The North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association is attempting to get some major feedback from an industry wide survey. Association executive director Charlie Touchette says in his letter “The farm direct marketing and agritourism industry is perhaps the fastest growing sector related to agriculture today. Some of you have been on the cutting edge of this farm and ranch survival strategy for decades. Some are just entering this realm of diversification, and some new entry farmers and ranchers consider it to be the only feasible way to enter into agriculture at all.”

The North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA), together with various local, state, and provincial associations, is conducting a survey to identify the status and trends of farm direct marketing. This survey offers an opportunity for those active in farm marketing and agritourism to give input and ideas to help prioritize issues that should be addressed in the future. An invitation to participate in this survey has been distributed to over 2000 farm direct marketing and agritourism operations that have had some connection to NAFDMA or their local associations in the past five years. We invite you to share the survey link with anyone else you think might be interested in filling it out.

To entice people to participate they’re offering some serious incentives: “The first 777 completed surveys will be entered into a drawing to win your choice either of a $1900+ USD value to attend the NAFDMA Convention in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, or $1000 CASH.”

The survey is being conducted by Michigan State University, with significant input from NAFDMA and the Texas Department of Agriculture. Funding is coming from NRCS, Texas Dept. of Ag and the Michigan Agricultural Experimental Station.