Monday, March 28, 2011

No Farms, No Food

Our friends over at The Farmland Trust, www.farmland.org, whose mission is to “…help farmers and ranchers protect their land, produce a healthier environment and build successful communities,” have a great slogan to promote their activities – No Farms, No Food. Many of us on the farm have this bumper sticker and you’ll often see the message when you visit. Each day we try to get this message across as we sell and market our produce through the various distribution channels available to us. Of course, there’s the other side of that equation and that is the people buying our products.

Produce used to make its way solely into the local community, but now it also travels many miles and through quite a few stops sometimes, before reaching each of our tables. Regardless of how we go to market, the costs here remain the same and most of the products we use to grow the crops, such as our herbicides and fertilizers, are tied to the price of petroleum.

Often, we don’t raise our prices so that we can accommodate our suppliers and distributors (as they struggle with their own rising costs); in turn, this allows us all to keep costs down at the retail level. Unfortunately, these past few years, and this last year in particular because of crop losses due to the cold weather, commodity prices have risen across the board and the consumer has been hit very hard. A walk down the grocery aisle tells this tale and it can often mean the difference between someone buying fresh vegetables or not. That’s why we appreciate our customers so much. At Long & Scott, we understand that our customers always have a choice and we’re grateful for your support of our farm. We really couldn’t do it without you.

Is there a better way we can continue to serve you? Please let us know.

Anna Sciarrino
Director, Sales & Marketing
Sales@longandscottfarms.com

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