TRADE AND MARKETING lorida ven if January has only just started, it’s already teeming with activity at Danny Johns potato farm. Harvest and spring crops are currently simultaneous activities in Florida, which means that the crop farmer is busy with both lifting and planting table potatoes. Despite the hustle and bustle, he’s taking his time to explain in great detail what drives him to be a potato grower. And not only that, he also likes to hear all about the situation in Europe. ‘How can you help me improve my crop growing and marketing’, is one of the questions to which he would very much like an answer. Because, as in Europe, the cultivation of table potatoes is under pressure in America. Both prices and consumption are going down every year. In order to stand out from his competitors, Johns has opted for the locallygrown products approach. Every year, he receives several groups of consumers at his farm and tells them how potatoes are grown and why they are so healthy. ‘We should no longer accept being treated as “criminals”, but should spread the word that we’re suppliers of healthy food’, he states in no uncertain terms. E Explanation to consumers Local for local is John’s important business strategy. People spend most of their money in the local areas and, if possible, on produce from their own regions. That’s why he likes to be in contact with the local population so that he can tell the people about his passion and his products. ‘It’s a fact that only 2 percent of the population grows food for the other 98 percent. Not many people know these days how our products are grown and the work we have to do to achieve that. It’s important to explain all these things, so that people get a feeling for it’, is Johns’ idea. He personally shows round the 1,300 people that visit his farm every year. In order to satisfy all their wishes in regard to fresh table potatoes, he grows over twenty varieties. Important varieties are Red Lasota, Vivaldi, Fabula and Adora. In addition to selling varieties under their names, Johns also likes labels. For example, he sells Adora under the Sunlight label, which is also known in The railway station in Hastings was then an important link between Florida and the rest of America. Today, the little town is run down and the once-beautiful house that accommodated the producers’ association is now a dilapidated building with a For Sale sign in the garden. Potato World 2015 • number 4 Before planting the cut seed, the growers shake up the prepared ridges. 29 Pagina 28
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