TBF 013 :: Building Marketing Relationships, Rotational Grazing, and a Hard Lesson Learned

Just because another farmer in your area sells many of the same products as your farm and farms in a way that is similar to yours does not mean that you need to look at them as competition. What would happen though if instead of seeing those farms as "competition" we saw them as partners in farming, marketing, and our community? On our farm and in our community we have experienced a lot of benefits from building relationships with other farms in our area ... even if we could be considered "direct competitors" with them.

On todays show I share five reasons why I believe it is important to build those relationships and how they can benefit all of the farmers in your community. I would love to hear about how you have built relationships with your farm neighbors and what the benefits have been. Join the discussion and leave a comment below!

Five Reasons to Build Marketing Relationships

1. There is Room in the Market :: It is my belief that the local food movement is a market that is still growing, so there is room for more great farms to become involved in their community.
2. Learning is Important :: The knowledge that farmers in the same area can share is so much better than things you can read in a book because you are farming with similar variables.
3. Cooperation Can Bring Growth :: When a group of farms in an area join forces they can have an impact that is larger than any one of them could have done on their own. (Check out our Farm Crawl)
4. Marketing Friendships Have Benefits :: Having other farmers at a market pointing potential customers your way is about the best advertising you can have.
5. Your Tummy Can Benefit :: Farmers that raise great tasting food sometimes share that food! And really is that type of community one of the values of most small-scale farms?

In fact I'm so thankful for our farm friends I want to give a shout out to them today!

• Ebersole Cattle Company
• Blue Gate Farm
• Reichert's Dairy Air
• Cleverley Farms
• Coyote Run Farm
• Dan-D Farms

In the farm update section of this episode I spend some time talking about the rotational grazing going on at Crooked Gap Farm right now. The cows are moving everyday ... the sheep are moving everyday ... the chickens are moving everyday ... the rabbits are moving everyday. It is great to see the livestock moving across the pasture grazing, fertilizing, and generally being happy cows, sheep, chickens, and bunnies. 

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! 

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ... 

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

TBF Show 013 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

**Special Note :: Because iTunes and Blogger were not playing nicely I now have a different feed for the podcast episodes. You can find a The Beginning Farmer Show specific feed at this link if you use an rss reader. I hope this also helps with some download problems others had been having as well.**

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)