THE BUY LOCAL FOOD MOVEMENT

                                                                WHAT MANUFACTURERS CAN LEARN FROM AGRICULTURAL MARKETING

       For the past 3 years, every Wednesday afternoon, I run a local Produce Stand in our neighbourhood that sells fresh, locally grown, fruits and vegetables to my neighbours who mostly walk to the stand with their fabric shopping bags.  The stand has been a real hit on many levels:

1. QUALITY: Customers love the superior taste and freshness
2. LONGEVITY:  The produce lasts longer since it has been pick within the previous 24 hours.
3. ECONOMY:  Customers feel good about supporting the local agricultural economy.
4. ENVIRONMENTAL:  Customers feel they are doing something positive to help our environment by lessening their carbon footprint.
5. SAFETY:  Customers are more confident about the safety of local products that haven't been factory processed and shipped across the country or across the globe for that matter.(i.e. apples, garlic, and fish from China)                  

     Our little stand is really part of a worldwide trend in support of local agriculture that began with the Slow Food Movement and books like the 100 Mile Diet.  Witness our local Chamber of Commerce 100 mile dinner event with Chef Jamie Kennedy that's being held this month in K.W.  Go on the local Foodlink website that provides consumers information about local growers and retailers in the area.  Think about new words like Locavore that describes the growing numbers who seek out locally grown or raised agricultural products.  Try and get a parking spot at Herrle's Farmers Market around dinner time as people flock to buy their local produce.  Talk to Elsie Herrle, the founder, and she'll tell you what the local food trend has meant for her enterprise.  Onward and Upward.  Business has never been better.

     The local food movement has done wonders for the economics of food production over the past 5 years.  Ontario apple growers have seen prices more than double as the food chains respond to consumer demand by stocking locally available varieties; ditto with strawberries, carrots and many other items.

Ontario garlic growers, an industry that has been decimated by low cost imported garlic, is seeing a resurgence.  More and more acreage is being added to Ontario farm production each year.  Yes, but what has this got to do with reviving our Ontario manufacturing sector?  I think quite a bit.

Our manufacturing sector could learn some valuable lessons from the food sector about promoting the benefits of buying locally manufactured goods.  These benefits are the same as the 5 items listed above that apply to food.  Probably the most valuable marketing lesson would be how the food industry including marketing boards, growers, journalists,  and many other organizations bypassed the big grocery chains like Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro, whose supply chain spanned the globe looking to lower their cost of goods.  They created a pent up consumer demand for local food products that has forced this supply chain to rethink its purchasing strategy.  (Remember Galen Weston's series of Loblaws commercials earlier this year highlighting some of their local farm suppliers.)  They bypassed the chains partly  by creating an alternative distribution channel(produce stands, specialty stores, farmers markets, food fairs) where consumers could find the local products they were looking for without going blind trying to read the fine print on labels in a supermarket.

     Why couldn't general manufacturers do the same thing?  They can and there are examples to prove it.  Take New Balance Footwear, who I wrote about in my last blog; or go to www.leviton.com and see how this giant electrical supplier's website plays the Made in America card.  Talk to many consumers and they constantly bemoan the fact that even when they want to buy a product made in Canada or the U.S. they can't find it so they just give up and buy whats on the shelf.  That's not how the local food industry works.  If you want local honey or cheese you can find a source in minutes. 

     Especially during this period of high unemployment and slow economic growth, the time is ripe for manufacturers to play their Buy Local card, highlighting the benefits direct to the consumer.  Emphasize it in your advertising like Hellmans Mayonnaise does in their Eat Real Eat Local social marketing campaign.  Embolden it on your labelling like New Balance does.  Convince your retail customers of the benefits in highlighting their Made in Canada products.  Differentiate and emphasize your locally made products on your website and online store so consumers can easily find them.  Get your Chambers of Commerce and Trade Associations to hold events that promote locally manufactured products whether its forums, regional trade shows, etc. Band  together as a group and take out media ads that tell consumers why they would benefit from buying locally made products and where they can find them. 

     Its time for manufacturers to think out of the box and take matters into their own hands like the local agricultural sector has done.  Their success can be instructive for all of us.