Who: I am a senior here at the University of Florida majoring in Food and Resource Economics. I have multiple experiences in the agricultural industry as I have grown up around it my whole life. I started off during my first summer of college working down home at a farm that grew beans, corn, and cabbage and I am currently working at UF's Agronomy and Forage Research Unit. I plan on working in the agricultural business side of the industry. If starting this business, it would play a tremendous role in my life as this industry is a tough one to keep up with. Farmers put in over 80 hours a week in order to maintain their farms and ensure that they are getting the most out of their crops in order to make profit. It would be very tough to start a farm due to competition and low prices in the industry.
What am I offering?: Starting a farm, I will be offering fresh crops to local consumers, whether they are conventional or organic, to ensure that my community gets the freshest and healthiest options on the market. While doing this, I will promote sustainable agriculture and show consumers that even though a product might not be labeled organic, these products are still just as safe and healthy as other products. Along with that, I will also give farm tours to the local community to give consumers a perspective on how their food is grown and the practices that farmers use.
Who am I offering it to?: I will be offering this product to local consumers as well as people around the region around my farm. If I were to be opening up this business in the town that I am from, which is what I would plan on, this product would be offered to those that live there. It is a very small, rural town where the majority in the work force there works in the agricultural industry, so it would be fairly easy to market these products to those that live there because they like to support the industry. If successful, I plan on growing this business to the surrounding areas and incorporate different farms and management.
Why do they care?: As I stated before, the consumers in this area are heavily focused on the agricultural industry and love to support the industry whenever they can. They would especially enjoy buying products from local producers because it would help the local economy in their town and the community there is very close. This would be a good business opportunity because consumers would rather buy local than to buy from somewhere else. Consumers would also care about these services because they would be able to see exactly what is done to grow the food that they eat, ensuring a peace of mind.
What are my core competencies?: I would offer local deals to the consumers in the area and I would offer free farm tours for anyone from the area. These farm tours would not only be appealing to the consumer, but it would offer insight as to what farmers do on a day-to-day basis and educate the average consumer on the sustainable practices that they use.
Feedback Memo: One main point that I received was to appeal to consumers as much as you can because of the growing negative connotation around agriculture. By doing this, more people would be open to buying conventional crops. Another point that I received through feedback was to try and grow the business if it were successful in my local community. While my surrounding community has a more welcoming opinion of agriculture, if I were to grow this business in urban communities, more consumers would get a perspective of how their food is grown.
Hi Myles,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post and think you did a great job! I agree that appealing to customers and persuading them to buy your product is something essential to do. I think the biggest challenge with your product is educating people on agriculture and how your farming works. I believe a lot of people would buy your product now that you have better explained how it works. I like the idea of growing in urban areas so that people in that area are more aware of where their food comes from.