4 pages., Online from publication website., Describes experimentation with slow-growth meat breeds of chickens. Article includes references to implications for marketing communications; consumer attitudes and preferences; and consumer responses to higher retail costs for slow-growth poultry meat.
25 pages, The 2020 growing season presented new and significant challenges for farmers and farms across the United States as they navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. The rich and diverse agricultural landscape of Washington State offers a valuable microcosm in which to explore the experiences of farms in the U.S. during the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on directly marketing small farms in western Washington State, with a focus on farmers’ experiences with resilience. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 15 farmers and used thematic analysis to explore the influence of the pandemic on overall experiences, responses, and values and perceptions related to small farms. Interviewees provided insights on the impacts of the pandemic on their daily farm operations, production costs, marketing channels, demand, and revenue. Farmers also reported shifting personal and public attitudes towards small farms during the pandemic. Product diversity, flexibility, multiple forms of support, values, and access to resources emerged as drivers of COVID-19 impacts and farm adaptations. When compared to existing frameworks on farm resilience, farms in this study are seen to demonstrate resilience via buffer and adaptive capabilities, which enable them to absorb and adjust to shocks. Farmers also discussed resilience via transformative capability, the potential to create new systems, leveraging the collective power of small farms to shape future food systems. Future research on the resilience of small farms should focus on ways to both promote resilience attributes and facilitate the ability of farmers to act on resilience capabilities.
Kabanda, S. (author), Brown, I. (author), and Centre for IT and National Development in Africa, Dept. of Information Systems, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, South Africa
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2017-07
Published:
Tanzania: Elsevier Ltd.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 162 Document Number: D08102
Online from periodical. 2 pages., Report of a presentation at the West Coast Produce Expo about Amazon's new Fresh banner, with establishment of small and medium-sized grocery stores.
7 pages, To assess small rural retailers' use of social media and the role of social media in their business sustainability, we conducted focus group interviews with small business owners/managers from rural communities in a midwestern state. Participants revealed strong interest in social media, especially for use in sales and marketing. However, their engagement in social media was limited due to lack of knowledge and resources (i.e., time, human resources, financial resources, effectiveness measurement) related to developing and updating content. On the basis of these findings, we examine implications for Extension professionals and outreach educators regarding social media needs and programming for small rural businesses.
17pgs, In recent years, the number of ecolabels and country-of-origin labels has grown substantially in seafood markets globally. This makes it more difficult for retailers and producers to communicate and demonstrate their differentiating claims to consumers. In addition, it has recently been suggested that there are both costs and supply chain benefits associated with labeling. This paper uses duration analysis to investigate factors that influence product longevity for salmon in grocery retailing. Product longevity influences cost as a prolonged product lifetime reduces costs related to product development and marketing. As has been found for wild-caught whitefish, different retail chains appear to vary in their product labeling strategies. However, in contrast to wild fish, farmed salmon with ecolabels or domestic country-of-origin labels appear to have shorter product life cycles compared to products without ecolabels or with foreign country-of-origin labeling. This is most likely due to the higher control of the production process found in aquaculture.
Online from publication. 9 pages., Advice from a fresh produce marketer with more than 30 years of experience in a supermarket chain. "The environment you want is one of being a merchant. ... It is somewhat of a lost art in today's fast paced world of data, low price and lack of labor."
