Women in Agriculture (WAgN)

If you are at all like 98% of the farmers that I talk to, you are keenly interested in the subject of marketing! Meaning that you either love it or hate it but know that you want to learn more about it. But saying that you'd like to learn more about marketing is like saying that you'd like to learn a little about the economy (ok, enough on that topic!). Marketing is a huge subject area that covers everything you do from the time you harvest your product until the time your customer returns to you for a repeat order. Marketing covers topics like post-harvest care of your product; packaging and labeling, distribution, pricing, and post-sale customer care. Marketing is about your logo, your company image and your product line. So clearly there is a lot to learn about marketing...here are a few resources to get you going.

Agricultural Marketing Resource Center

Growing for Market


And if you'd like to check out a marketing blog maintained by Charlene Andersen, a marketing consultant from New Hampshire go to http://blog.kamigomarketing.com/

There's a new resource online for farmers who would like to explore how the internet can help them improve their business management practices. Part of a national eCommerce initiative sponsored by the Southern Rural Development Center, this interactive module, Internet Strategies to Improve Farm Business Management, was developed by Sarah Roth, Jeffrey Hyde, and Ellie Hollabaugh Vranich at The Pennsylvania State University.

Session modules include The Internet and the Manager, The Internet as a Communications Tool, Business Planning and Market Research on the Internet, e-Commerce, Developing and Maintaining Your Own Website, and Promoting Your Website. The modules include video clips of farmers discussing how the internet helps them be more effective in their business management.

I hope you'll check the site out. There are more modules on the way and will be loaded soon.

As we get deeper into the fall season and look ahead to winter it is time to think about where you'd like to take your business in the coming year. Now is the time to start putting together a professional development plan that will get you the skills that you need to take your business to the next level.

Going to conferences is a great way to pick up tips and build networks. For more in-depth learning it might be you'll want to check out a workshop or class that lasts a bit longer and provided the opportunity to drill down into the subject matter a bit.

Another professional development opportunity that you might consider is online learning. This can be a good way to combine the need for more intensive learning with the convenience of not having to leave the house. If you have internet access you might want to check out the increasing number of learning opportunities.

To get you started let me suggest a couple of webinars that are coming up. They happen the second Wednesday of every month -- they last just one hour -- all you need to participate is access to the internet and a telephone and they are free!

Check out the schedule at http://www.extension.org/pages/Upcoming_Webinar_Topics