Safety Key To Farm Marketing Success

Growers aren’t just growers anymore. They’re marketers, too. And when it comes to farm marketing, Brown’s Berry Patch in Waterport, NY, understands how to play the game.

In addition to its pick-your-own business, Brown’s Berry Patch offers a farm market, country gift shop, deli, bakery, and grill. They also host special events, including birthday parties. The parties are called Barnyard Birthday Bashes because of the operation’s signature Barnyard Adventure, a play area featuring everything from sandboxes and slides to real farm animals for the children to pet.

Bob Brown, who oversees the marketing of the operation with his wife Deborah, says the Barnyard Adventure’s success lies in its simplicity. “One of my contentions is that kids don’t pretend enough anymore, and they don’t do a lot with their parents,” Brown says. “With this, the kids will go in there and pretend. They get on the pirate ship and swab the deck, they’re the conductor of the train. We have a fiberglass boat they can get in and a lot of other things that are just simple.”

He adds that even the pick-your-own business aims to get families outside and exercising together. “We don’t normally give rides out to the orchard. It’s about a five-minute walk to anything you need to pick, and we just use small wagons,” Brown says. “Most of them need exercise anyway, and it gives them the time to just be with the family.”

Fun Doesn’t Come Without Risk

Brown says the transition from farm market to destination didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it started with just a wooden boat and train. “Then we added some pedal cars, and they beat the heck out of those, and they started breaking other things, and we realized we had to either get in it or get out of it,” says Brown. “So that’s why we put the Barnyard Adventure up.”

He adds that pursuing a venture like this comes with a lot of additional responsibilities, including hiring staff to supervise the area. And, while admission was free at first, the Browns quickly realized they were going to have to start charging families to enter. “In order to get bigger and help pay the insurance and veterinary bills and everything else, we had to charge, and that wasn’t any easy road,” Brown says. Gradually, customers began to accept it, though. “We charge $4, which is pretty reasonable today,” he adds.

During fall, Brown’s Berry Patch charges a little more but adds value to visits by including a corn maze and hay rides. “But we’re a destination,” Brown says. “We’re not in the suburbs, so we have to be pretty sensitive to people making the 20 minute to an hour drive to get here, so that can be challenging.”
Another challenge, Brown says, is that it’s not easy to get a day off in this type of business, and that’s something growers should think long and hard about before committing to becoming a destination farm market. “After a while, the seven days a week with the public can wear on you,” he says. “You’ve just got to be ready for that, I think.”

He notes that it’s important to consider safety and liability issues, as well. “With the E. coli issue that came through a few years back, it’s kind of scary,” Brown says. They’ve had to put signs up telling visitors not to drag dolls or teddy bears along the ground in the barn. “Some parents are aware of that, and some aren’t,” says Brown.

While running an intricate operation like Brown’s Berry Patch isn’t easy, Brown says it’s worth it when he gets positive feedback from families who have had wonderful experiences at the farm. “We enjoy doing it,” he says. “I think the simplicity of the farm can be brought out in many ways, whether it’s when you buy those strawberries and go home and make jam with your kids and family, or whether you just like going out to show Johnny how they grow. There are a lot of reasons for people to come to the farm, and we’ve just tried to enhance that a little.”