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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2003

G.P. Archer, Judit García Sánchez, Gianpaolo Vignali and Aurélie Chaillot

The purpose of the research was to extend on previous research by studying latent consumers’ attitude to farmersmarkets. Findings will be used to improve the marketing and…

2060

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to extend on previous research by studying latent consumers’ attitude to farmersmarkets. Findings will be used to improve the marketing and publicity of farmersmarkets in order to attract other consumers groups. The people surveyed were not always aware of the term farmersmarket. Some think it is a place where farmers go to buy what they need. Around 94 per cent of people who have already been to a farmersmarket will return because they enjoy the food which is fresh, different, local, etc. and to support farmers. Latent consumers think that farmersmarkets sell fresh, quality, locally produced, tastier, healthier and seasonal food. However they do not expect the food to be cheaper. The most important criteria are quality, freshness and the fact that food is produced locally. Latent consumers would enjoy supporting local producers, information about the products and how to prepare them.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 105 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 April 2024

Quang Ta Minh, Li Lin-Schilstra, Le Cong Tru, Paul T.M. Ingenbleek and Hans C.M. van Trijp

This study explores the integration of smallholder farmers into the export market in Vietnam, an emerging economy. By introducing a prospective framework, we seek to provide…

Abstract

Purpose

This study explores the integration of smallholder farmers into the export market in Vietnam, an emerging economy. By introducing a prospective framework, we seek to provide insight into factors that influence this integration process.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examines the expected growth and entry of Vietnamese smallholder farmers into high-value export markets. We collected information from 200 independent farmers as well as from five local extension workers, who provided information on 50 farmers.

Findings

The study reveals that the adoption of new business models is more influential than the variables traditionally included in models of export-market integration in predicting expected growth and entry into high-value export markets. In addition, the results highlight divergent views between farmers and extension workers regarding the role of collectors, with farmers perceiving collectors as potential partners, while extension workers see them as impediments to growth.

Research limitations/implications

The prospective model presented in this study highlights the importance of policy interventions aimed at promoting new business models and addressing infrastructure and capital constraints for the sustainable transformation of agricultural sectors in emerging markets.

Originality/value

This is one of the first articles to apply a prospective approach to export-market integration and demonstrate its efficacy through an empirical study. The suggested prospective approach could facilitate the design of policies aimed at export-market integration within the context of dynamic, emerging markets.

Details

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-0839

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 September 2010

Tadahiro Iizaka and Fumiaki Suda

Farmersmarkets in Japan have different characteristics from those in Europe and America. Although the amount of each farmer's sales profit is small, Japanese farmersmarkets

Abstract

Farmersmarkets in Japan have different characteristics from those in Europe and America. Although the amount of each farmer's sales profit is small, Japanese farmersmarkets have proved to be beneficial for Japanese farmers by providing them with nonmonetary benefits that cannot otherwise be gained from the modern large-scale farm products circulation. It also functions as the place of the rehabilitation of certain foods and products “forgotten” in modern circulation, and cases with old fashioned “grapes” and “eggplants” are those examples. Point of Sale (POS) systems, which were thought the symbol of modernized circulation, however, have been suggested to function as the device for communicating with farmers and consumers. Because the studies of Japanese farmersmarkets are approved to the origin of various logics, the researchers were not able to establish the united theory. However, it should be noted that Japanese farmersmarkets have established a firm position in the local food chain and will continue to function as a valuable channel for supporting sustainable agriculture.

Details

From Community to Consumption: New and Classical Themes in Rural Sociological Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-281-5

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 August 2023

Juan David Cortes, Jonathan E. Jackson and Andres Felipe Cortes

Despite the abundance of small-scale farms in the USA and their importance for both rural economic development and food availability, the extensive research on small business…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the abundance of small-scale farms in the USA and their importance for both rural economic development and food availability, the extensive research on small business management and entrepreneurship has mostly neglected the agricultural context, leaving many of these farms' business challenges unexplored. The authors focus on informing a specific decision faced by small farm managers: selling directly to consumers (i.e. farmer's markets) versus selling through aggregators. By collecting historical data and a series of interviews with industry experts, the authors employ simulation methodology to offer a framework that advises how small-scale farmers can allocate their product across these two channels to increase revenue in a given season. The results, which are relevant for operations management, small business management and entrepreneurship literature, can help small-scale farmers improve their performance and compete against their larger counterparts.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors rely on historical and interview data from key industry players (an aggregator and a small farm manager) to design a simulation analysis that determines which factors influence season-long farm revenue performance under varying strategies of channel allocation and commodity production.

Findings

The model suggests that farm managers should plan to evenly split their production between the two distribution channels, but if an even split is not possible, they should plan to keep a larger percentage in the nonaggregator (farmers' market/direct) channel. Further, the authors find that farmers can benefit significantly from a strong aggregator channel customer base, which suggests that farmers should promote and advertise the aggregator channel even if they only use it for a limited amount of their product.

Originality/value

The authors integrate small business management and operations management literature to study a widely understudied context and present practical implications for the performance of small-scale farms.

Details

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2574-8904

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2022

Diwakar KC, Robin E. Roberts and Sara Quach

Despite the availability of new buyers and the possibility to receive higher prices, still large numbers of smallholder farmers do not participate in the modern supply chains…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the availability of new buyers and the possibility to receive higher prices, still large numbers of smallholder farmers do not participate in the modern supply chains. This study aims to understand the factors that affect smallholder farmers' participation in a newly emerging modern supply chain context.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 6 focus groups of farmers (67 farmers in total) and 14 interviews with market actors and key informants such as government officials and donor organisations.

Findings

Influential factors of farmers' participation in the modern chain include buyer attributes and transaction conditions. High prices and prompt payment are the key motivators, with the main inhibitors being personal relationships with buyers and strict market requirements related to quality and quantity supplied.

Practical implications

In order to encourage smallholder farmer participation in modern chains, an expansion of the marketing of high-quality vegetables by implementing quality control mechanisms and the encouragement to adopt safe marketing practices is needed. These results are particularly relevant for practitioners and policymakers.

Originality/value

Most research to date concentrates on farmers' socioeconomic characteristics and are based in countries with advanced modern chains, and rarely focus on farmer participation in countries where modern chains are relatively new. This study addresses this gap by analysing farmer preferences to engage in the context of a country experiencing the emergence of trade through modern vegetable supply chain system.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 35 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 March 2022

Catie DeMets and Alfonso Morales

Farmers markets act as a nexus between farmers, community members and social values, and can foster significant community and environmental benefits. However, some of these…

Abstract

Purpose

Farmers markets act as a nexus between farmers, community members and social values, and can foster significant community and environmental benefits. However, some of these benefits, including agricultural sustainability, are rarely measured or publicized, restricting the full potential of markets and their associated actors to generate public benefits. This study aims to consider how markets, planners and policymakers might address this gap to promote a healthy environment and climate change mitigation.

Design/methodology/approach

In this article, the authors discuss their efforts to advance the above opportunity by developing, in collaboration with 20 farms across the USA, a citizen science data collection tool that measures and translates farm “ecosystem services” into accessible, public-facing formats to support informed farmer and consumer decision-making.

Findings

The authors present takeaways from exploratory interviews with three farmer-collaborators, which illustrate how tools like ours can help farmers in myriad ways: setting benchmarks to measure on-farm improvement over time, legitimizing their work through scientific grounding, communicating environmental impacts to public audiences, increasing sales to fund sustainability efforts, gaining competitive edge and others.

Practical implications

More broadly, the article exemplifies how marketplaces can strengthen symbiotic linkages between individuals, community allies and social goals through data measurement and communication, and reflects on how planners and policymakers might support these connections to advance public purposes.

Originality/value

This research responds uniquely to a critical need identified by practitioners and academics to expand understanding and awareness of the ecosystem services farms provide.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 42 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 June 2011

Andrew J. Murphy

This paper aims to report results from an exploratory study of farmers' markets, taking particular interest in the motives for participation of customers, and their perceptions of…

2763

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to report results from an exploratory study of farmers' markets, taking particular interest in the motives for participation of customers, and their perceptions of the functioning of markets as co‐created sites of local food production, retail and consumption. Customer perceptions are also compared between farmers' markets and supermarkets.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires were completed by 252 customers at 11 farmers' markets around New Zealand in 2008‐2009. Customers rated the importance of 31 constructs that might influence their involvement. For comparison, 257 supermarket shoppers in Auckland completed a similar questionnaire. Student t‐tests are used to distinguish between samples and subsample groups.

Findings

The paper finds that product quality is the key motivator for patronage, with price not a significant barrier to purchase or visits to farmers' markets. The “retail environment” has only a modest influence on market customer choices, and markets are only partially co‐created, with customers not highly valuing interaction with producers. Customers rated price, location and store environment constructs to be much more important at supermarkets than at markets.

Originality/value

Farmers' markets have experienced recent rapid growth and diffusion in many parts of the world, including Australasia, becoming popular sites of small retail trade and local cultural exchange. This paper contributes to the understanding of what motivates customers to participate in them, and what distinguishes markets from other food retailing sites such as supermarkets, at least in the New Zealand context.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 39 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 July 2020

Kelvin Njuguna Karing'u, Hezron Nyarindo Isaboke and Samuel Njiri Ndirangu

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of transactional costs on smallholder avocado farmers’ participation in the export market and the extent of participation in…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of transactional costs on smallholder avocado farmers’ participation in the export market and the extent of participation in Murang’a County, Kenya.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from 384 avocado farmers in Murang’a County, following stratified sampling. The Heckman two-stage model was used for analysis.

Findings

Results showed that the cost of information search was an important variable that impedes smallholders’ participation in export marketing while harvesting costs inhibits the extent of participation in export marketing.

Research limitations/implications

This study used data at the farm level. Therefore, insights on transaction costs among other marketing agents in the export market value chain would be an issue for future studies.

Originality/value

Following the debate on transaction costs and market participation among farmers in Sub-Sahara Africa, this paper models transactional costs and export market participation among avocado smallholders and measures the extent of participation with the inclusion of harvesting costs, negotiation costs, monitoring costs and information search costs that are not common in previous studies, thus contributing to the development of literature.

Details

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-0839

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2012

Michael Basil

Farmers' markets are often identified as the roots of marketing enterprise. They are usually considered as part of a traditional economy. This study seeks to examine how the…

Abstract

Purpose

Farmers' markets are often identified as the roots of marketing enterprise. They are usually considered as part of a traditional economy. This study seeks to examine how the social and political context shaped the appearance, growth, decline, and reappearance of farmers' markets in Canada. It aims to demonstrate the continuation and resilience of this industry.

Design/methodology/approach

Published research and historical documents of Canadian farmers' markets were used to derive a periodization of events based on events and turning points to allow an understanding of the factors affecting business success.

Findings

This study finds three eras of farmers' markets in Canada that were shaped by the social and political environment. In the first era, between 1800 and 1915, immigrants brought their conception of farmers' markets from Europe to the early settlements of the “new world.” In the second era between 1916 and 1970, as people moved west they became more self‐sufficient. Life became modernized and farming became more industrial. People shifted from their reliance on farmers' markets to more general mercantile stores and then to modern supermarkets. In the third era, starting in the 1970s, farmers' markets came into resurgence, largely as a result of a growing interest in the environment and local foods. They are currently, however, mostly relegated to a niche role in the modern food supply.

Originality/value

This study shows how the success of a particular commercial enterprise, in this case farmers' markets, is shaped by and reacts to larger forces in the business environment.

Details

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, vol. 4 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-750X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2002

Michael J. Tippins, Kathleen M. Rassuli and Stanley C. Hollander

The authors examine issues related to farm‐to‐table direct marketing. We consider motivations and drawbacks associated with participating in farm‐to‐table from both the consumer…

3231

Abstract

The authors examine issues related to farm‐to‐table direct marketing. We consider motivations and drawbacks associated with participating in farm‐to‐table from both the consumer and farmer perspectives. While we find a significant amount of advocacy for the restoration of nostalgic methods of food distribution that remove all intermediaries from direct farmer‐consumer interaction, we conclude that farm‐to‐table direct marketing plays, and is likely to continue to play, a very minor role in US food distribution.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 30 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

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