Farm marketing requires telling a compelling story about the food you produce.Organic and other stripes of sustainable farmers have long contested that their foods are healthier than food produced through the conventional food system. I know that many Small Farm Central members and readers are not organically certified, but all of you are producing food that you are proud of and simply because you have to look the customer in the eye when you sell the food, your products are likely raised with much more care than the larger farms.

In marketing your crops and your farm to customers you should make them feel good about supporting your farm because it is a worthy venture, which is a topic that I cover often here at Small Farm Central. Customers can also be motivated by the healthful aspects of your products. As a culture we are already starting to remember the falsity in statements like: "an eggplant is an eggplant is an eggplant." This is made very obvious in the varieties bred for taste that local, small farmers choose to produce. There is now a growing amount of evidence that there is a nutritional difference as well.

In a New York Times article, Harold McGee refers to the work of 40 Swiss rats and their scientist overseers:

As an “integrative method” for assessing quality, they gave lab animals a choice of biscuits made from organic or conventional wheat. The rats ate significantly more of the former. The authors call this result remarkable, because they found the two wheats to be very similar in chemical composition and baking performance.

The scientists are unsure of exactly why the rats choose the organic wheat, but the current theory settles around phytochemical levels:

...plants in organic production are unprotected by pesticides and fungicides, they are more stressed by insects and disease microbes than conventional crops, and have to work harder to protect themselves. So it makes sense that organic produce would have more intense flavors...

Plants sense and respond to any kind of attack by means of chemical signals. Cells in the attacked area first detect telltale molecules from the invader. Then they respond by releasing warning molecules that trigger the rest of the plant — and even neighboring plants — to start producing chemical defenses. Biologists discovered many years ago that they could induce the plant’s defensive response without any live insect or fungus. All they had to do was supply the initial chemical signals — the invader molecules or the plant’s warning chemicals.

McGee goes on to suggest ways you can induce this reaction in your backyard garden. It is worth noting that in blind taste tests people could not distinguish between organic and conventional produce. This is not a problem for local produce of course: we have all the advantages. If the taste test could be between a conventionally grown food and food that was grown on a local farm the results would be much different. You can let the food come to full ripeness; grow varieties bred for taste instead of shipping; and only ship the food a few miles instead of a few thousand miles.

The pytochemical explanation and the anecdote about 40 Swiss rats choosing sustainably raised food is a powerful story to tell your customers and one that will stick in their mind. Maybe next time the choice is between the supermarket and your farm, they will stop by your farm instead.

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