A Sneak Peek At The 2016 NAFDMA Convention
January 22, 2016 The 2016 NAFDMA Convention is right around the corner. This year, the event is being held in the Vancouver, B.C., area, and kicks off on January 31, lasting through February 5.
Where you are able to make the trip or not, you’ll want to see what the organizers have on tap. Here is a sneak peek at the classes and tour stops that are lined up:
Farm Stop Descriptions
The farm tours will feature a variety of diverse agritourism businesses in the region highlighting their strong values of integrity and authenticity in all aspects of what they each provide. The root of this industry is farming, and this is the focus of every direct-marketing business that we will visit, be it through their spotlight on retail, production, education or entertainment.
Maan Farms
For nearly 40 years, the Maan Farms’ family has pride themselves on their delicious fresh berries, and today the farm emits a family loving atmosphere where visitors can still enjoy local produce grown on the family farm from the U-Pick and Farm Market areas. Homemade wines that are made from their own fruits can be sampled in the wine tasting room, and fresh pies and other comfort foods can be purchased from their country kitchen. Members of the entire family can enjoy a wide variety of activities including the corn maze, petting zoo, zip-line, jumping pillow, and pedal karts. The farm hosts a variety of school tours and haunted tours, and is a desired location for all types of family and corporate events.
Lepp Farm Market
Once owners of the 3rd largest hog operation in the province, 25 years ago Rob and Charlotte Lepp utilized their land to grow sweet market corn, selling that corn in their little green shack on the corner of their property that quickly became a very popular, and busy, landmark. Six years ago they built their fresh market meat shop offering a wide variety of local produce and specializing in groceries that are very hard to find in the larger chain operations. The Lepps sell beef, pork and free-run poultry raised on their own farms without the use of additional growth hormones (as are all pigs and chickens raised in Canada) or antibiotics. Their poultry and pigs are all fed a vegetarian diet, with no animal byproducts. They hand select and raise their animals before delivering them to their butchers on staff at the Market who individually prepare each cut. Although they grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables including cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, strawberries, green beans, squash, pumpkins and corn, they also offer many other varieties from the local Okanagan community of farmers as well.
Hopcott Farms
The Hopcotts bought their 100 acre farm back in 1932, cleared the forest and created a small dairy 30 years before following their true passion of raising cattle. In 1970, the family added 70 acres of cranberries, which they continue to sell to Ocean Spray. In 2000, they opened Meadows Maze which now features various attractions that accompany their Corn Mazes. And in 2009, after many years attending NAFDMA Conferences, they took the leap and opened Hopcott Meats. And now, only six years later they are in the process of expanding their butcher operations by creating an extension to their building which should be in operation when NAFDMA visits in February. By consistently supporting the Hopcott Meats tagline of “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food,” and maintaining a conscious effort to showcase Meadows Maze as a place for “outdoor educational family fun,” the Hopcotts are committed to providing their customers with a true authentic experience of food and fun on the farm.
JD Farms Specialty Turkey
Jack Froese is the owner and founder of JD Farms Specialty Turkey, a family-run producer of specialty turkeys located in the beautiful Fraser Valley at Langley, BC, Canada. Jack and his wife, Debbie, grew up on farms in the Fraser Valley and continued their farming tradition with the purchase of their present farm in 1979. For over thirty years, JD Farms Specialty Turkey has been offering a diverse range of nutritious and wholesome meal solutions in the traditional country-style deli and bistro, as well as supplying whole turkeys to families and retailers in the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley regions. Turkeys at JD Farms are fed a natural diet of grain, vitamins and minerals without any medications or animal by-products. Their son Jason has developed a new product for the Pet Food industry utilizing JD Farms turkeys, and he continues to diversify the business through new products and ideas.
Krause Berry Farms and Estate Winery
Celebrating forty years of farming, Sandee and Alf Krause continue to farm over 200 acres consisting of a wide-variety of berries and vegetables. Their 24-hour kitchen produces an abundance of baked goods utilizing all of their own farm fresh ingredients. Visitors have an opportunity to U-Pick berries and pumpkins as well as harvest fresh herbs and flowers from their U-Pick garden. They offer a cooking school with Master Chef Wolfgang at The Farmers Table, an Art Bar with resident artists, host corporate and private affairs of all sizes, and in 2012 opened up their winery to offer tastings of their award-winning fruit wines. The retail area contains everything from country gifts to homemade preserves, freshly harvested fruits and vegetables to ice cream and fudge. Enjoy homemade waffles on the outdoor patio or warm your bones with a glass of wine by the fireplace. Farming, food, and fun abounds during the various farm dinners and events offered by the Krauses and they are extremely proud of their reputation in the community.
Taves Family Farms and Applebarn
At 17 years old, Loren was given the reigns to the family farm and immediately started growing apples and gooseberries. Soon he was selling those apples along with fresh cider and pumpkins directly to the public. As time went on, the Taves’ opened up their doors to the public, offering hay rides and a little animal shed. As the school tours grew so did the activities including a pumpkin patch, petting barn, larger playground and jumping pillow. Today the Taves offer pony rides, a corn maze, and a variety of educational activities. Visitors can watch the process of turning apples into cider and are offered a variety of delicious homemade treats and local products in the store.
Education Sessions
Throughout each day, attendees will be able to choose from 5 concurrent sessions to discuss the latest trends on the topics of farming, food, and fun including areas of business management, marketing, technology, and a spotlight on our tour hosts.
Advanced P.O.S. 101
This session will be comprised of three presenters who will speak about three different point of sale systems.
- Shopkeep presented by Stephanie Quinn
We have been using the Shopkeep P.O.S. system in our business for 5 years now. It has been instrumental in helping us keep up with the rapid growth of our business. Allowing us to manage inventory, know what to order and when, how many pies to bake on different dates and better plan and manage all activities in our retail store and food concession. It has cut our time for bookkeeping and has allowed us to spread the responsibility of management.
- Square presented by Amy Ladd
Learn how the owners of Lucky Ladd Farms utilize the mobile payment system Square as a powerful full-service Point of Sale, Inventory Management and Reporting System for their agritourism operation. Amy Ladd will walk you through the hardware setup options, software features and reporting tools included in the Square system. Get useful insights in their personal approach to using Square for processing admissions, concessions, retail, group reservations and even an online store. Gain practical tips to help improve your bottom line. Evaluate the pros/cons of Square to see if it’s a good fit for your farm operation.
- Talech presented by Tom Tweite
This is the POS system that fit our needs for our farm and our short season. We will cover hardware requirements, labor saving opportunities, security, real time information, and time keeping/payroll with opportunities for future growth. I’ll share personal experiences and examples of how the pay back for this POS system made our decision a great decision to make.
Finding Hidden Agritourism Resources and Collaboration Opportunities
presented by Karen Kollars
The Agritourism movement is rapidly gaining speed! See what is happening in other areas / states, resources available and collaborative efforts taking place.
The Nuts & Bolts of New Farm Buildings
presented by Phil Quinn and Jeff Probst
Designing a building that will fit your 3-5 year business plan as well as be useful for years to come. Some of the topics to be covered:
What do we need for a building? How will it fit in with existing facilities? What do other farms, restaurants, amusement parks you’ve visited have for facilities? Going through time line from planning to financing, time of year for construction, furnishing/ finishing the building. How much more inventory / equipment will you need? How much more credit margin will you need to buy said inventory? Will you be doing any of the work yourself? How much time can you be spending away from the rest of the business? Who can help with the project? How will you expand for this? Will you need a bigger power supply or septic field for that expansion? If so, put it in now!
Product and customer flow. Lighting, budgeting and developing your long term utility infrastructure. Investments beyond functionality. Additional cost of doing business in new building: extra staff, larger product lines and more displays. Working with the bank.
Creating, Communicating & Implementing Your Farm’s Emergency Plan
presented by Eric Barrett and Rob Leeds
Using Ohio State University Extension’s new publication, participants will script the beginning of their emergency preparedness plan. From lost children to fires and from natural disasters to car accidents in the parking lot, we’ll cover all of the basics to get your plan started. Participants will go home with the electronic version in draft for to make corrections and implement it with their farm management team when they return home.
Updating Your Brand: Reaching Customers Through Each of the Five Senses
presented by Eric Barrett and Rob Leeds
We will share ways in which your farm can reach customers through each of the five senses. Using examples from common brands and farms, we’ll give you ideas to improve your brand, resulting in improvements to your bottom line.
The Switch from A-la-Carte to Admission Based Revenue Generation
presented by Jeff Probst
In 2014, we consulted with several NAFDMA farms to successfully make the transition to Admission. Learn in detail the precautions we took to make this transition successful. We’ll be covering dynamic pricing, messaging, dealing with negative feedback and the positive impacts the switch had for our business including significant staff bonuses.
The Enemy Within – Personal Lessons of Internal Theft
presented by Amy Ladd and Rachelle Wegele
Farm owners don’t want to think their employees, or worse their family members will steal from them, but the truth is one of the most serious threats to the success of a small business is employee theft. Misplaced trust, lax hiring, poor supervision, and a failure to implement basic procedures and controls can lead to an environment that is ripe for internal theft, embezzlement and fraud.
Learn from Rachelle Wegele of Anderson Farms and Amy Ladd of Lucky Ladd Farms as they share their personal stories of internal theft. Chronicle the “Who, What, Where, When and How” of their unfortunate incidents. Get tips, tools and recommendations on how to prevent employee theft in your own operation.
Supporting Local In Your Food Concessions
presented by Stephanie Quinn
Supporting other local business is a value we hold strong at our farm. As such we only sell food in our concessions that either comes from our farm or comes from local businesses. It is a growing trend in restaurants to feature local farms and we should be at the forefront of that movement as we are the farmers and we personally know the producers making the food. I will talk about the unique food that we offer, how we source it, how we market it to our customers, the obstacles we’ve had to overcome and the profitability of it all.
Food Safety
presented by Alison Speirs
This session will cover three aspects of food safety.
- For On-Farm Food Production. Food Safety begins on the farm. Are you growing and harvesting practices addressing food safety risks? Learn about what you can do to address food safety while producing food on your farm.
- For Value Added Processing. Adding value through processing products that you produce: james, jellies and pickles are the way to go…You want to diversify…Do you know what the risks of doing this are? Find out what you need to consider to control the risks.
- For Concessions. Do you have a plan to ensure food safety? The concession is a big part of the on-farm experience and is an important revenue source. Learn some food safety tips to use when preparing and serving food on the farm.
Repurposing Food & Materials – Turn Products into Profit
presented by Kelly Jackson
From turning doughnuts and squash into bread pudding and quiche, to creating countertops and swings from your applebins to tractor tires, there are plenty of ways to repurpose the excess food and used materials on your farm. In this session, please be prepared to share and discuss the creative ways that you have turned excess into profit.
Facebook 201 – Build, Target and Market Your Audience
presented by Brenda Burch
With 1.5 Billion Personal Profiles on Facebook, it remains the best social network for connecting with others. This session will cover Facebook’s distinctive people connecting with people philosophy, will provide an overview of what it takes to build an audience who become customers, how to target your audience on Facebook, and how to use their superior advertising features.
Facebook Tips and Tricks
presented by Brenda Burch
Are you comfortable with your farm’s Facebook Page but want to take your engagement and referrals up a notch. In this interactive session, I will take you through some of the latest features, tips, tricks and best practices so you get the best return for your time investment.
North American Food Service Industry Overview
presented by Chuck Currie
Consumer food trends drive restaurants and vice versa, but most chefs traditionally do not really pay attention to the consumer. In this session we’ll discuss: Where are customers coming from, what do they want, and how has the foodservice industry reacted to one of the strongest consumer trends in food – to eat locally grown healthy food? What are the basics of restaurant operations that go beyond trends and apply to any menu or concept?
Farm to Restaurant Branding
presented by Chuck Currie
In this session we’ll discuss: How do restaurants and food producers work together to develop their mutual brands and sales? How do we funnel the product through large distributors? How do we ensure enough product for large businesses and make sure that it all sells? We want to slaughter the pig and bring home the bacon!
Sleep Better with a Cash Flow Budget
presented by Erin Pirro
The nature of a seasonal business means that there will be times when money comes and in and money goes out – but the timing of each doesn’t always match. This isn’t a fault, but it can be a weakness if it keeps you up at night or harms your relationship with your suppliers! Learn how to create and manage a plan that will immensely reduce your financial stress this season.
Building Success Through Collaboration & Diversification
presented by Jaclyn Laic
This session will focus on ways to adapt your products and marketing strategies to help you gain greater profitability and success. How can you forge partnerships with other companies to utilize or enhance your products? How can you create a unified and seamless marketing experience for consumers through advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and social media, to ensure that all messaging and communications strategies are consistent across all channels and are centered on the customer. What new technologies can you adopt to remain competitive in this ever-changing industry? All of this and more will be addressed in this highly visual, interactive session.