Farm Market Annual Survey - 2005 Dear survey respondent, The deadline for completion of surveys is now past and we want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to participate in this important study. We have received 1015 fully completed surveys in just 6 weeks time! This is an incredible response rate and makes this the most wide-scale and comprehensive survey of its kind ever achieved in this field. The survey has 800 variables. It will verify for the first time the performance of farm direct marketing operations and the farmers who run them – we are now able to talk with certainty across North America about this form of agricultural enterprise. We also have the basis for conducting case studies of successful farm direct marketing and agritourism operations. We always knew farm direct marketing and agritourism were on the rise. We just did not know to what extent they were successfully achieving objectives. And you are!!! Some interesting results and opportunities are a consistent pattern across this large study: Farm direct marketers and agritourism farmers are achieving their objectives - they are showing success! Farm direct marketers and agritourism farmers are keeping farms as farms and with families. Many of the farmers and ranchers are diversifying and adding value through cultural resource preservation opening the way for new partnerships. Farmers that diversify are active stewards of lands and historic resources. We have good distribution of size of farms and ranches. Half the farms were smaller than 64 acres and half were larger with an average acreage of 242 owned for farming. The vast majority are working farms/ranches producing crops and livestock with diversification into direct marketing and agritourism venues. And, there is a very interesting distribution of first generation start-ups as well as varying distances from urban areas. We are thrilled with the geographical sampling of responses, which are clearly representative from all across the continent as demonstrated in tables #1, #2 and #3 below. TABLE 1: Percentage of 2005 Farm Market Survey Respondents From United States States Frequency Percent ALABAMA 3 0.3 ARIZONA 6 0.5 ARKANSAS 6 0.5 CALIFORNIA 44 3.9 COLORADO 13 1.1 CONNECTICUT 11 1.0 FLORIDA 8 0.7 GEORGIA 18 1.6 HAWAII 14 1.2 IDAHO 8 0.7 ILLINOIS 26 2.3 INDIANA 14 1.2 IOWA 9 0.8 KANSAS 42 3.7 KENTUCKY 9 0.8 LOUISIANA 1 0.1 MAINE 18 1.6 MARYLAND 12 1.1 MASSACHUSETTS 39 3.4 MICHIGAN 22 1.9 MINNESOTA 19 1.7 MISSISSIPPI 7 0.6 MISSOURI 14 1.2 MONTANA 4 0.4 NEBRASKA 3 0.3 NEVADA 5 0.4 NEW HAMPSHIRE 23 2.0 NEW JERSEY 6 0.5 NEW MEXICO 9 0.8 NEW YORK 45 3.9 NORTH CAROLINA 82 7.2 NORTH DAKOTA 13 1.1 OHIO 44 3.9 OKLAHOMA 7 0.6 OREGON 35 3.1 PENNSYLVANIA 22 1.9 RHODE 3 0.3 SOUTH CAROLINA 7 0.6 SOUTH DAKOTA 7 0.6 TENNESSEE 32 2.8 TEXAS 18 1.6 UTAH 4 0.4 VERMONT 5 0.4 VIRGINIA 40 3.5 WASHINGTON 60 5.3 WEST VIRGINIA 3 0.3 WISCONSIN 15 1.3 TABLE 2: Percentage of 2005 Farm Market Survey Respondents From Canada Provinces Frequency Percent ALBERTA 72 6.3 BRITISH COLUMBIA 96 8.4 MANITOBA 6 0.5 NEW BRUNSWICK 5 0.4 NOVA SCOTIA 14 1.2 ONTARIO 42 3.7 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 3 0.3 QUEBEC 1 0.1 SASKATCHEWAN 4 0.4 TABLE 3: Percentage of 2005 Farm Market Survey Respondents From Mexico Estados Frequency Percent MORELOS 1 0.1 We will be producing one report each month for the next several months to focus on different findings under various major headings. As a courtesy to those who completed the survey, we will distribute these reports to you by e-mail. Also, at a time to be determined, we will publish a completed full report. We're very excited that some findings from this survey will be featured in the Grand Opening presentation at the NAFDMA Annual Conference in Austin, Texas, January 13, 2006. At that time we will highlight relevant statistics and trends through comparisons and cross analysis with various other statistical sources in health, demographics, economics and other consumer and general public categories. This presentation will truly help farm direct marketers and agritourism farmers to Discover Your Fullest Potential! For more information on the NAFDMA Convention including bus tours, workshops, trade show and conference, go to http://www.nafdma.com/Texas/. The pages on this web site are updated weekly, and registration for the convention begins October 1st. Finally, we are pleased to announce the winners of four drawings resulting from your completion of the survey. Using our computerized system we randomly selected a participant among the 777 first completed surveys for the Grand Prize ($1900+ USD value to attend the NAFDMA Convention in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, or $1000 CASH). The Grand Prize winner is: Bruce Miller from Across the Creek Organics in British Columbia We also promised to give one free NAFDMA membership for each 100 surveys completed over 777. So with 1015 surveys completed, we randomly selected three winners from among all 1015 participants to receive a 2006 NAFDMA membership. The membership winners are: David Johnson, Northland Bison Ranch, Minnesota Al and Sharon Horbal, Numa Farms Nursery, British Columbia David Schmidt, Shady Acres Farms, Oregon Once again, thank you all for your contribution to this extraordinary work. We pledge to use this information to show how farm direct marketing and agritourism diversification makes everyone winners. Sincerely, The Survey Collection Team Dr. Ed Mahoney, Michigan State University Carla Barbieri, Michigan State University Brent Warner, North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association Virginia Schwarzenbach, North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association Charlie Touchette, North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association