Product Preferences of Farmers in the North Carolina Piedmont

Title: Product Preferences for Farmers in the North Carolina Piedmont

Authors: Uchenna Okefi and Godfrey Ejimakor

Abstract

We evaluated the most common products produced by farmers in the North Carolina (NC) Piedmont. Tomatoes is the plant product that is most produced by farmers while beef is the number one livestock product.  New and beginning farmers need to consider these products as ones that are easily marketable.

Statement of Problem

Selling food locally helps farmers to keep a larger portion of each dollar spent on food.  However, local food markets may limit the volume of sales that a farmer may achieve. Delays in the marketing of farm products such as produce may result in higher spoilage rates with adverse financial consequences for farmers.  This could affect the resiliency of farm families especially limited resource ones. Farmers interested in selling food locally will have to be careful in their product selection.  Consideration must be given to the shelf life of the product in addition to the product’s suitability for local market and weather conditions.

Methods

We used survey data to identify farm products that are popular with farmers in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina.  We requested local farmers who have an interest in local food marketing to list all the products that they produce.  We used the listings to generate a frequency distribution for the products.  We then ranked the products to identify the most and least produced ones.  Our findings will help new and existing farmers to determine the products that are more suitable for the local food market.

Summary and Conclusion

A simple majority of local farmers in the NC Piedmonts produce tomatoes. The number one livestock produced by the farmers is beef. These results suggest that these products need to be considered by new farmers in the region.