Posted on: Sunday, May 23, 2004
Farmers go online to lure customers
By Maureen Groppe
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — Sometimes John O'Malley Burns answers his e-mail as the owner of Goat Hill Farm.
And sometimes he answers assuming the identity of someone else on the farm — a goat.
When Burns established a Web site to promote his Virginia farm's specialty vegetables, he added a link to encourage people to "Contact the Goat."
Burns' goat gimmick is one example of how farmers are using the Internet to connect with consumers and help market their products.
Promoters say the Web sites give consumers an alternative to the often-anonymous produce at supermarkets. People can find the nearest farmers' market, corn maze, hormone-free beef or local U-Pick farm online. They can get goat's milk fudge or other specialty food products shipped to them with a click. Or they can just chat via computer with a goat.
Burns said that for him, word of mouth still beats "word of mouse" in drawing buyers to his farm an hour west of Washington.
But state and national agricultural groups hope to change that.
For example:
• The National Farmers Union is using a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to teach farmers how to market their goods through the Internet. Started last year, the Web site — www.e-cooperatives.com — got 150,000 hits from producers and others in its first year. "There's been a tremendous growth in farmers who have computers and growth of those who have access to the Internet," said Jeff Moser, the farm group's director of economic and co-op development.
• Many states promote local agricultural products on their Web sites. The newest entrant is www.buyillinoisproducts.com, which came online in April. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he hopes the site will help producers reach potential buyers other than at the local grocery store or seasonal roadside stand.
• Farmers market organizations are using the Internet to help people find the nearest market. The California Federation of Certified Farmers' Markets updates its site almost daily with markets' changing hours, locations and products. The site gets about 60,000 hits a month.
"It's huge," said Randii MacNear, one of the group's founders.
MacNear and others said the growth in e-commerce is coinciding with people's increasing interest in knowing where and how their food is grown, especially after the discovery in December of a case of mad cow disease in Washington state.
"It's just like, 'Contact us.' But it's a little bit more catchy," Burns said. "The kids say, 'Is that really you? What do you look like?' "
•
On the Web
Where consumers can go for information on farmers and their products:
• www.ams.usda.gov/
farmersmarkets/States/
Hawaii.htm, to find a Hawai'i listing of farmers markets.
Where farmers can go for information on setting up Web sites:
• www.e-cooperatives.com, a Web site developed by the National Farmers Union to help producers market their goods over the Internet.
• www.sba.gov, the U.S. Small Business Administration has information for businesses on developing their own Web sites.
• www.ams.usda.gov, click on "direct marketing," then "publications" to get to USDA publication, "How to Direct-Market Farm Products on the Internet."
