Farm direct sales

Farm direct sales

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Farm direct sales are becoming a more and more important component of agriculture, according to a first-ever national survey on local food marketing practices: Just as one example, more than 5-thousand Oregon farms and ranches sell locally produced food through direct marketing practices, resulting in about $114 million in revenue, according to the survey. A big portion of that is selling directly to the consumer at farm stands and farmers' markets:

 "Anytime we have more than 5,000 farms in Oregon engaged in any kind of practice, in this case it's direct marketing, that's significant for all of Oregon agriculture."  

 

Gary Roth, Industry Development Director with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, says the growing demand for local food is fueling the interest in farm direct marketing. Nationally, Oregon ranks 11th in the number of farms that sell direct and 18th in sales. Despite a middle-of-the-pack ranking, Roth expects Oregon to expand its farm direct marketing: "I think we would probably rank higher if we had a higher population base. It's no surprise that California is number one. But there are some smaller states that have a much higher population density, and we don't have a dense population base in the state."  

 Even though about 80 percent of what Oregon agriculture produces is marketed and sold outside of the state– either domestically or internationally– the remaining 20 percent finds an avid local market. It's that interest in buying local that encourages many farmers to sell direct.

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