Organic farmer touts his methods

DILLON — Joel Salatin traveled clear across the country to give a gathering of Montana ranchers a simple message.

And that message was — "Everything is going green" and those producers willing to embrace change and step out of the traditional ways of getting their products to market have unlimited opportunity.

By Perry Backus of The Montana Standard

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/01/12/newsbutte_top/hjjfjiihjajhij.txt

Salatin was one of a number of speakers at the University of Montana-Western’s annual

Ag Conference and Expo in Dillon last week. About 60 southwest Montana ranchers, farmers and others attended the conference.

Salatin farms in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. His family-owned farm, called Polyface Inc., was launched in 1961 by Salatin’s health-conscious parents. The family has never used chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or

herbicides and is now reaping the benefits of a population becoming concerned about the origin of their food.

Their customers drive up to 400 miles round trip to pick up a variety of products including "salad bar" beef, eggs from free-range hens and pastured chickens, turkeys, rabbits and pigs.

Salatin said their farm, which includes about 100 acres of cleared land and 400 acres of

timber, grosses about $350,000 a year. While other nearby farming operations average about $50 in profits per acre, Salatin’s acreage is grossing about $3,000.

He claims his operation nets a white collar salary for every 25 acres and therefore provides opportunity for his children to stay in agriculture.

Salatin makes that happen by tapping into a growing market of people willing to pay more for food they know is safe and a willingness to offer his product direct to his customers. His
family is also always looking for ways to keep costs low and profits high.

"For example, we entice the pig to work for us, replacing machinery and petroleum in the process," said Salatin. "In the winter, we bed cows in the hayshed every couple days with straw, wood chips or leaves to lock soluble nutrients with carbon, to minimize leaching and vaporization. In between the layers of bedding pack, we add whole corn.

"In the spring, when cows go back out to graze, we turn pigs into that anaerobic bedding pack which has fermented the corn. It entices them to root through the deep bedding, aerate the pack, and initiate aerobic composting.

"This saves the step of windrowing compost. It creates a perfect and passionate living environment for a pig and replaces tractors that rust (depreciate) with ‘pigaerators’ that grow (appreciate).

"Getting in sync with natural processes completely changes the bottom line," Salatin continued. "So we calve when the deer are fawning, grow chickens in the spring while wild turkeys and grouse are raising their babies. By simply mimicking what nature does, we save money and generate thousands of dollars a year in revenue. It’s amazing how creative farmers can be at spending money in the wrong places."

Salatin’s farm is only 150 miles away from the Washington Beltway and he readily admits that there’s an advantage to having such a large population base to draw from.

"But there are more similarities than differences" between his operation and those in the rural West, he said. "You have opportunities here that we don’t have."

For example, Salatin said the fact he lives in an area zoned for agriculture does not allow him to offer any kind of recreational experience on his property. People who come to buy his products are searching for an experience.

"We live in such a virtual world," Salatin said. "People are looking for authenticity in their lives. They realize that sitting in front of a computer screen all day is not real.

"Once you have the customer at your farm, they are predisposed to buy from you and they will empty their pockets," he said. "While they are there, we try to create a memory. People are looking for memories.

"Their kids going out and romping in our pastures creates a memory. Kids picking a bouquet of flowers and giving them to their mother creates a memory. To us, they may just be weeds, but to them it’s a beautiful bunch of flowers handpicked by their munchkins."

Diversification is the key, he said.

"In marketing, diversification of your portfolio is everything," said Salatin. "If you’ve got beef, add chickens. If you have quail, add squab. If you have trout in a stream, add freshwater shrimp. If you have someone in the family who is an artist, sell paintings."

About 35 percent of Salatin’s income comes from on-farm sales. Another 20 percent comes from local farmer’s markets, where customers seek out organically grown products.

An agent broker buys their products at farm gate price and adds 35 percent at the market and he’s still able to beat prices at the organic supermarket.

The family’s third marketing venue are "buying clubs," which are groups of people willing to place an order and then pick up their products at pre-designated drop off locations.

There are a growing number of people looking for healthy food, and producers just need to be creative in finding ways to locate them, Salatin said.

In urban areas, people are spending more time "cocooning" in their homes and for many that means spending time chatting or surfing on the Internet.

They’re discovering that even some foods deemed organic aren’t much different than traditionally raised products. They’re seeking an alternative.

"Our customers are telling us that there’s as much difference between our green grass products and those advertised as organic as there is to organic and regular food products," he said. "We call ourselves beyond organic. Everything is moving toward green. We feel that every educated customer is a good customer."

Salatin has also tapped in the restaurant market, where chefs are often looking for quality products.

"It’s the hardest nut to crack. Restaurants are the most demanding and the least forgiving," he said. "But they do write big checks."

Salatin’s marketing philosophy includes a focus on your best customers.

"It’s easier to find 100 people who will spend $1,000 with you than it is to find 1,000 people who will spend $100," he said. "In marketing, the hardest part is getting customers."

He believes in the 80/20 rule n where 80 percent of your income comes from 20 percent of your clients.

"Too often, we dwell on the 80 percent of our clients who just don’t get it," he said. "We have people who will drive to our farm and buy a couple of T-bones and a dozen eggs, but they’re not the backbone of our business.

"Instead, it’s the customer who will drive a 100 miles to buy a whole hog, a half beef, five turkeys and a load of fryers. They are the backbone of our business and they are the ones we invest in.

"The first thing we do is throw in something extra to show our gratitude," he said. "Our culture is drastically lacking in appreciation…we want to provide a message to those good customers, those 20 percent who get it."

Salatin said people in agriculture have an opportunity to change the way food is delivered to the masses.

"There is a real lack of trust right now in everything big," he said. "Does anyone really believe Don Tyson when he says he cares about the customer?

"Since the mad cow scare started, our phone has been ringing off the hook. We actually benefit anytime there is a problem in the industrial food sector."

It does require making a change and that’s been hard for most people in agriculture.

"If everyone who could would, it would so fundamentally change our food delivery system that we can’t even begin to understand those changes," said Salatin. "All people want this stuff; they just don’t know it yet."