The ‘Middleman’ Is Needed, But Sometimes He and the Farmer Are the Same

September 6, 2000

The middleman is far from dead, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. "For years there has been much disparagingly said about that part of the marketing chain between the farmer and consumer. Often the blame for agriculture's financial ills is placed on the faceless entity that processes, packages, ships and retails farm commodities. The truth is, in most cases the middleman is a necessary part of agricultural marketing," writes Tom Steever, an AFBF producer in broadcast services.

"There is, however, a pocket of agriculture where that is not the case. In direct marketing vernacular it's known as the farm stand," he continues. "By description it is anything from sweet corn sold from a lawn chair to large permanent emporia stocked with a diverse inventory of produce and gifts."

A growing number of producer entrepreneurs are selling directly to consumers. Many of these direct marketers are expanding on the umbrella-shaded roadside outlets. "We first started out calling ourselves Watt Fruit Stand," said Watt Farms operator Karen Watt of Albion, NY. "Now we've kind of raised that to a level where we're calling ourselves a country market because we have expanded with a variety of items that are not particularly agriculturally oriented."

A cursory scan of the home decorations, compact discs and stuffed animals among the store's fruit, fudge and preserves makes it apparent that this is more than a roadside stand.

But the fact is, a decade ago it started just that way, writes Steever.

It's obvious that the fruit Watt grows and sells is a cut above what is available through supermarkets. Consumers are accustomed to finding direct-marketed fruit to be better, the article continues.

"We pride ourselves on our fruit," said Watt, president of the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association. "We grow a very high quality fruit and that's what gets sold through our retail store." Direct marketers such as Watt, who grows 250 acres of apples, soft fruits and berries with her husband, maintain operations that are highly labor intensive. All of the fruit is hand picked and carefully sorted for quality. Some of the fruit is sold in local food stores at a premium, some is sold at outdoor farmers’ markets but the best of the best goes immediately to Watt Farms' retail store, continues Steever.

"Direct marketing goes beyond serving the community with merchandise and fresh fruit," he adds. In Watt's case, she promotes agriculture through the Farm Bureau and hosts tourists on a faux train that runs on a trail through their orchard while a conductor gives an educational narrative about growing fruit.

"Traditional middlemen exist for a reason and are in no danger of disappearing. But, there are many reasons why some growers choose to become direct marketers. For Watt, it's economics," according to Steever.

She laments waiting for payment for apples sold through a middleman in 1999. "If I can garner more money directly from the consumer and cut out other people who seem to nibble away at the final amount of money that I wind up with," said Watt, "I get that money sooner and I'm able to regenerate with that."