Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T22:45:57.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evaluating marketing channel options for small-scale fruit and vegetable producers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2010

M.N. LeRoux ,
T.M. Schmit ,
M. Roth  and
D.H. Streeter
M.N. LeRoux
Affiliation:
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY, USA.
T.M. Schmit*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
M. Roth
Affiliation:
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Ithaca, NY, USA.
D.H. Streeter
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
*
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An analytical framework and ranking system is developed to summarize the primary factors affecting marketing channel performance and to prioritize those channels with the greatest opportunity for success. An application of the model is conducted using case-study evidence from four small-scale diversified vegetable crop producers in Central New York. The relative costs and benefits of alternative wholesale and direct marketing channels are investigated, including how the factors of risk, owner and paid labor, profits, lifestyle preferences and sales volume interact to impact optimal market channel selection. Given the highly perishable nature of the crops grown, along with the risks and potential sales volume of particular channels, a combination of different marketing channels is needed to maximize overall firm performance.

Keywords

local foodmarketingwholesaledirectmarketing channelseconomic evaluation
Type
Research Papers
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 25 , Special Issue 1: “Food for Life”: Looking Beyond the Horizon , March 2010 , pp. 16 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1United States Department of Agriculture. 2006. USDA Releases New Farmers Market Statistics. News Release, 5 December 2006, Agricultural Marketing Service No. 281-06. Washington, DC. Available at Web site http://www.ams.usda.gov (verified 23 March 2009).Google Scholar
2United States Department of Agriculture. 2008. Farmers Market Growth 1994–2008. Agricultural Marketing Service. Available at Web site http://www.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets (verified 23 March 2009).Google Scholar
3Local Harvest. 2009. Community Supported Agriculture. Available at Web site http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ (verified 23 March 2009).Google Scholar
4Brown, C. and Miller, S. 2008. The impacts of local markets: a review of research on farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90(5):1296–1302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Monson, J., Mainville, D., and Kuminol, N. 2008. The decision to direct market: an analysis of small fruit and specialty-product markets in Virginia. Journal of Food Distribution Research 39(2):1–11.Google Scholar
6Hardesty, S. 2007. Producer Returns in Alternative Marketing Channels. Small Farms Program, Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. University of California—Davis. Available at Web site http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/events/07hardesty.pdf (verified 23 March 2009).Google Scholar
7Tegtmeier, E. and Duffy, M. 2005. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the Midwest United States: A Regional Characterization. Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, Ames, IA. Available at Web site http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/files/csa_0105.pdf (verified 23 March 2009).Google Scholar
8Oberholtzer, L. 2004. Community supported agriculture in the Mid-Atlantic region: results of a shareholder survey and farmer interviews. Small Farm Success Project. Available at Web site http://www.smallfarmsuccess.info/CSA_Report.pdf (verified 23 March 2009).Google Scholar
9Biermacher, J., Upson, S., Miller, D., and Pittman, D. 2007. Economic challenges of small-scale vegetable production and retailing in rural communities: an example from rural Oklahoma. Journal of Food Distribution Research 38(3):1–13.Google Scholar
10Uva, W.-F.L. 2002. An analysis of vegetable farms' direct marketing activities in New York State. Journal of Food Distribution Research 33(1):186–189.Google Scholar
11Hendrickson, J. 2005. Grower to Grower: Creating a Livelihood on a Fresh Market Vegetable Farm. Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Madison. Available at Web site http://www.cias.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/grwr2grwr.pdf (verified 23 March 2009).Google Scholar
12Hunt, A. 2007. Consumer interactions and influences of farmers market income. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 22(1):54–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13LeRoux, M.N. 2009. Marketing channel options for small-scale diverse vegetable and fruit producers. Unpublished thesis. Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.Google Scholar