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Marketing
Introduction
So far in this course, we've looked at how to produce crops and livestock organically to give you a certifiably different product. To capture the value of your investments in going organic—and the environmental benefits that will result—you need to be able to maintain that difference when you take your products to market. To do that, you’ll want to have a business plan that includes a marketing plan and a thorough understanding of costs and pricing.
This module will introduce you to overall organic market trends and the opportunities they provide for you, given your capacity to produce, your location and your desired level of "adding value" to what you grow. Whether you produce field-run soybeans or farm-processed yogurt in a private-label container, a good plan will help you become a successful enterprise by connecting to a solid market for your products.
We will suggest strategies and tactics to help you manage and market your business in your part of the country. The emphasis is on providing value by optimizing the marketing mix (product, place, price and promotion).
By the end of this module, you will be better able to understand general organic marketing trends and opportunities; identify regional marketing options for what you wish to market; use the Crop Conversion Calculator (this course’s crop enterprise budgeting tool); and determine why business and marketing plans are important for your business, and how they can help you decide if organic farming is right for you at this time.
This module is divided into four lessons, as you can see in the table of contents menu on the left. The Resources section at the end of this module suggests places to go for more help in developing the business side of your organic farming plans.
This module will take approximately two hours to complete.
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 Rodale Institute farm manager, Jeff Moyer.
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