Agricultural direct marketing
Agricultural direct marketing referred to as a measure of agricultural marketing to direct sales of agricultural products, especially food , from producer to consumer . It therefore offers smaller businesses in particular the opportunity to develop new sales channels and thus counter the economic constraints resulting from structural change in agriculture .
meaning
Successful direct marketing has decisive advantages for the farm. Since trade levels are canceled, the farmer can achieve a higher profit margin on his produce. He can operate more independently of conventional market structures, in particular fluctuating market prices as well as norms which, in his opinion and that of his customers, are irrelevant for quality and otherwise prevent marketing. For example, EU law on food safety exempts the direct delivery of small quantities of primary products by the producer to the end consumer from their hygiene rules and many standards of quality assurance and food control. Direct marketing can offer the farm a higher income security.
to form
There are different forms of direct agricultural marketing:
- Farm sale through a farm shop
- Weekly / farmers market feed
- Subscription box marketing and door-to-door service
- Mail order
- various forms of cooperation between several producers
- Solidarity agriculture or CSA (Community supported Agriculture)
- When it comes to wine-growing, the ostrich economy for serving self-produced wines is widespread in the corresponding wine-growing areas .
- By means of vending machines, e.g. milk filling station
requirements
Direct marketing generally requires a diverse range, which can be realized either directly through a large variety of cultivation structures or - in the case of specialized companies - through further processing of the raw materials produced. Furthermore, your own range can be expanded by purchasing products. These can be obtained from other agricultural producers as well as from wholesalers.
Advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing from the farm
Direct marketing from the farm is associated with organizational effort. The various advantages and disadvantages as seen in Germany should be summarized at this point:
advantages
- Trading margin remains in operation;
- short, manageable path of the products to the end consumer;
- no loss of quality of sensitive products due to transport and storage;
- the flow of information between producer and consumer is guaranteed;
- Changes in product quality can be explained personally in a conversation with the consumer;
- A basis of trust, professional competence and personal persuasiveness can contribute to direct sales promotion;
- strong customer loyalty and low interchangeability of products.
disadvantage
- very labor intensive
- Constant customer presence and standing in public can be a burden
- Consumers often expect lower prices than in stores
- the company is often not close to metropolitan areas
- it takes a lot of commitment and sales talent
- the courtyard must always be presented in a clean and inviting manner
- some customers want to be served outside of sales hours
- high advertising expenditure
- difficult new customer acquisition
- Requirements for a tax office-compliant cash register system using a so-called technical security solution ( TSE )
Advantages and disadvantages for consumers and the environment
Product quality and transparency
Direct marketing is used by conventionally as well as ecological farms. Farmers from both sectors usually offer high product quality here in order to encourage their customers to buy. If the sale takes place directly on the farm in a farm shop, there is usually the opportunity to get a personal impression of the farm. The agricultural direct marketers often offer the consumer a wide range of information about agriculture itself as well as life and work in rural areas. Information brochures, but also personal conversations with the producers and knowledge about the production method of the food for sale , are nowadays a decisive factor for more and more consumers when shopping. Many people would like to use it to achieve a more conscious and healthier diet. In the area of production, direct marketing farmers therefore attach great importance to sustainability , as this corresponds to essential customer expectations as well as good professional practice .
Various food scandals have made him sit up and take notice again and again over the past decade and become increasingly skeptical of the modern food industry. Opaque production structures favor negative consequences (environmental pollution, loss of taste and quality of agricultural products, abuses in animal husbandry). In contrast to the poor image of the industry as a whole, however, individual farmers are often perceived as "likeable and trustworthy", albeit as a bit old-fashioned. At the same time, many consumers feel alienated from food in view of the increasing processing by specialized companies. This need for proximity to the origin of food production opens up great potential for direct marketing. At the same time, a visit to companies - and thus the transparency of animal husbandry by non-company employees - can be heavily regulated against the background of required food hygiene and by the regulations on animal disease control .
Traffic ecological consideration
On the one hand, direct marketing avoids transporting agricultural products to wholesalers and retailers. On the other hand, direct marketing generates more individual traffic from end consumers to direct marketing farmers. According to the theory of Ecology of Scale , the environmental pollution caused by many small transports, even over short distances, can be greater than the environmental pollution caused by larger transports, even though the distance is longer. On the one hand, the cost-effectiveness of the means of transport and , on the other hand, the distances covered are decisive . A reduction in pollutants occurs when the end consumer only has a short journey to direct marketing or the direct marketer can travel to sales outlets such as B. weekly and farmer's markets .
Examples of direct marketing
The largest association for agricultural direct marketing is the community "Shopping on the farm", which is supported by the farmers' associations and the chambers of agriculture.
- Producer directories are available to the consumer on various internet platforms, through which companies with direct marketing can be identified. Examples of this are the state-run portals regionales-bayern.de and service-vom-hof.de or the private ones mein-bauernhof.de , hofladen-bauernladen.info , generwelt.de and holsvombauern.at .
- In Gersbach (Schopfheim) , the farmers of Direktvermarktung Gersbach e. V. Meat and the Chäs-Chuchi Gersbach cheese for direct and regional marketing.
- In the metropolitan region of Nuremberg , the Original Regional initiative has been promoting regional products since 1997, which are sold under the label Die Regionaltheke in supermarkets in Central Franconia .
- In Bavaria , the Bavarian Farmers 'Association promotes direct agricultural marketing through advisory services to producers and through a central farmers' market directory.
- The Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture supports suppliers of goods from Saxony , including some agricultural businesses, through the Internet portal "Regionales Sachsen" .
literature
- Johannes Heiniger, Andreas Hochuli: Direct marketing on organic farms is widespread in the canton of Bern . In: Agricultural Research Switzerland 10 (9) . 2019, p. 322–329 ( agrarforschungschweiz.ch [PDF; 322 kB ]).
Individual evidence
- ^ Paula Weinberger-Miller: Diversification in Agriculture - An Opportunity to Stabilize Farms and Rural Areas? (PDF) In: Bavarian agriculture in the field of tension between regionality and global competition - situations, perspectives, options for action. Bavarian State Agency for Agriculture , November 2009, pp. 14-16 , accessed on July 16, 2014 .
- ↑ Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food : Too good for the bin. Retrieved July 16, 2014 .
- ↑ Art. 1 Para. 2 of the EC (Regulation) No. 852/2004 , according to which this does not apply to direct marketing as described (different: direct marketing to other entrepreneurs or products from other farmers in the farm shop)
- ↑ Cf. Guido Recke, Silvia Zenner, Bernd Wirthgen: Situation and Perspectives of Direct Marketing in the Federal Republic of Germany ; Agricultural Publishing House; 1st edition (2004)
- ↑ Ökolandbau.de: Marketing channels. November 22, 2011, archived from the original on April 3, 2014 ; accessed on November 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Ökolandbau.de: Marketing - Product Selection. July 29, 2011, archived from the original on April 6, 2014 ; accessed on November 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Additional information on sales - ex-farm sales. Archived from the original on October 6, 2013 ; accessed on November 21, 2014 .
- ^ Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft (Ed.) (2003): Ways to a better image and reputation: Farmers in society: analyzes, experiences, perspectives; DLG winter conference 8. – 10. January 2003, Frankfurt a. M.
- ↑ David Coley, Mark Howard, Michael Winter: Local food, food miles and carbon emissions: A comparison of farm shop and mass distribution approaches , Food Policy, Volume 34, No. 2, April 2009, pp. 150–155, doi : 10.1016 / j.foodpol.2008.11.001
- ^ Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture : www.regionales-bayern.de
- ↑ Agricultural Association : www.service-vom-hof.de
- ↑ www.mein-bauernhof.de
- ↑ www.hofladen-bauernladen.info
- ↑ www.generwelt.de
- ↑ www.holsvombauern.at
- ↑ www.regionaltheke.info
- ↑ www.bayerischerbauernverband.de/bauernmaerkte-bayern
- ↑ www.regionales.sachsen.de. Retrieved February 15, 2020 .