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Just because another farmer in your area sells many of the same products as your farm and farms in a way that is similar to yours does not mean that you need to look at them as competition. What would happen though if instead of seeing those farms as “competition” we saw them as partners in farming, marketing, and our community? On our farm and in our community we have experienced a lot of benefits from building relationships with other farms in our area … even if we could be considered “direct competitors” with them.
On todays show I share five reasons why I believe it is important to build those relationships and how they can benefit all of the farmers in your community. I would love to hear about how you have built relationships with your farm neighbors and what the benefits have been. Join the discussion and leave a comment below!
Five Reasons to Build Marketing Relationships
- There is Room in the Market :: It is my belief that the local food movement is a market that is still growing, so there is room for more great farms to become involved in their community.
- Learning is Important :: The knowledge that farmers in the same area can share is so much better than things you can read in a book because you are farming with similar variables.
- Cooperation Can Bring Growth :: When a group of farms in an area join forces they can have an impact that is larger than any one of them could have done on their own. (Check out our Farm Crawl)
- Marketing Friendships Have Benefits :: Having other farmers at a market pointing potential customers your way is about the best advertising you can have.
- Your Tummy Can Benefit :: Farmers that raise great tasting food sometimes share that food! And really is that type of community one of the values of most small-scale farms?
**Special Note :: Because iTunes and Blogger were not playing nicely I now have a different feed for the podcast episodes. You can find a The Beginning Farmer Show specific feed at this link if you use an rss reader. I hope this also helps with some download problems others had been having as well.**
It must be the week for everyone to do your “hard lesson learned” as I found myself nodding when you mentioned the hose/water faucet. I left mine on overnight this week – how embarrassing!
Out of curiosity, why don’t you process your meat chickens yourself? Is this a regulation issue, since these are to sell to the public?
My 9 year old son says “Mr Book has the BEST voice…I could just sit and listen to him tell stories the whole day!” Another great show…we(the small farmer) are really all in this together…