3PM – It’s Not Too Late!
The silent conversations among insects speak volumes about the interconnectedness of all living things.
Richard Dawkins
Where Do We Stand on the Farm Bill?
Congress ended this legislative session without a new Farm Bill and without including an extension, so the Farm Bill officially expired on September 30th. At least some of the programs are now unfunded.
What does that mean to farmers, ranchers, and consumers? To date, 8 programs have expired. That doesn’t mean they’ve all stopped. The Inflation Reduction Act extends 3 of these programs through 2031, assuming the Act itself isn’t overturned after the Election.
Crop Insurance has permanent authorization, it’s merely an amendment to the Farm Bill. Conventional farmers who’ve had a particularly bad year because of low commodity crop prices and high input costs won’t feel the burden because of crop insurance. They don’t have any incentive to change to regen. Small to medium-sized regen ag operations also won’t be hurt because – well – regen producers work with nature and are more resilient.
Dairies all over the nation are wondering what going to happen in 2025. If Congress doesn’t act before the end of 2024 dairy laws will revert back to the 1940s and that will have a huge impact on prices for the consumer.
_____________________________________
What Does This Information Have to do With Marketing?
It gives individual businesses and industries an opportunity to have a final say in what gets into the Farm Bill. That’s the positive spin. The negative spin is that Big Ag and Big Chem have deep pockets and have more time to woo our congressional leaders into supporting legislation that benefits Conventional Ag.
Lobbying, marketing, selling, educating – all made out of the same cloth. For ag businesses, especially regenerative ag businesses, this is an opportunity to bring information that educates to each legislator. They already know the story from Big Ag. But most legislators don’t know the full story of regen ag, the impact on the climate, the impact on our health, the impact on society.
Put on your storytelling hat (marketing) and tell your farm or ranch story to your representatives. It only takes one good story to create change. Make it yours!
Speaking About Storytelling, Optimize Your Digital Persona
Pictures speak volumes. But only when they’re used effectively. Adding images of your farm or ranch adds pizzazz to your story. Upgrading images to videos is even more compelling. You can tell the story and show the process at the same time. How cool is that!?
But it’s only as good as the number of people who see it. How do videos go viral? Could you get yours to do that? How would that affect your bottom line?
Ag Marketing in the Age of Videos
The #1 rule – be consistent. And the hardest one to follow because – well – ag production has busy and laid-back seasons. There’s always something to do, but during planting and harvest, there’s just more to do than there are hours in the day.
Marketing, and creating a video, just aren’t priorities. But let’s flip the mindset from producer to business owner. Pretend you own a grocery store with lots of different SKUs. From a marketing perspective, this is exactly what you have on a diversified regen farm or ranch.
How do you get buyers into your “store?” Take a cue from CPG (consumer packaged goods) suppliers. Start by walking a customer through your door (farm gate) and explain seasonality, the taste and juiciness of the produce, the smell of the air, the buzz of the bees, and the songs of the birds. These are experiences that are unavailable in the “grocery store.” Walk them through your process from seed to plate, or whatever is happening AT THIS MOMENT on the ranch or farm.
As a disruptive industry, regen ag has to fight for shelf space at the retail level. As a regenerative producer, you are also fighting for viewer time on the internet. What you’re presenting has to be engaging, solve a problem, and be easily purchased. There’s a reason the grocery store checkouts have impulse items, and the sugariest cereals are at kid’s eye height.
Videos can catch so much more than a photo. And if you can add some humor, surprise, or awe you may just have a video people want to share with their friends…who share with their friends…and that’s how a video goes viral.
Viral videos don’t happen because of one video. Remember the #1 rule? – be consistent! Build up a following and you build trust. When folks trust you they share your content and message with friends. It’s that simple – but that hard.
Audience trust is an ongoing process. The digital algorithms are changing all the time. What works today might not work tomorrow. Sounds a lot like seasons and years in an ag operation.
And just like planting a crop, there’s a lot of faith. And hope that the conditions are right. When you see those first green shoots, isn’t it all worth it? And as you gain more followers there’s a good chance some of them will find your conditions just right for buying.
____________________________________________________
Storytelling for Greater Ag ROI
There are multiple ways you can tell your farm or ranch story. For some storytellers who’ve become farmers, the telling in videos or blogs supports the farm. That’s the case with Gold Shaw Farm. The revenue from internet advertisers can be 10x what the actual farm revenue is in a year.
Other farmers and ranchers tell their stories with books, blogs, conference presentations… Do you see the pattern?
The trend of outside activities supporting growing food has been rising since the 1970s. At that time only about 37% of ag operators had off-farm jobs. That has been increasing almost every year, in 2017 it had risen to 56% and today almost 82% of farm income comes from off-farm sources.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the farm is left behind for a salaried or hourly position. More and more, ag operators have side hustles. Agritourism, direct-to-consumer sales, consulting, digital services, or conference speaking fees all go toward paying the bills.
What’s the one constant? Change. What do you have to do to stay afloat? Adapt.
Even a retired specialty crop grower (me) has a side hustle. Retirement wasn’t fulfilling – and was just flat-out boring. The years spent selling produce direct-to-consumer and developing marketing materials for my businesses created a foundation for helping other farmers and ranchers succeed.
In today’s world, a digital presence is essential for agricultural success. And that’s especially true for regenerative ag. We’re in the business of educating and for that, we have to be a person, have to have a face, and have to develop trust. We have to create awareness that consumers have more options and more power than they think.
If you’re interested in developing your brand into an online presence, growing the regen ag segment, healing the planet, and making more money – contact me. We’re on the same page.
