Get To Know NAFDMA, An Organization With A Focus On Direct Marketing

Visitors to Carolyn's Country Cousins in Liberty, MO, were able to get an up-close look at how everything runs and how their pumpkin doughnuts are made.

NAFDMA visitors to Carolyn’s Country Cousins in Liberty, MO, were able to get an up-close look at how everything runs and how their pumpkin doughnuts are made.

Seeking to further your direct marketing business?

The North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association, or NAFDMA, is an association devoted to this growing industry. Members include farmers, farmers’ market managers, Extension agents, industry suppliers, government officials, and others in the farm direct marketing industry in North America.

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“We’ve been members of the organization for more than 20 years,” says Ellie Hollabaugh Vranich, retail market manager and assistant business manager of Hollabaugh Bros. Inc., in Biglerville, PA. “NAFDMA has absolutely played a role in how our farm has evolved. Second-generation family member Kay Hollabaugh has served as president. We have brought home countless ideas, tips, tricks, and motivational inspiration that has completely evolved how we do business here on our farm. We have also seen organizational benefit through enhanced efficiency, communication, and management of our business as a whole. We’ve developed numerous business relationships through the organization as well.”

NAFDMA members are involved with agritourism, on-farm retail, farmers’ markets, pick-your-own, consumer-supported agriculture, and direct delivery. With a focus on family farms, NAFDMA’s programming is designed to advance the prosperity of its members and the farm direct marketing industry through networking, participation, education, and innovation.

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“We have seen financial benefit through our membership as a result of successful and profitable implementation of ideas spawned from attending conferences. For example, we first learned about the idea of giving school tours in the early ’90s at a NAFDMA conference. We brought the idea home, and our second generation implemented it,” Hollabaugh Vranich says. “Today, it’s a huge part of our overall program here at the farm that generates a substantial amount of income for us.”

“We believe that NAFDMA can help you prosper — it’s the only reason for the association to exist,” says Cynthia Chiles, president of NAFDMA. Chiles is part of the fourth generation to own and operate Carter Mountain Orchard in Crozet, VA. “Over the past couple of years, a shift has happened within our association. Today, NAFDMA’s benefits are tangible, valuable, and available 24/7/365.”

For more on NAFDMA, visit FarmersInspired.com.

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