Media To Market

Every stalk counts. I once said that farming should be treated like conscription in the days of war, every person should have to spend 2 years on a farm, learning everything about agriculture. A 4 am wake up call, every morning, livestock to feed, crops to tend to, negotiation with buyers, managing pests, prepping land, fixing, building, storing, cutting, toting, reaping, selling, digging, sweating. On repeat. 2 Years.

During tough economic times, when supply is greater than demand, it's taxing, depressing at times, to be a farmer. It's not as simple as "give it away", when it's a family farm. There are no workers here. There's no extra storage for perishable fresh produce. Sometimes, there's no will to innovate. Sometimes, it's just exercise, for sanity.

In media, testing a product, a platform, a message takes little time, online analytics, real time feedback, you know how it goes, easy. Farming, wow. Testing a crop is months. When we decided to plant celery on a grand scale, the market was thriving, the numbers looked appetising, the workload attractive enough for a commitment to be made for 2 years, budgeting done and life put in place. The crop came as Covid hit.

Now, we are reassessing the crop. Change is slow on a farm. I'm learning that every day. Put in the hours, make full use of the day, but every thing takes time.