Credit Crisis and the Ag Sector:
Implications to Farmers and Agrimarketers
How is the credit crisis affecting your customers? Even if they don’t need credit to buy your products, rest assured there are implications for you. Perhaps the effects are as small as less time to consider the purchase decision for your product as they spend more time dealing with credit issues.
Throughout the turmoil of the recent economic crisis and as banks slowed the flow of credit for residential home loans and other lending, agricultural and farm lending has continued to flow. But there are some signs of distress. Our work with farmers and retailers more than a year ago showed their concerns. Whether it was figuring out how to deal with margin calls that had escalated above the million-dollar threshold and their credit limit or an ag distributor who created a new staff position to help customers develop the financial reports and business plans they need to secure credit, signs were there. [Read More...]
Who Moved My Tomato?
How food production is going local
by LeAnne Philips, Entira
The author of Who Moved My Cheese? used a parable about mice and men hunting cheese to illustrate his points about anticipating, monitoring and adapting to change. How does this relate to ag? Unnoticed by many, the location of food production is beginning a change, albeit a still-small change. As the local food movement gains momentum and media coverage, it is also gaining economic power, and the farmers who produce food for local distribution are changing.
So, what does this movement mean to agrimarketers, and for our customers and companies? Is this just a niche market trend, or will it drive long-term change in the way Americans buy and produce food? Are there opportunities to better serve our customers, or to find a new market niche for ourselves?
A locavore is defined as one who tries to eat only locally grown or produced food. That is simply not practical in a strict interpretation – as a mother in Iowa I’m still going to feed my kids fresh fruits in the winter, and I’m sure they won’t be local. But if you look at the spirit of the idea – paying attention to where food comes from and trying to eat locally grown when possible – it is definitely gaining ground, and it could have interesting implications for us in agriculture. Especially when you consider that on average U.S. produce travels an estimated 1,500 miles to reach consumers. [Read More...]
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