Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Fresh Facts
Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.

President’s Message……

OFFMA’s new facelift Newsletter #249

June/July 2009
Volume 24, Number 6
My boys got me an iPod Nano for Mother’s Day. I am a bit technically challenged – I can
Google with the best of them but when it comes to iPod’s, Blogging, and Facebook I feel
like my grandmother when I used to help her set the time on her VCR! We live in a world of
constantly changing technology and today a website is a key marketing tool for any farm.

For the past several months OFFMA’s board has been working on a new website! The Inside this issue:
content was there but it was in need of a face lift. Rhinoplasty is one of the most common
types of cosmetic surgery. Small changes to a nose can make a big impact on appear- Members News 2
ance. For OFFMA we are hoping to draw consumers to an attractive, exciting site as well Customer Database 3
as provide an excellent resource for our members. The new website was launched simulta-
neously at Pingle’s Farm, OFFMA’s 2009 Outstanding Farm Market, and the Queen’s Park Get some photos 4
Farmers’ Market Event on Tuesday, June 16th. I am excited about the new look and the
interactive virtual barn for consumers to find a farm near them. In the members section you Local Food Activities 5
in NA
can navigate through upcoming events, download past studies in our research section, or-
der resource material, view a past newsletter or post a question on our forum - just to name Just driving by 6
a few.
Petting Zoo Re- 7
For 6 weeks starting in mid-June Twitter: sources
and again in the fall, OFFMA has a A great application to Food Safety & Trace- 7
marketing campaign with the send a tweet (one or ability Initiative
Weather Network and we will be two sentences of need
engaging article writers for newspa- to know information Upcoming Events 8
pers and magazines to get the word about your farm) to
out – Get Fresh. Visit a Farm! your tweeps (someone following you on Twitter).
People are being inundated with more information
and less time to process it all. Twitter is a great way
to send a brief action message to your tweeps.
Ex. ‘Strawberry season starts today!’ or ‘Now
Amy Strom booking campfires for October.’ It is easy to add
OFFMA President this application to your website or e-mail signature.
You can also become an OFFMA tweep for member
updates. Go to www.twitter.com for more
information.

OFFMA’s New Web Site

We have refreshed the OFFMA web site to be more consumer friendly and accessible. It is
now positioned to be a gateway to all our members’ web sites and farms.
Please take a minute to check the web site and make sure your information is correct and
current. You want to be sure that customers can find you.
Page 2 Fresh Facts
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
New Members....
Ceciley Parker
Windreach Farm
Ashburn, ON
Associate Member
Rick Wooten
London Ice Cream Company
London, ON
Harvest Ontario—2009 copies are
being distributed
Harvest Ontario is once again being distrib-
uted through Home Hardware stores
across the province. Make sure you pick
one up soon.
Steve Watt, publisher, has done an excel-
lent job of presenting OFFMA members
and promoting the agri-tourism industry.
As an OFFMA member, you will be featured
in the book with special OFFMA icons.
Annual Potluck Social
Tuesday, August 18
at
Mapleton’s Organic Dairy
Moorefield, ON
- try your hand at farmer’s golf
- tour the ice cream processing
plant
- learn more about CSA’s
- visit the new educational barn
It will be a full day of fun and
networking!!
Send your farm stories and happen-
ings to the OFFMA office, we will
tweet about them on twitter and let
all the followers know what is going
on.
We also often get reporters phoning
the office, if we know what is hap-
pening in your fields we can pass
that information along.
Classifieds:
FOR SALE:
Organic Stone Ground -Grains -
Flours- Cereals
Grass Roots Organics products
available to farm retailers. We
farm organically near Owen Sound,
Ontario and mill our grains into
various products. We are always
looking for new customers to sell
our products.
grassrootsorganics.ca
Contact: Sean McGivern, e-mail:
seanmc4@hotmail.com or call
519-794-4445
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ontario grown and processed pickled vege-
tables from Sunshine Farms. No chemical
preservatives or additives. Sunshine Farms
labels or use your own label. All Natural line
available as well as a line of Certified Or-
ganic Pickled products. See them all at
www.picklesplease.ca .
For info email: jj@ciaccess.com or phone
519-692-4416.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Large supply of 8 QT FLATS @ 25 CENTS
EACH available.
Contact-Bert Andrews, Cell: 905-691-2672
Farm: 905-878-5807 or e-mail:
farm@AndrewsScenicAcres.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WANTED: new wagon(s) for farm
visitors with flip down stairs to
unload. Contact: “Maw” Walker at
519-624-0085 or e-mail:
adventurefarm@aol.com
As a member you can submit a classified
ad at any time. It will also appear on line.
Get Fresh. Ask me how.
T-shirts Re-order
If you didn’t get a chance to get your sup-
ply of these colourful t-shirts, make sure
you order NOW.
Marigold yellow only,
Front: Get Fresh. Ask me how
Back: Get Fresh. Visit a farm.
www.ontariofarmfresh.com
$10 for short sleeved.
Call the OFFMA office and let them know
what sizes you are looking for.

Do you have a customer database…and are you using it to add
value, build relationships and grow your business?
This article first appeared in Donald Cooper’s newsletter but is very relevant for farm
marketers. For more information about Donald, go to donaldcooper.com
The internet is an incredible gift…you just
have to use it. Whatever the size of your
business, creating a complete and current
customer database and then using it
regularly and proactively to inform, add
value, stay in touch with customers and
prospects, is probably worth hundreds of
thousands, or millions of dollars on your
bottom line, over time.
And, when you go to sell your business
some day, you’ll probably get twice as
much for it, because you’ll have a health-
ier bottom line and a proven, reachable
and loyal clientele to sell to the new own-
ers, along with the “bricks and mortar”.
In the past two weeks we’ve received three
E-newsletters from businesses that took the
trouble to add us to their database and then
to create extraordinary offerings that would
be of interest to us…and we immediately did
business with two of them. And the very neat
thing is that it cost them virtually nothing to
reach us and to sell to us.
The third business that sent us an E-
Newsletter, the one that we didn’t immedi-
ately do business with, is our favorite Garden
Center. The ground is still frozen in our cot-
tage garden, but they sure got us thinking
and dreaming about planting. Here’s part of
the uplifting and helpful information that they
sent along to their database of gardening
enthusiasts…
TRENDWATCH: Color Trends for 2009
“HOPE” is the official color of 2009.
Yellow is the color of hope, warmth, radiant
optimism, and positive energy.
Yellow is the color of the sun…it uplifts and
energizes us.
Michelle Obama's inauguration dress de-
signer calls it lemongrass. Whatever you
call it, yellow in all shades from honey to
lemon to sweet orange-yellow is hot this
year.
Look for yellow to show up on items every-
where from home accents, to patio furniture
to the brilliant “going bananas” daylilies.
You may or may not be a gardener…it does-
n’t matter. I am, and it gets my juices going.
Newsletter #249 Page 3
The point here is that you should be con-
stantly building an electronic customer
database and regularly and proactively
using it to inform, excite and sell to peo-
ple who already know you and love you.
Of course, you have to get people’s per-
mission to send them stuff, but if you’re
worth your salt and genuinely committed
to helping people, they will want you in
their lives.
The people who installed air conditioning
in our cottage last Spring should have
sent all of their customers an E-Bulletin
last Fall reminding us how to shut the
system down and protect the compressor
over the Winter. At the same time they
could have told us about their Annual
Furnace Maintenance service package
that would improve fuel efficiency, com-
fort and safety….but they didn’t.
Now that Spring is here, they should
have sent us another E-Bulletin remind-
ing us how to reactivate the air condition-
ing, change the furnace filters and reset
the humidifier and heat exchanger. And,
they could remind us that if we don’t have
all of those wonderful air management
gizmos, now would be a good time to
look into it…but they didn’t. They missed
opportunity to add value, nurture relation-
ships and increase sales.
Here’s the simple, magic formula for suc-
cessful E-Marketing…“Communicate
regularly, inform a lot, help a lot, uplift a
lot…and while you’re at it…sell a little.”
It’s easily done. I’m sitting in a beautiful
hotel room in Barcelona, Spain writing
this and in a few days it will go out to you
and thousands of other clients and fans
around the world…and some of you will
rebook me. How neat is that?
So, what are you going to do, starting
practically immediately, to use this won-
derful gift of the internet and simple data-
base technology to create customer
“ownership”, grow your business and
improve your bottom line?
Page 4 Fresh Facts

A reminder from Jane Eckert—Don’t forget your camera!

Jane Eckert is a marketing professional with a lifetime of farm experience and a passion to help
farms, ranches, and tourism professionals learn more about agritourism, and how to make their
business profitable.

one. Often the photographer at your lo-

It's a new season! You have been work-
ing on getting everything perfect for
your customers. I know you are ex-
tremely busy, but I want to give you a
brief reminder--TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS
NOW of people enjoying your
farm. Most farms are always short of
good photographs for their websites and
brochures.
I know you don't have
the time to do this
yourself, so find a
friend who is good with
a camera or hire some-
cal newspaper is available for hire on
weekends. Whatever you have to do, find
someone that has the time to take
photo's of people enjoying themselves
picking berries, riding the wagon, find-
ing a pumpkin in the patch or shopping
in your market - just do it. If you don't
want to take photos of your customers,
then ask friends and "stage" the photo's
while your farm is decorated and the fall
mums are in bloom. You need to capture
smiling faces to use on your future bro-
chures, e-newsletters and website.
Be sure that you tell your hired photogra-
pher exactly the type of photo's that you
want - close-ups, smiling faces, etc. As a
matter of fact, it doesn't hurt to give
them a list of the exact places and situa-
tions that you would like them to take.
You should always ask for a release from
anyone in the photos. You may want to
look at a sample photo release form that
will accommodate multiple group pic-
tures. Go to http://
www.eckertagrimarketing.com/pdf/
photo-release.pdf to see what I have put
together.
Good photographs truly do make a dif-
ference on your website and brochures.
Take the time now to make sure you get
good supply of photos this year!

Looking for pictures of Farm Fresh Fun

Once you’ve got that perfect shot, share it with OFFMA
and get your farm photo on the OFFMA web site.
OFFMA’s new web site is more consumer friendly and
acts as a portal for the virtual farm fresh experience. If
you have pictures of your farm that we can use on the
web site please e-mail them to the OFFMA office. The
pictures need to be a minimum of 200 dpi and 5’x7’ in
size.
 Newsletter #249 Page 5

Lynn Ogryzlo has a weakness for good food. A second generation Canadian born Italian, Lynn’s culinary passion led
her into the seductive world of food and wine.
She worked with Inniskillin Wines for the first 10 years before branching out on her own as a food columnist. Over the next decade
Lynn created more than 1,400 recipes, mostly dedicated to the seasons of Niagara and its food. She was trained as a sommelier,
added wine columnist to her credits and introduced her readers to international destinations through their food and drink.
Most recently she has published Niagara Cooks, a cookbook highlighting Niagara farmers and Niagara fare.
Lynn travels across North America to collect material so she can write food stories. She has generously agreed to share some of
the examples of local food activities that she has discovered in her travels so that they may inspire you as well.

Seattle, Washington: the mayor has launched the
second annual Farm Fresh Family Challenge. He picks a
few families willing to buy most of its fresh food from farm-
ers markets between June and November and to write a
weekly blog during that time and to be willing to occasion-
ally host a local chef in their home kitchen to share shop-
ping and cooking tips.
In the Kawartha Lakes, Ontario Mark Trealout was
about to lose his farm when he got the idea of selling his
produce along with his neighbours at some Toronto’s farm-
ers’ market. Four years later, he has two refrigerated
trucks, two employees, and a delivery system in place to
get fresh produce efficiently to the customers.
The funds raised go towards annual school trips.
Finkelstein now has his own tv show called ‘Fink’ on
the Food Network channel.
Charlottetown, PEI has opened four new shops
selling local produce. The new shops won’t be a solu-
tion to the farming crisis, but could help the bottom line
of the farmers.
Prince Edward County’s, Taste of The County is
an event and culinary map. It draws 8,000 visitors to
the town of Picton for 4-weekends every summer. They
have a well organized wine and local food program that
the municipality not only supports, but funds.

In Stratford, Ontario high school teacher Paul Finkel-
stein started a cafeteria of foods the students grew or
sourced locally. The cafeteria makes healthy meals and
goes head to head with the schools foodservice supplier.
Each year they make a profit of approximately $25,000.
Devon, England’s money with the image of the
town is used for all local purchases. Over 70 busi-
nesses now operate with the towns’ own currency
which creates a visual impact of the importance of
keeping our dollars circulating in our local economy.
Page 6 Fresh Facts
Just driving by
By Dorene Collins, Marketing and Customer Service Program Lead with OMAFRA
In an earlier article I shared some of the
key research findings from OFFMA’s On
Farm Marketing in Ontario -2009 Report
including how visitors learned about
farm markets. The significance of ‘road
signs’ or ‘driving by and looked interest-
ing’ emphasizes the power of curb ap-
peal. With recent attention on ‘stay-
cations” this summer, and OFFMA re-
search showing that 47% of visitors
travel between 11 to 30 minutes from
home to visit a farm market, 2009 could
prove to be a banner year.
OFFMA’s consultant, Bob Cobbledick
with years of exper-
tise in the area of
direct farm market-
ing stated, “. . . the
easiest customer
you will ever get is
the one driving by –
so make your market
look as inviting as
possible.” Having
the opportunity to
visit farm markets
across North Amer-
ica, these are some
things that help to
increase curb appeal
on your farm:
1. Well maintained
grounds – well
trimmed with colour-
ful and large gar-
dens.
2. Pick-Your-Own Fields visible from
the road to show your business in opera-
tion (seeing people in the fields can en-
tice visitors).
3. Well maintained buildings - up to
date paint on buildings and trim – well
kept historic buildings including barns,
outbuildings and farm houses help con-
vey the often sought after rural lifestyle.
4. Welcoming signs that tell your story
in just a few seconds (make sure you
adhere to local municipal and provincial
sign bylaws and legislation).
5. Colourful seasonal displays. E.g.
Pumpkins are a great example due to
their size and brilliant colour.
While ‘Word of Mouth’ tops how con-
sumers learn about direct farm market-
ing operations (39%), those who stated
they “… live here” followed second at
20%. With the majority of visitors travel-
ling 10 to 30 minutes by private vehicle
to get to a direct farm marketing opera-
tion, what marketing efforts do you have
in place to encourage those who “live
here or near” to become loyal and re-
peat customers? If you charge admis-
sion, do you offer a
season pass? Do you
have loyalty cards for
products in your farm
market/store? How do
you keep those that
live near you aware of
changing products and
events as the season
progresses?
Lastly, the OFFMA
study revealed from an
“experience” perspec-
tive reasons why cus-
tomers visit the farm:
“Fun experience for
the family; Kids love it;
Tradition/I always
come here”. If custom-
ers are using words
like Fun, Family, Kids
and Tradition to de-
scribe reasons for visiting a farm –
make sure you are providing events, ac-
tivities and services that meet these
experience based needs to keep them
coming back!
Helpful resources:
Visit the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) - Business
Management Unit website at: http://
www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev/
agbusdev.html
Subscribe to our OMAFRA Agricultural Busi-
ness Update Newsletter at: http://
www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev/
news/index.html#agbus
 Newsletter #249 Page 7

Petting Zoos in Ontario—new resources

Petting zoos offer a wonderful opportunity for children to see animals up close, interact with them
and learn about them. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are small but real risks
associated with close contact with animals.
Zoonotic infections – those that can be passed from animals to people – include potentially serious
infections such as Salmonella and E. coli. As a result of past outbreaks associated with petting
zoos, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has developed various resource materials for pet-
ting zoo owners/operators and teachers/caregivers and parents of young children. These tools will
help ensure everyone can have fun and be safe at the same time.
Go to http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/program/pubhealth/petzoo/petzoo.html to access
these resources. Well worth the effort!

Two OFFMA Board

The Food Safety and Traceability Initiative (FSTI) members have al-
This funding, part of Growing Forward, will help facilities adopt food safety and ready attended
traceability practices. These practices help producers and processors respond to these meetings and
market demands for safe food and improve product tracking. felt they were very
FSTI provides 75% reimbursement of eligible expenses up to a maximum of informative. Feed-
back was that the
$20,000 to:
paperwork for this
 implement written food safety programs program has been
 implement a working traceability system kept to a minimum.
 assist in the purchase and installation of equipment that improves food safety Find a workshop in
your area and sign
or traceability
up today!!
 train staff to increase the adoption of food safety and traceability
Go to http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/food/foodsafety/grants/fsti.htm

Contact Rick Wooten at London Ice Cream, 519-495-7218 for more information.
 Page 8 Fresh Facts

Upcoming Events
July 11-14 OFA Short Course (Association of Floriculture Professionals)
Columbus, Ohio. Contact: 614-487-1117 or visit www.ofa.org
Aug. 11-12 North American Strawberry Growers Association 2009 Summer Tour,
Illinois, Michigan, Indiana & Wisconsin. Go to www.nasga.org for addi
tional information.

Ontario Farm Fresh Aug. 18 Annual Potluck at Mapleton’s Organic Dairy, Moorefield , ON
Contact: Cathy Bartolic, 905-841-9278
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director
2002 Vandorf Rd. Sept 15-17 Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, Woodstock, ON
Aurora, ON L4G 7B9 Visit www.outdoorfarmshow.com for additional information.
Phone: 905-841-9278 Nov 8-11 OFFMA’s Bus Tour to Eastern Ontario & Quebec
Fax: 905-726-3369 Contact: Cathy Bartolic, 905-841-9278
E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com
www.ontariofarmfresh.com

A new perspective on stress

2009-10 OFFMA Board of Directors
Amy Strom, President
Strom’s Farm
Jesse Lauzon, Vice President
Springridge
Mark Saunders, Past President
Saunders Farm
Paul Brooks, Brooks Farms
Jay Howell, Brantview Apples & Cider
Anne Just, Kurtz Orchards
Marg Land, Annex Publishing
(Associate Member)
Colleen Pingle, Pingle’s Farm Market
Geri Rounds, Rounds Ranch
Steve Smith, Smith’s Apples
Dorene Collins, OMAFRA
(Advisor to the Board)
A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an au-
dience, raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is
this glass of water?'
Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.
The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for
an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a
day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's
the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'
He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry
our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly
heavy, we won't be able to carry on.'
'As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before
holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'
'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry
it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you
can.'
So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.
Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

You Matter
When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.
-from Seth Godin’s blog