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market-farming - Re: Making a living, cont.

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  • From: Marie Kamphefner <kampy AT grm.net>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Making a living, cont.
  • Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 09:11:52 -0600

Hi Bob,

When you put it like this, it gives me hope.  Thanks for the upper!  I'm going to get out your book and read it again.

Marie in Missouri (the hillbilly banana republic - don't you just love it???)




At 01:07 PM 01/10/2001 -0500, you wrote:
A really big point to remember in all of these discussions is the size of the
food market in our local areas.  As I recall, the USDA reported average food
sales for every person living in the country in 1999 as $2671...that's for
every person, and presumably does not include output of home gardens and a
lot of the sales that you and I make directly to our farm customers. 

So a village and environs that contains only 1,000 people spends $2.6 million
per year on food.  About half consumed at home and half "away".  If local
farms can capture just 10% of that in veggies, fruit, dairy, poultry, meat,
herbs, etc., that is $260,000.  How many small farms can be nicely supported
with that total gross?  I don't know, but would suspect at least 5.  Remember
that this dollar amount is for retail sales; and, in my opinion, that is the
key way for almost all of us to do business if we expect to succeed.

That last paragraph concerns the potential in a village of 1,000.  As we look
at larger areas the numbers get staggering.  For example, the Central Puget
Sound area here in WA, has 3.2 million people.  That translates to $8.7
billion annual food sales...and getting 10% of that market requires 17,340
farms like ours (5-10 acres, with just an acre or two in intensive
production)!  Is that feasible?  Yes, it is.  The land base is there in small
parcels all over.  Are there enough potential farmers?  There would be with
some institutional encouragement and support.  (And we are working on that
with increasingly effective pressure on our land grant college and state ag.
dept. from the WA Sustainable Food and Farming Network.  In fact, we are
lobbying the legislature--for virtually the first time--to fund an organic
and direct marketing program at those institutions.  More on that later,
after the fresh, local organic lunch and briefing is served to our county
representatives and senators on January 18th!)

There is this huge domestic food market sitting near all our front doors. 
The land grants and the rest of the ag establishment are ignoring it.  Even
the biggest corporations are ignoring it to their peril, in the sense that
they try to dictate to or mislead consumers instead of responding to actual
consumer needs (healthy, increasingly nutritious, fresh, etc.)  The challenge
for all of us non-commodity farmers is a marketing one:  How to capitalize on
the formidably unique advantages we have in every locale.

Bob Gregson
Island Meadow Farm
Vashon Island, WA

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  • Making a living, cont., BBGREGSON, 01/10/2001
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: Making a living, cont., Marie Kamphefner, 01/11/2001

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