Operators promote other products or services in the area to bring in more tourism
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Producers along an historic trail are pooling their resources to showcase their operations and reduce their marketing costs.
The rural merchants of the Historic Otter 248th Trail at Langley, B.C., include Krause Berry Farms and Estate Winery, JD Farms Specialty Turkey, Bonetti Meats, Kensington Prairie Alpaca Farm, Blackwood Lane Winery and the Thunderbird Show Park equestrian centre.
The berry and turkey operations, which participated in the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association in Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, Feb. 1-6, detailed in interviews how each agribusiness carries the other’s products and promotes events at their sites.
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Sandee Krause, whose business employs up to 200 employees during peak season in addition to seasonal berry pickers, said her farm’s cooking class chef takes 12 participants along the three to five kilometre trail to pick up ingredients.
“It’s not just teaching recipes. They teach them how to choose different products,” she said of the Wolfgang at the Farmer’s Table event that people pay up to $160 to attend.
Krause said such ventures can also be feasible for other farm operators.
“Partnerships are great, we really believe in them,” she said. “We can advertise to a broader area and reach more people for less money because we’re advertising together.”
The group meets five times a year to create seasonal and special events and collaborate with associate businesses such as Christmas tree and day lily growers in the area.
They create bags that feature one another’s ventures and are used along the trail, allowing them to increase awareness of each other’s products.
Debbie Froese of JD Farms said the promotion has increased sales in wholesale and retail areas in addition to the local region in the eight years since it was created.
Froese doesn’t feel they are in competition with another.
“We are all different businesses who will all promote each other,” she said.
Otter Road was named after General William Dillon Otter, who fought in the Northwest Rebellion, commanded the first Canadian contingent in the South African war and was knighted in 1913.
The group will continue to develop its website at shophistoricotter248thtrail.com, a trail run between the businesses and promotional booths for use at off site events.
“People love to come out from the city,” said Krause, citing the large population base the group draws on from nearby Vancouver.
Contact karen.morrison@producer.com
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Gentry’s Farm in Franklin, Tenn., offers a history lesson in agriculture for visitors who flock to the 165-year-old farm. | Karen Morrison photo
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Horse hoops on Tennessee’s Lucky Ladd Farm was named the best new idea at the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association annual conference. | Karen Morrison photo
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Workers prepare fried apple pies at the Apple Barn Cider Mill and General Store at Sevierville, Tenn. The agritourism operation was a featured stop on a bus tour.
| Karen Morrison photo
