Direct to Consumer

A partnership between consumers and farmers in which consumers pay for farm products in advance and farmers commit to supplying sufficient quantity, quality, and variety of products. This type of arrangement can be initiated by the farmer (farmer directed) or by a group of consumers (participatory).

This webpage is the Marketing archives of the Women In Agriculture webinars.

This directory is developed jointly by the Niche Meat and Poultry Producers and the Ag Marketing Program of the University of Maryland Extension. This directory serves as a way to connect buyers, consumers, producers, and market masters to fresh, high-quality farm-raised meats from Maryland producers. For ease of aggregating suppliers, this directory has been organized by product, though many producers offer multiple products. If a listing includes “USDA,” it applies only to Beef, Bison, Chevon, Lamb, and Pork.

Frozen foods are a pandemic powerhouse ringing in $65.1 billion in retail sales in 2020, a 21% increase compared to a year ago.” In 2020, frozen food sales grew in both dollars (+21%) and units (+13.3%), with nearly all types of frozen foods seeing double-digit sales increases...Feb 23, 2021.

Marketing trends usually address a category of products that are gaining in popularity or address a niche group of consumer wants or needs. While marketing strategies address how to implement your marketing plan to your target customers. The marketing strategies of the behemoth Amazon and our use of our electric devices are changing how we need to think about both our customers wants and needs and how we present our marketing messages to them. Let’s exam these two “effects”.

Regardless of your direct marketing outlet (farmers’ market, on-farm stand, CSA, or Pick-Your-Own), great customer service is the undeniable business principle that cannot be neglected in order to have a sustainable and profitable business. Even though we’re increasingly connected by our electronic devices and messages, the human side of doing business still matters.

In his book The Practice of Management, Peter Drucker declares the only one valid definition of a business’ purpose is to create a customer… Because it is its purpose to create a customer, any business enterprise has two—and only these two—basic functions: marketing and innovation… Nowhere does Drucker say our business is about our product or our production, it’s about creating a customer. Our product must satisfy a want or need. So, who doesn’t need food? And with all the “buzz” about buying local products, why are we still struggling to grow our customer bases.

A new global survey of consumer sentiment about the people who put food on our tables indicates that there is a lack of understanding of how providing safe, affordable food arrives, according to a new study from Cargill Inc. A majority of the respondents in the Food4Thought survey — 55% — believe farmers should care most about providing safe, healthy, abundant and affordable food. Farmers are under pressure to feed the world and protect the Earth’s resources through sustainable practices in addition to cost-effectively providing for their own families, the survey reported.”

The USDA’s first survey of Local Food Marketing Practices, conducted in 2015, found 167,009 U.S. farms sold $8.7 billion in edible food directly to consumers, retailers, institutions, and local distributors. Consumers accounted for 35 percent of these direct food sales, and retailers, 27 percent. Direct farm sales include both fresh foods and processed or value added products such as bottled milk, cheese, meat, jam, cider, wine, etc.

Loyalty programs have proven themselves to be one of the best most effective marketing tools retail markets and service providers can implement for increasing revenue and repeat customers. As many as 84% of consumers say they are more apt to stick with a brand that offers a loyalty program and 66% of customers say the ability to earn rewards changes their spending behavior.