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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] % of population interested, was "Getting the word..."

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  • From: tanis grif <tanisgrif@yahoo.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] % of population interested, was "Getting the word..."
  • Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 10:29:49 -0700 (PDT)

In a s.WI county+ area with 500,000 to 600,000 people, from slightly
overlapping
advertizing by 3 garden groups, each spring a grafting class (for free or
nominal
fee) can pull only 1/2 dozen attendees.

What kind of statistics could we pull together to get an idea of who wants
fruit-growing/exploring education, and how many are attending classes, and
how they
heard about the classes?


--- dwoodard wrote:

> Michael, I don't know what the memberhsip of NAFEX is right now, but it
> seems to have hovered around 3000 for a number of years, almost all in the
> U.S. and Canada. The combined population of these countries is around 320
> million. So our members are about 1 in 60,000 of the more or less
> able-bodied
> adults in our continental society. I think that the potential membership
> is under 1 in 1000 but is much larger than the current membership.
>
> If we just let nature take its course our membership will decline and the
> cultural resource that it represents, essential to our society's future
> survival, will also decline. The services NAFEX can provide to our core
> elite of knowledgeable fruit explorers will decline. The constituency for
> their activities and their government and professional allies, individual
> and instituitonal, will also decline, for a few decades at least.
> Therefore I think there is a case for building the membership. To do that
> we will have to serve our potential members better and make it easier for
> them to learn and to practice home fruit growing and fruit exploring in
> all its facets.
>
> If we want to grow and strengthen, and it's important that we should, we
> need to be friendly to our rookies and help them develop.
>
> Doug Woodard
> St. Catharines, Ontatio. Canada
>
>
>
> Michael Nave wrote:
>
> > With regard to number 1, amateur fruit and vegetable
> > growing is not about marketing. It's about love. If
> > the internet generation doesn't want to join a fruit
> > and vegetable group because they don't like the
> > website, it would be pointless for them to join NAFEX
> > or NNGA. Trying to make a fancier website to attract
> > these people would be like making a trail of bananas
> > to get a gorilla to enter an opera house. The gorilla
> > would not appreciate it when it got there.
> >
> > Number 2. People look at you like you're in the wrong
> > place because 99.99% of young folks have no
> > understanding of the importance or wonderment of fruit
> > and vegetable growing nor any interest in it. So the
> > odds are very good that when people see you they think
> > you are in the wrong place. If they refer to you as
> > the baby of the group, it's because you are the baby
> > of the group. If that bothers you, and I cannot
> > imagine why it would, just wait. Eventually you will
> > not be the baby of the group. You will not be 24
> > forever. Enjoy it while it lasts. It will be gone very
> > soon.
> >
> > Number 3. If someone is interested, they'll find these
> > groups. It's not the group's job to try to twist your
> > arm. That doesn't work anyway. The real issue is why
> > are so few people looking for these groups. The answer
> > has to do with American society, not with clanky
> > websites or 24 year olds who think they should be
> > treated like 60 year olds. The answer has more to do
> > with popular culture, a culture which treats growing
> > fruits and vegetables as a nonexistent activity at
> > worst and at best something that only illegal
> > immigrants would be interested in.
> >
> >
> > --- Amanda Emily <amanda@wa-geek.net> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> As a 24-year old who actually works in technology,
> >> let me be frank and
> >> offer some opinions.
> >>
> [snip]
>
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