Farmers and Market Gardeners on the Internet

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"We have some rare varieties that are quickly sold out, and customers will miss them without their preseason orders," Berry explains. He estimates about 10°/a to 15% of his customers respond by e-mail. "A few years ago, hardly anyone was on e-mail. Now it's becoming more and more popular, especially as people discover how fast and inexpensive it is compared to [postal] snail mail."

On his Web site, http://www.seanet.com/~tberry/cpo.html ,Berry posts current prices, days and hours the stand is open, and what's available. "We get a lot of feedback that customers do check out our Web site. They want to know what's available at the stand before they come out, since they're often searching for specific varieties."

Berry often uses the Internet to do farm-related research projects. "The Internet came along at a good time," he points out. "Cooperative Extension was undergoing severe budget cuts and a lot of the sources we farmers had depended on for information dried up. The Internet filled that gap." Since he would have to drive an hour to find an Extension agent specializing in apples, Berry finds it easier to go to apple information Web sites like http://www.seanet.com/~tberry/agsites.html orhttp://coopext.cahe.wsu.edu/~ipm/

For Gene and Cathy Purdum, owners of two-and-a-half-acre Dietz Creek Farm in Williamston, Michigan, the Internet is also used in an "intranet" way to keep regular farmers' market customers informed as to what vegetables they're bringing to market by posting to their homepage ( http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Purdum/ ). Both work full-time off the farm. "The Net is not a major marketing avenue for us at this point," Gene says, "maybe up to 5%, at the most."

Yet the couple find themselves often on the Net, checking e-mail from their favorite lists erves like SANET or Organic Gardening Discussion Group (see below for subscription information).

Another frequent Internet use for the Purdums is research. When they needed to create some handouts on organic foods, they were able to download summary sheets from various organic sites. Similarly, in the off-season, Gene was able to adapt descriptions from seed company catalogs to past on the farm's Web page for descriptions of what they grow.

Small Farm & Market Gardening Internet Resources

WEB SITES

 The Grower's Connection
http://www.jps.net/grower 
Small farm & market gardening Internet resources, farmers' home pages, agricultural books, and more.

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