CALGARY Ñ Organic producers have a daunting list of options to consider when it comes to marketing their commodities.
Instead of producing a product, dropping it off at the elevator and waiting for a cheque, they are forced to actively market their products through a variety of options such as selling products directly off the farm and delivering to big city restaurants.
“That is probably what a lot of people who make the switch to organics have the most difficulty with,” said Tony Marshall, owner of Highwood Crossing, a value-added organic business in Aldersyde, Alta.
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Marshall chaired a marketing options session at the Feb. 5 Going Organic conference in Calgary that was kicked off by Dan Wiens, who runs a community-shared agricultural co-operative near Winnipeg.
Wiens presented one of the more novel approaches to retailing, describing how 85 city dwellers pay $400 each for a share of his 10-acre vegetable farm located within biking distance of Winnipeg.
The shares entitle each family to an equal portion of the farm’s weekly bounty during the summer production months, but it also obligates them to pitch in with the various aspects of running the farm.
“At the end of the day they will be sweaty and dirty and full of mosquito bites and do you know what they say to us? ‘Thank you,’ ” he told growers attending the Calgary event.
With additional sales revenue, the farm is able to generate $6,000 per acre. Wiens said when expenses and land costs are subtracted, he is left with $35,000 to pay for labour and to share among the operation’s business partners.
Although he recognized that talking about profit is taboo in many organic circles, he also said it was important to show this model of farming can be successful.
Frank Sarro, category manager with Community Natural Foods, presented a more conventional model of food retailing.
His company operates two grocery stores in Calgary that offer the largest line of organic products in the city.
Sarro said his customers are looking for contact with the people who grow their food, so the company posts grower profiles containing photos of the farmers they do business with and a brief description of their operations.
“We don’t sell apples. We sell George’s apples,” he said.
The store also encourages product demonstrations by producers to help build a bond between grower and consumer.
Producers at the conference expressed concern about the relationship between growers and the retailer. They wondered how much the store marks up their commodities and how it preserves the organic integrity of what they produce.
Sarro said markups vary considerably by product but he assured growers that if prices appear to be high, it is because it costs a lot to properly store, display and market organic food.
For instance, the company pays its 140 employees about four percent more than the industry standard because of their in-depth product knowledge.
While the store has not been certified organic, Sarro said it adheres to strict guidelines such as spraying non-chlorinated water on vegetables.
Ron Hamilton avoids middlemen like Community Natural Foods by selling his 120 meat products through year-round farmers’ markets in Calgary and Edmonton.
Eight years ago he started farming by raising a flock of 80 chickens. Next year his Sunworks Farm near Armena, Alta., will raise 50,000 certified organic chickens, 500 lambs, 500 pigs, 2,000 ducks and 2,000 turkeys.
Farmers’ markets account for 95 percent of his sales, with the remainder going to restaurateurs like Wade Sirois, owner of Calgary’s Infuse Catering.
Sirois buys supplies from 21 farms within a three-hour drive of his kitchen. He said buying locally grown fresh organic meat and produce gives him a leg up on his competition.
He thinks Alberta’s organic sector is underdeveloped because he sees loads of demand for the product.
“It can only grow. It really blows my mind how little is out there.”
