but
it points to a possible method
of increasing yields using re-
If I put up a purchased sign
saying, “Our Customers Are
Number One,” and everyone
around me has the same sign,
that isn’t sincere. And, all in
all, sincerity is tough to fake.
Service, real service, is
good business. It just needs to
be done and to be felt, not
only talked about.
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Grower end Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 9, 2000-Page
HortiCountry
fleeted light. Hopefully, fur
ther studies will see if this
effect is repeatable as well as
if it can be increased further
using different colors and, if
so, if it is economically feasi
ble.
There can also be a reduc
tion in diseases and insects
from selecting different col
ored mulches. I mentioned
earlier that tomatoes grown
on red mulch had a lower in
cidence of early blight. Re
searchers in Florida reported
increased yields of tomato
grown on silver mulch be
cause of a reduction in
tomato spotted wilt virus.
Other researchers have ob
served less virus infections on
squash grown on silver
mulch. This is believed to be a
result of the mulch confusing
the insects that spread the
virus because of its reflective
properties. Instead of landing
and feeding, the reflected
light causes them to continue
flying past the crop.
Yellow is known to attract
Cut comers
without
cutting
quality.
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too with the long 1 10-mch
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Save maintenance
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C ome in loda) and see
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haying |ohs down lo size
A Nobody knows hay like
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570-729-7117
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2095 S Market St, Elizabethtown, Pa
717-367-8867
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RD 1, Box 46, Klmgerstown, Pa
717-648-2088
UMBERGER’S OF FONTANA, INC.
RD 4, Box 545, Lebanon, Pa
717-867-2613
some insect pests and has ac
tually been used in IPM pro
grams in squash. The outer
rows in a field are planted on
yellow mulch and then only
these rows are sprayed since
insects entering the field are
drawn there. Researchers
have reported significant
saving from reduced spray
applications using this
method to “trap” insect
pests. The researchers in Bel
gium also used colored
mulches treated with glue to
capture thrips in their study
on leek production. They
found a lower number of
thrips on leeks grown on
treated mulches of colors at
tractive to insects (yellow and
blue) than on leeks grown on
bare soil.
On a related note, re
searchers in Israel reported
that by using various-colored
plastic shade nets they were
able to obtain dramatic ef
fects on growth and flowering
of several types of cut flo
wers. This technology might
eventually find a use in the
production of vegetable
transplants.
[iM^
m
199