Developing Capacity and Nurturing Leadership to Assist Producers in Transitioning to Sustainable Marketing Systems

2004 Annual Report for ENC02-067

Project Type: Professional Development Program
Funds awarded in 2002: $62,152.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2004
Region: North Central
State: Ohio
Project Coordinator:
Laura Ann Bergman
Innovative Farmers of Ohio

Developing Capacity and Nurturing Leadership to Assist Producers in Transitioning to Sustainable Marketing Systems

Summary

This project seeks to establish a well-tooled support system for producers who want to develop direct marketing strategies by providing coordinated and in-depth training to educators, service providers, and producers.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Fall 2002
Gathering and purchasing informational resources and providing Internet links so marketing specialists will have, and/or will have access to, a library of resources.
Laura Ann Bergman, Executive Director, IFO and John Ellerman, OSU Direct Marketing Specialist, and the project leadership team

Fall - Winter 2003
Facilitating intensive trainings to enhance awareness, knowledge of, and behavior changes among network participants in direct and regional marketing systems.
This project will develop two intensive workshops over the course of two years focusing on “nuts and bolts” of direct marketing in year one. In year two, a “train the trainer” workshop on NxLevel’s “Tilling the Soil of Opportunity” will be held to increase skills in developing business and marketing plans. This curriculum will not only assist participants in the network, but increase Ohio’s capacity to take to this valuable training to all areas of the state. Audience: Assemble a network with diverse representation from five regions in the state of Ohio. A core of representatives from each region will be sought from Ohio State University Extension (2+ specialists per region), Small Business Development Centers, Producers (2+ per region)

Summer – Fall 2003
Facilitating continuing education and communications between network participants; Planning and implementing region specific educational programs.
A forum will be established, primarily through a list serve, to communicate questions, challenges, and opportunities that the direct marketing specialists experience. Over the course of the project, network participants will also design and implement educational programs and/or learning venues such as farm tours that emphasize potential marketing systems that are specific to their community.

Fall 2004
Working with direct marketing network participants to conduct seminars for agricultural lenders in each of the five regions of the state to increase knowledge of the viability of sustainable farming systems and direct marketing strategies among agricultural lenders in Ohio.
Working with agricultural lenders is a growing concern voiced among farmers transitioning to sustainable production and marketing systems. The Small Farm Institute is currently speaking with banks in the Wayne/Holmes County region, which is predominantly served by locally owned banks. SFI’s preliminary work has revealed a need to broaden the scope of agricultural lenders’ understanding of the capacity of sustainable farming enterprises to serve as an engine for community economic development. In addition, need has arisen to assist agriculture lenders in becoming acquainted with sustainable farming systems – including direct marketing as well as other enterprises – so that local banks can sufficiently and fairly serve the needs of this community. Agriculture lenders seminars will include a half-day marketing seminar that will be conducted in five locations in Ohio.

Accomplishments/Milestones

-Gathering and purchasing information resources and providing Internet links so marketing specialists will have, and/or will have access to, a library of resources.
A comprehensive resource packet was assembled for the Introduction to Direct Marketing Training in June 2003. A list serve for all participants has been developed and maintained through University Outreach and Extensions’ Direct Marketing Team, under leadership of John Ellerman. The Direct Marketing Team has updated their website considerably, and it continues to grow as a resource for the state.

In early 2004, John Ellerman surveyed stakeholders (farmers, non-farmers, and non-profit organizations) and agricultural service providers (University Outreach and Extension, Small Business Development Center, etc.) through an on-line instrument for input to develop a plan of work for the Direct Marketing Team. Portions of the survey results are provided as an appendix. This snapshot analysis points to multiple, diverse learning objectives for all three primary audiences related to direct marketing.

-Facilitating intensive trainings to enhance awareness, knowledge of, and behavior changes among network participants in direct and regional marketing systems.

Three intensive trainings have been held through this project to date:

Introduction to Direct Marketing
Logistics: June 4-5, 2003, Stratford Ecological Center, Delaware, Ohio
Instructors: Charlie Touchette, Director of the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association; Brent Warner, Horticultural and Marketing Specialist, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture; and, Peggy Kirk Hall, Director of the Agricultural and Rural Law Program at The Ohio State University.
Key Resource Materials: “Marketing on the Edge”, by Brent Warner
Participants: 25: 5 farmers, 20 service providers
Description and Insights: This intensive workshop was designed to provide an introduction to diverse direct marketing methods including: On-Farm Stands, Agritourism, Community Supported Agriculture, and Farmers Markets, drawing on the experience-based knowledge of Charlie Touchette and Brent Warner. Instructors effectively communicated ‘nuts and bolts’ considerations for farmers while upholding successful enterprises throughout North America. This blending of theory with living models yielded a high quality training session that served both farmers and agricultural educators well. Questions of legality and liability, which are often the first to surface when talking with farmers considering direct marketing, were effectively addressed by Peggy Hall’s expertise.

An evening tour, local foods meal, and discussion held at Jorgensen Farm Market provided a cultural and informal setting that enable participants to network one-on-one. Jorgensen Farm Market, which has since redesigned their operation, is a 70-acre peri-urban farm focusing its own production on poultry, lamb, and herbs. At the time of the training, they had a well-established farm market that consolidated and showcased products from 15+ regional farms. (In December 2003, the farm market was discontinued due to family health challenges.) Evaluations portrayed this evening networking as the most valuable portion of the training. One participant reflected, “It is inspiring to talk with everyone, and share ideas. In my region, there are times when I feel like a lone wolf. This (training) has given me tools to help my farmers, and motivation to forge ahead.”

Marketing and Business Plans for Direct Marketing
Logistics: June 18-19, 2003, Wooster.
Instructor: Don Rogers, Senior Farm Business Consultant with First Pioneer Farm Credit covering territory of New Jersey, New York and Southern New England. He heads Farm Credit’s consulting group that provides fee based financial services to farmers and agribusiness. Specialties include farm management with emphasis on financial and labor issues, business planning and family transfers.
Key Resource Materials: Business Planning Workbook for Retail Farm Markets, by Don Rogers
Participants: 15 agricultural lenders, 2 service providers
Description and Insights: This training followed a step-by-step approach to completing a business and marketing plan for retail direct marketing enterprises. Topics included: management techniques, accounting, quality of life, risk management, the business planning process, capital investment analysis, enterprise analysis, and marketing. Farmer leaders attending the training utilized it to take a headlong look at often difficult questions with their operations. Trainers and educators received new tools that they could utilize in pieces, or as a whole, with one-on-one consulting. Farmer evaluations for the training were high, however, University Outreach and Extension evaluations were not as favorable.

Working Landscapes
Logistics: March 29-30, 2004, Stratford Ecological Center, Delaware
Instructors: Jay Healy is a former Agriculture Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where he established award-winning programs (Farm Viability Enhancement Program among others) that enhanced farm profitability through targeted business planning and entrepreneurial training programs. Jay manages and operates his family’s Hall Tavern Farm, a 500-acre operation that has transitioned from commodity dairy and forage crops to value-added directly marketed, farm and forestry products. He has successfully developed numerous, low-cost public/private buy local, farmland preservation, and environmental coalitions that have resulted in the retention of thousands of acres of prime farmland in Massachusetts. Michael Lehan co-founded Berkshire Management Group, (BMG) to bring to small businesses the financial and management tools from his 15 years at Fortune 100 corporations. BTG has worked with over 200 small businesses, including participants in the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture’s Farm Viability Enhancement Program and Business Training Program.
Key Resource Materials: Working Landscapes planning notebook, The Right End of the Telescope: Using Your Cash Flow to Grow Your Business, by Mike Lehan.
Participants: 18 participants, 9 farmers, 9 educators
Description and Insights: Working Landscapes business training was chosen by the Leadership Council in lieu of a Tilling the Soil of Opportunity train-the-trainer session for several reasons.
1) Tilling the Soil had been taught in Ohio for several years. Instructors were continually challenged to engage farmers in the 12 week commitment required. Working Landscapes could be taught in four sessions, or on an individual basis.
2) Working Landscapes addresses people ‘where they are’, and presents business planning curricula in the context of critical thinking. Many producers engaged in Tilling the Soil were overwhelmed by the intensity of the class, though most felt the resources were beneficial. Some, still exploring enterprises, found the class premature for their needs. IFO’s experiences hosting Tilling the Soil in the winter of 2003 mirrored these insights.

We had a highly successful and thoughtful training session, though the numbers were lower than projected. The equal balance of educators and farmers was a new environment for Working Landscapes trainers. Yet, the balance proved to be a tremendous benefit for both audiences. Throughout the two days, farmer-educator teams worked together. Farmers left with a business plan, while trainers left with deeper insights on how their clients could most benefit from the curricula. This verified the tremendous value of mixed audiences in SARE PDP trainings.

Mike Lehan has agreed to assist the Leadership Council in revising the Working Landscapes materials, incorporating case studies (stories) that are based on Ohio farms. John Ellerman, Leah Miller, and Laura Ann Bergman will be working on this throughout 2004.

-Facilitating continuing education and communications between network participants; Planning and implementing region specific educational programs.

The Ohio Food and Farm Network: (www.ohiofoodandfarm.net) In late 2003 the Ohio Food and Farm Network, a growing coalition of fourteen non-profit organizations and community initiatives, coalesced through leadership of Innovative Farmers of Ohio. OFFN is focused on regional food system development, and therefore has placed heavy emphasis on building our capacity to supply emerging markets.

The Network is supported by OSU advisors including Dr. Deb Stinner, Organic Food and Farming Education and Research Program (OFFER/OSU/OARDC), Dr. Ben Stinner, Agroecosystems Management Program (AMP/OSU/OARDC), and John Ellerman, State Direct Marketing Specialist.

To date, OFFN partners have collaborated to:
1)Understand individual and collective experiences and skills
2)Capture statewide press on local foods around Thanksgiving and Easter holidays
3)Sponsor events highlighting sustainable agricultural opportunities
4)Collaborate on fundraising endeavors

OFFN partners will be collaborating with the Greater Columbus Foodshed Project in the summer of 2004 to design and execute a “Buy Local” campaign, utilizing Foodroutes, a national non-profit organization that supports farmer-consumer connections.

The Direct Marketing and Sustainable Agriculture Extension Teams: Extension teams continue to experience greater diversity in membership, and find that direct marketing and sustainable agricultural principles are becoming deeply integrated into their work. Extension has either participated in or led four direct marketing workshops in the past year, and is planning three farm tours with this focus in 2004. John Ellerman has worked with twenty-five emerging farmers markets in the last two years. He notes that in many communities, supply (farmers) for these markets is a greater challenge than consumer demand.

Working with direct marketing network participants to conduct seminars for agricultural lenders in each of the five regions of the state to increase knowledge of the viability of sustainable farming systems and direct marketing strategies among agricultural lenders in Ohio.

On June 17, 2003, an Ag Lenders Workshop taught by Don Rogers was held in Northeast Ohio. Fifteen lenders attended. The presentation had positive reviews, with the most pressing questions revolving around evaluating transition enterprises, and benchmarks of “non-traditional” crops/products from local farmers. We will continue Ag Lenders workshops in 2004, by consulting with local extension agents to identify issues, and incorporating a packet of appropriate resources including enterprise budgets.