WSARE 2000 Farmer/Rancher Grants-FW00-080

TITLE: Moving from Selling through Intermediaries to Direct Marketing using a Cause-Related Marketing Strategy

Members of AMO Organics are working to market their own produce

AMO Organics, a group of Mexican immigrant organic farmers, has found that selling through intermediaries is no longer profitable. This group, established in 1998, is developing a strategy that will allow them to market their own produce. With the aid of a Western SARE Farmer/Rancher grant, this group is experimenting with a cause-related marketing strategy. They hope to appeal to social-conscious buyers by recounting the history of immigrant farmers and by stressing the importance of buying from immigrant farmworkers to help them become independent organic farmers. They also plan to initiate a Community Supported Agriculture venture in the Monterey, San Jose, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco areas using this message.

The group's first step in their move to direct marketing is to develop publicity. They will prepare written and visual materials that document the history of immigrant farmworkers and AMO Organics, as well as their farming practices. They will then develop these materials into brochures, posters, and a web site and also create an AMO Organics label for produce boxes.

AMO Organics hopes that their efforts will influence other Spanish-speaking farmers in the area. They plan to hold a field day and present their marketing experiences in Spanish for these farmers.