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Contact Information

Craig Wood, Ph.D
Acting Associate Dean & Director
UK Cooperative Extension Service

S-107 Ag. Science Center North Lexington, KY 40546-0091

+1 (859) 257-4302

craig.wood@uky.edu

Impacts

Contact Information

Craig Wood, Ph.D
Acting Associate Dean & Director
UK Cooperative Extension Service

S-107 Ag. Science Center North Lexington, KY 40546-0091

+1 (859) 257-4302

craig.wood@uky.edu




Fiscal Year:
Jul 1, 2019 - Jun 30, 2020


Success StoryMarketing for All 3.0: Helping Local Farms Strengthen Their Business



Marketing for All 3.0: Helping Local Farms Strengthen Their Business

Author: Gretchen Plocek

Planning Unit: Oldham County CES

Major Program: Economic and Business Development - ANR

Plan of Work: Strengthening Agriculture Production, Management, and Marketing Skills

Outcome: Intermediate Outcome

The state of Kentucky boasts the existence of around 69,425 farms with a net farm cash income of $2.4 billion dollars. In Oldham County, the number of farms contributing to the statewide accounts are 410 family farms with an average acreage of 136 and a net farm income of $6,868 according to the last agriculture census from the USDA. While there is no dividing definition between small commercial farms and small family farms, Oldham County contains a plethora of small farms according to USDA guidelines. These small farms contribute to the production of beef cattle, vegetables, soybeans, corn, and poultry which support our county economy and feeds our residents. However, our family farms continue to find challenges in selling their meat and operating their businesses as they navigate various farmer's markets, on farm sales, auction houses, and market sales. In a survey of the latest cohort of Marketing for All 3.0 participants, a third (33%) of the participants rated their confidence in marketing their product as "not confident" while almost half (42%) rated their marketing confidence as "somewhat confident" before learning the program content. With our family farms relying on the income that is produced by these sales and the confidence of our growers in their marketing skills, the Center for Crop Diversification created the Marketing for All 3.0 program and partnered with Oldham County, Shelby County, Trimble County, and Henry County to host and provided participants. After refining the program since 2017, Marketing for All 3.0 was advertised to every family farmer in the four counties who sold product at markets, online, and in auction houses to create a targeted cohort that could go through an intensive training for 6 weeks. Topics discussed include Farm & Business Branding, Graphic Design, Selling Online, & E-mail Marketing. This spring's cohort contained around 15 local farmers in the areas of beef, specialty crops, microgreens, cut flowers, and vegetable production who were interested in bettering their marketing practices. Of this group, 64% stated that they increased their knowledge about taking photos for their business and advertising, 55% increased confidence in their ability to use online presence to generate sales, and 46% increased knowledge about how to communicate their brand to others. As the program ended each producer in our cohort was armed with the knowledge that they needed to boost their sales game and apply their knowledge to the market season that was just beginning. 









Stories by Oldham County CES


Oldham County Extension and Library Partner to Provide Summer Reading Porch Projects

about 4 years ago by Kelly Woods

After the tremendous success of the Oldham County 4-H Porch Project outreach, Oldham County Extensio... Read More


NTI and Porch Project Outreach

about 4 years ago by Kelly Woods

Oldham County schools closed on Monday, March 16, 2020 due to the COVID 19 Pandemic and moved direct... Read More