Gardeners, small farmers and boutique backyard nurseries can attract customers with unusual tree, vine and bush fruit crops that offer customers a taste of the exotic, of history, or of their native bioregion that they can find nowhere else. The rare product can be their main crop, or a sideline.
A secret to attracting customers with unfamiliar crops (or with familiar exotics, such as olives, grown and processed in unfamiliar ways) seems to be letting the taste do the selling, and then generating repeat customers from that foundation. Letting customers in on the farms high quality growing and processing techniques is also a selling tool.
For example, a small organic olive farmer in California said he got his best results by getting the potential customer to taste the product. He explained that the quality is then so apparent that the higher price is usually a non-issue. This farmer also explained that they teach clients about how much differently they operate than mass produced growers creating cheap food. They explain their organic farming, rare heritage varieties, dry farming, hand picking, and manufacturing in small batches. This farmer and his family organically grow unusual olives such as Ascolano, Nicoise, Mission, Cornezuelo, Manzanillo, Sevillano, Barouni, Columella, Frantoio, Cornicabra, Rubra, French Picholine, and Saracena, and sell them as value-added products, including organic olive oil soap, and flavored organic extra virgin olive oils with names like Magical Mandarin, Rosemary Garlic, Meyer Lemon and Italian Stallion. Olives are cold pressed within hours of hand picking with a granite stone press. Very unusual. Plus, organically grown herbs, fruits and seasonings are added to produce the flavors. They sell mainly via their online catalogue and farmers market.
Other rare or unusually-produced fruit farmers allow u-picks or farm tours to allow potential customers to see the unusual fruits and experience them on a deeper level. And while "Mayhaws," "Paw-paws," and "Sea Buckthorn" are unusual fruits that are attracting customers, once again, so are the more ordinary fruits when processed in new ways. On my own Pacific Northwest island where apricots are not grown often, a family has developed a home business of making and selling regionally grown apricot syrup. They sell from their home, and to several local gift shops.
When selling unusual fruits at roadside stands or farmers markets, a description of its history and land of origin can draw much attention and interest. Community supported agriculture (CSA) farms offer surprise samples in their regular shares, describing the fruit in their newsletter. This serves as a novelty and makes the CSA farm feel special to the customers. If the fruit becomes very popular, it may eventually become a staple for which the CSA is known. Nurseries offer the fruit trees or shrubs as is, or will create grafted fruit cocktail trees with several varieties of fruit on one tree. They also offer dwarf tropical or subtropical patio and indoor fruit trees. Farms that create value-added products from their crops create jams, jellies, syrups, fruit flavored baked and dairy goods, wines, and gift samplers with their exotic and unusual fruits. Growing an exotic fruit exclusively for a local independent restaurant or juice bar can establish an ongoing, guaranteed cash-paying customer, giving the food establishment a locally grown specialty.
(c) 2006 Barbara Adams |
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