;8-Grower & Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 17, 2003
El
The Farmstead:
Direct /
UNDERSTANDING
YOUR
CUSTOMER’S
PERCEIVED RISK
John Berry
Penn State
Marketing Agent
Perceived risk is that level
of risk a consumer believes ex
ists regarding the purchase of
a specific product from a spe
cific retailer, whether or not
that belief is actually correct.
In order to make a sale, you
must overcome the customer’s
perceived risk. The more im
portant the purchase is to the
customer, the greater the per
ceived risk. As an illustration,
if a customer is considering
buying sweet com for dinner
tonight, the perceived risk is
relatively low. If they are buy
ing com because the boss is
coming over for dinner, the
perceived risk goes up.
Perceived risks are also
greater if the customer has not
dealt with you as a retailer be
fore. New or unbranded items,
such as produce, also raise
perceived risk. As the cost of
an item goes up, so does the
perceived risk. Being on a
tight budget, having little ex
perience in purchasing the
item, and having many alter
natives to chose from all raise
perceived risk.
There are six types of per
ceived risk:
• Functional. Will the
product perform as I expect?
If the customer is buying
sweet com, this means, “Wifi
this com be as good as what I
remember from last year or
what I had last week?” If the
customer is buying petunias,
the risk is, “Will they make
my garden look the way 1
want it to look?”
• Physical. Can the prod
uct hurt me, my children, or
my pets? The use of pesticides
in the production of food
crops is frequently the concern
here, but ornamentals that
bear poisonous fruit can also
be a concern.
• Social. What will my
peers think? If customers are
buying sweet com to eat in the
privacy of their home, the risk
here is low. If they buy petuni
as and plant them in the front
yard and petunias are socially
out this year, it’s like having a
big sign in your yard
for five months say
ing, “geek lives I
here.” I
• Psychological.
Am I doing the right
thing? This can be a
strong motivator in
plant sales for the
environmentally con
cerned or an impos-
sible obstacle for the
truly paranoid.
• Financial. Can I
afford the purchase?
This is not a major
problem for most
people buying sweet
com or petunias. It is
a major obstacle for
customers consid
ering a specimen
1 Z. r&►\ H • M
trees that may cost $BO to
$2OO.
• Time. How much time
and effort may I expend to
make this purchase? This may
be the greatest perceived risk
for the plant and produce re
tailer to overcome. Picture
your potential customer in
their car thinking, “Do I want
to pull into that crowded
parking lot? Do I want to
stand in that line for a dozen
ears of com?” This is scary!
Many of the stands I visit fail
to overcome this perceived
risk. Their potential customers
drive by.
What do you do to over
come perceived risk? You en
counter examples every day.
Why is a new car guaranteed
for three years or 36,000
miles? This guarantee helps
overcome the customer’s func
tional perceived risk. Why
does the MacDonald’s sign
say billions and billions sold?
It reassures the customers that
the food will taste like they ex
pect it to, it won’t hurt them,
and it’s socially acceptable.
The customer feels that he
or she must be doing the right
thing, because everyone else is
doing it, too. Why do super
markets have express check
outs? These special facilities
make the customer think that
the time risk is low.
In our roadside stands and
garden centers, we can guar
antee produce quality or the
survival of costly perennials.
We can reassure the customer
our produce is fresh and pesti
cide free or picked today. We
can give personal endorse
ments, like a sign that says
‘Sweet Corn-Best of the Sea
son” or “Yellow Tomatoes-
Bill’s Favorite.” We can dis
play information about the
nutritional value of fruits and
vegetables or the environ
mental value of planting a tree
or flowers.
Most of all, we can watch
for the hesitant customers and
give them an encouraging
word. After all, they are only
concerned about perceived
risks.
Ponds Meet Small Farm Needs
Jim Ochterski
Schuyler County
Extension Educator
Ponds can provide many
benefits to small farms in New
York if properly built and
maintained. Many small-farm
operators struggle with the de
mands of production coupled
with limited time because of
off-farm employment. By pri
oritizing the maintenance as
pects of ponds, and preventing
problems before they start,
small farm operators can
maintain a safe, clean, and de
pendable supply of water for
agriculture uses and recrea
tion. This article provides
guidelines for agriculture uses
of ponds on small farms the
recommendations apply to all
sizes and types of agriculture
operations.
Irrigation
Farm ponds are now an im
portant source of irrigation
water, particularly for small
farms with permanent crops
such as brambles, fruit trees,
trellised fruits, and nurseries.
-Field crops and vegetables can
also be irrigated with pond
water during dry seasons. Irri
gation is critical to meeting
high yield goals and should be
employed to meet the crop’s
peak water use rate. Pond ca
pacity must be adequate to
meet crop requirements.
Water requirements vary by
crop, season, and weather
conditions. Small farm opera
tors should plan on applying
water in the most critical
stages of production to ensure
high yield while retaining ade
quate supply in the pond.
For many fruits and vege
tables, bud stage and fruit en
largement are priority irriga
tion stages. In assessing a
pond’s potential as a source of
water for irrigation, determine
the actual dimensions of the
pond: length, width, and aver
age depth. Multiply these
numbers to determine the
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rough volume of the pond in
cubic feet; to convert to gal
lons, multiply by 7.5.
The pond should have a
history of maintaining consis
tent water depth through the
summer. Ponds whose levels
fluctuate considerably will re
quire an irrigation intake that
can be adjusted to match
water levels. The required
storage capacity of a pond
used for irrigation depends on
water requirements of the
crops to be irrigated, rainfall
expected during the growing
season, efficiency of the irriga
tion system, losses because of
evaporation and seepage, and
the expected inflow to the
pond.
The second component of
irrigation assessment is re
charge. Ponds whose levels
fluctuate considerably are typ
ically sourced by runoff, ratti
er than springs. Monitor the
pond after heavy rainfall for
sediments, cloudiness, and silt.
These particles provide evi
dence of an unstable recharge
process that may not be de
pendable over time. Runoff
entering the pond should be
free from road surface con
taminants, manure, septic ef
fluent, and floating debris.
Nutrients entering the pond
from runoff or groundwater
can be detected with a water
test or by excessive growth of
algae and weeds. Proper site
selection for new irrigation
source ponds is essential. Test
pits will provide the most di
rect evidence of the water
storage capacity of a particu
lar site. Additional informa
tion can be derived from topo
graphic maps, soil surveys,
aerial photos, and onsite ob
servations. These products
and services are often avail
able from local NRCS or Soil
and Water Conservation Dis
trict offices.
Pond water used for irriga
tion must be filtered to pre-
vent clogging by suspended
particles, plants, and chemical
precipitates, particularly in
trickle irrigation systems. An
irrigation pond should be at
least 10 feet deep to create a
zone halfway between the sur
face and silty bottom to draw
in water that is relatively con
taminant free. Herbicides used
for aquatic weed control pose
a hazard to plants being irri
gated from the same source of
water. Follow label restrictions
on aquatic herbicides and con
sider using non-chemical
methods for aquatic weed con
trol in irrigation ponds.
Field And Orchard
Spraying
Ponds can be used as a
source of water to mix chemi
cals for crop protection. The
amount of water needed for
spraying is small, but it must
be available when needed.
If possible, develop a consis
tent method of conveying
water from the pond to the
spray tank. A series of check
valves will prevent uninten
tional contamination of pond
water while a tank is being
filled. Pond water is not rec
ommended as wash water for
tanks because of runoff and
bacterial contamination of the
equipment and hoses.
Recreation
There are many nonagricul
ture uses of ponds, including
swimming, boating, fishing,
nature exploration, and aes
thetics. The view of a well
maintained pond can be pleas
ing for non-farm neighbors
and your community. The rec
reational uses of a farm pond
must be compatible with agri
culture uses.
Identify your goals for the
pond before making decisions
that will compromise other
uses. Some small farms gain
supplemental income by pro
viding fee access to ponds for
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