Visibility Spectrum
Visibility Solutions for Extraordinary Ideas
Branding / Publicity
Alt-AG / FOOD
My Farmer is My Friend
All FARMERS have a STORY.
What’s Yours?
Small Farms <:> Large Farms
Farming Consortiums
FARMING… the ORIGINAL
UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT
SMALL INDEPENDENT MARKET GARDEN FARMERS, whether urban or rural, are at a crossroad in a highly saturated sales landscape and an increasingly competitive community.
Regardless of whether you sell through CSA–Customer Supported Agriculture or Farmers’ Markets, or even from your front yard to neighbors… SMART food consumers are finally recognizing the high quality of food grown using organic, permaculture ,and regenerative methods.
Unfortunately, there’s a Blue Bottle in the ointment…
……..
Regen-AG’s VALUE PYRAMID… FLIPPED
HIGH QUALITY NUTRIENT DENSE FOOD that was originally intended to be affordable for average consumers is now so expensive that it has grown out of reach for most food buyers.
Yes there are a few incredible farmers, grocers, and even restaurants like Impact Kitchen that have kept prices affordable, but unfortunately organic regen-ag food is priced out of reach for most consumers.
Grocers and food delivery services now offer BUY NOW PAY LATER for lower income consumers who want to OCCASIONALLY cook a great meal at home. In 2013 I helped develop a payment plan like this for younger generations who wanted to buy FRESH WILD SALMON, especially SOCKEYE, but couldn’t afford it. Younger generations who were watching pennies turned expensive HOME MEALS into SPECIAL EVENTS and celebrated the experience like they would a Michelin Restaurant visit, or concert.
You know society is in bad shape when you buy one meal at a time on a layaway plan.
Now that the STRATEGIC PRICING PYRAMID FLIPPED, food grown using organic, permaculture, and regenerative processes is primarily purchased by consumers who recognize HEALTH VALUE and can afford its PREMIUM PRICES.
Average people are priced out of Alt-AG food, with tariffs making it even harder.
Organic, permaculture and regen-ag were never intended to exclusively serve an upscale market. In fact it was the exact opposite. Unfortunately, EDUCATORS FAILED IN A MASSIVE WAY to onboard enough customers, which means that without sales volume it is impossible to keep prices within reach of average consumers.
Regular Rice is on the LEFT… REGEN RICE on the RIGHT
*LUNDBERG is my favourite tasting rice and preferred purchase.
SMART FARMERS who pivot to affluent buyers quickly solve the revenue conundrum.
In order to find WEALTHY FOOD BUYERS though, growers need to be PROACTIVE and act independently. If you’ve been counting on the Alt-AG MOVEMENT to support and pull you through these trying times, you’ll be waiting a lot longer than anticipated. We’re not even close to the MAINSTREAM TIPPING POINT on the Adoption Curve. It could still be ten years before enough consumers show up to equalize prices, if ever.
MOVEMENTS are GREAT… as long as they move.
When movements stall however and fail to find customers, it causes considerable financial and emotional harm.
Frustrated farmers everywhere are now wondering…
If Organic, Permaculture and Regen-AG are as GREAT as educators claim…
WHERE ARE ALL THE CUSTOMERS?
The painful sales reality is that today’s NEW ALTERNATIVE AGRICULTURE MOVEMENT needs greater consumer visibility, and to LEVERAGE ORGANIC MOMENTUM in a way that benefits all Alt-AG farmers. It can be ROC – regenerative organic with certification, OR… regen-organic without certification, which is a relatively NEW strategy that smaller American Alt-AG farmers adopted over the last several years with considerable success. Ideally, I prefer Organic-regen so it is clear that the dog is wagging the tail.
Even though a small handful of great organizations and companies like Farm Folk City Folk, Impact Kitchen, Regeneration Canada, ROA, RegenBrands, and Kiss the Ground do an exceptional job raising Alt-AG visibility, food grown using alternative agriculture like permaculture and regenerative processes still fail to meet or come even close to survivable sales projections.
The main reason is that most farmers and food buyers aren’t motivated enough yet, and as a result the Alt-AG movement is withering calamitously.
We still need to onboard millions of new customers to make Alt-AG feasible and profitable for farmers, and affordable for consumers. NO customers = NO revenue. It’s not complicated.
It’s dangerous to MISINTERPRET the recent heightened visibility of regenerative agriculture. The uptick is mostly a result of GREENWASHING by giants like Bayer and Cargill and has little if anything to do with grassroot activities. To imply that regenerative agriculture is growing authentically at a consumer level is MISLEADING and PREDATORY, plus, also risky now that the stakes are so high. Where are the customers?
The movement won’t improve on its own, and will take considerably more organization, energy, and investment than we currently give it to evolve into an effective program that actually does what it promises.
If ORGANIC orgs act quickly they can reclaim their status. Unfortunately, they underestimated greenwashing propaganda and are now trying to catch up.
To bring the movement to life at a consumer level, we first need the WILL TO CHANGE, plus A LOT MORE ORGANIZATION.
Ironically, President Trump gave Canadian farmers and governments all the WILL and impetus we need to evolve and diversify our agriculture ecosystem.
Patriotism in Canada is SOARING.
Because of all this controversy and chaos though, we advise farmers to put their oxygen masks on first and focus on generating revenue before they try to bail out a floundering movement and save the world.
The Alt-AG movement stalled primarily because of POOR HOLISTIC PLANNING and EXECUTION by educators. Farmers have done all the heavy-lifting, and over the decades cultivated thousands of healthy acres. Unfortunately, the movement failed to sew it all together into a unifying quilt of customers.
Many independent Alt-AG farmers now wander like lost sheep without cohesive community or protection from predators.
Independent FARMERS NEED A GREAT STORY to bring everything together, and to assure millions of new food buyers that farmers are friends, a distinction educators of the floundering Alt-AG movement also failed to establish.
Today, many small farmers feel like they’re doing most of the movement WORK and carrying the bulk of the responsibility while educators prosper.
FOOD CONSUMERS report through exhaustive surveys that they will pay PREMIUM PRICES for FOOD & DRINK that they POSITION as being WAY BETTER THAN ORGANIC.
As Regenified reported last year… Affluent customers are searching to find LOCAL Alt-AG farmers.
PROGRESSIVE FARMERS who were paying attention, especially in the U.S., figured it out quickly and now generate substantial revenue leveraging promotional diversity and local-community strategies that target WEALTHY FOOD CONSUMERS.
Considering that most consumers today trust their families and friends more than they trust corporations and governments, the Alt-AG story you write about your small farm, needs to place you at the centre of the My Farmer Is My Friend narrative.
If you don’t lead your local community, your neighbor will.
We can help you develop YOUR COMMUNITY.
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Visibility Spectrum Services
BRANDING *Showcase yourself in complex markets where consumers today seek transparency, credibility, and trust.
PUBLICITY *Deliver your message to HUNGRY audiences that have also grown frustrated, angry, and demographically polarized.
Alt-AG *Incorporate a diverse landscape of alternative agriculture methods that deliver healthy food and help heal the earth.
FOOD *Deliver choices in LOCAL markets of AFFORDABLE and also LUXURY food products that are both way better than organic.
Visibility KITCHEN … cooking up Alt-AG recipes with GRAVY!
Visibility GREEN ROOM …our PRIVATE space for INSIDERS.
Our Strategies are designed to help you identify;
- Where Alt-AG and YOU are in YOUR region
- Why YOU NEED to align with others
- What you’d like to accomplish
- Whom to partner with and align
- How to do it fast and cost-effectively
- Why MAINSTREAM News is the GOAT
- When to make your move – HINT: NOW
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Not sure where you are on the Branding & Publicity Spectrum reach out via Vision at our domain … VisibilitySpectrum.com