Monthly Webinars to Help Growers and Producers Expand Sales

Growers and producers – have you ever wondered how to go about marketing your hops to Ohio’s microbreweries? Or how about getting your meats into area grocery stores or restaurants? Have you ever wondered how to make sure your food business or operation has a strong, income-building presence in the mobile media arena?

Answers to these questions and more are available to growers, producers and anyone in the agriculture and food industry through a series of free monthly webinars offered by food and agriculture marketing experts from Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

The webinars are designed to teach participants how to effectively use direct marketing as a way to improve their businesses’ financial bottom line, said Brad Bergefurd, a horticulturist with Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

Having an effective and succinct marketing plan is key to any business’ potential for success, he said.

“Everything comes down to the marketing of your products,” Bergefurd said. “Growing the crops doesn’t make growers money — marketing the crops is what makes the money.

“You have to have your marketing plan put together well in advance before you even start producing your products. You have to know where and how you can sell the products that you produce in advance of production in order to save time, money and effort and to be able to make a profit.”

The seminars hit on a broad array of topics and interests, he said.

The webinars are offered the last Thursday of every month through October, from noon to 1 p.m.

Topics include:

Feb. 27 — Top 10 Direct Marketing Trends, by Mike Hogan, an OSU Extension educator and Sustainable Agriculture coordinator. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/dmtrends.

March 27 — MarketReady, Selling to Schools, also by Hogan. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/schoolmarket.

April 24 — Maps & Apps, Mobile Media Marketing, by Rob Leeds, an OSU Extension educator. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/mapsandapps.

May 29 — Aquaponics Production and Marketing, by Bergefurd. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/marketaqua.

June 26 — Farmers Markets, by Christie Welch, a farmers market specialist at Ohio State University South Centers at Piketon. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/farmersmarkets.

July 31 — Food Hubs by Tom Snyder, manager of OSU South Center’s Ohio Cooperative Development Center. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/foodhubs.

Aug. 28 — Marketing Hops to Ohio Microbreweries, by Bergefurd. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/hopsmarketing.

Sept. 25 — Marketing Meat, by Mark Mechling, an OSU Extension educator. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/marketmeat.

Oct. 30 — Value-added Food Production and Marketing, by Emily Adams, an OSU Extension educator. The webinar will be available to view at http://carmenconnect.osu.edu/valueadded.

The webinars are free to view. For more information on the webinar series, contact Bergefurd at 740-289-2071, ext. 136 or email bergefurd.1@osu.edu. More information on direct marketing can also be found at http://directmarketing.osu.edu.

For more information about OSU Extension, Darke County, visit the Darke County OSU Extension web site at www.darke.osu.edu, the OSU Extension Darke County Facebook page or contact Sam Custer, at 937.548.5215.