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May 26, 2020
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NAFDMA Webinar May 29: Marketing & Communications For Your Agritourism Business
Presented by Melanie Diehl
 Friday May 29 - 1 pm Eastern / 10 am Pacific
Communicating with our audience is always important. In today's world, it's more crucial than ever to connect with them through our marketing messages. In this live webinar, learn best practices for reaching your audience where they are, in a language they understand. Get tangible, practical and actionable steps that you can implement right now.
- Understanding your audience and what they need in this current climate
- Communicating your story, offerings and best practices in an easily digestible, relatable manner
- Combining traditional marketing methods with modern/digital methods
- Putting it all together in an innovative marketing plan
Professional speaker, trainer and award-winning digital marketer Melanie Diehl is passionate about helping business owners achieve massive results online.
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Help! I'm in Business with My Family: 9 Things I Wish We Would Do!
Presented by Dr. Katrina Hutchins, President & CEO of Re-Source Solutions
 We are excited to offer this 3-Session Series which will focus on the complexities and dynamics that come with working in family businesses. In each session, participants will explore three critical components for maximizing functionality and capacity in family work.
The entire series is Free for Premium Members, but you still must register to attend.
March 31 - Session One: "Dynamically Different – Maximizing Family Connections" (Purchase Recording Now)
Participants will learn strategies for:
- Inviting all Sides of the Story
- Removing the Lines in the Sand
- Having Crucial Conversations
April 30 - Session Two: "Effectively Sharing – Maximizing Family Communication" (Purchase Recording Now)
Participants will learn strategies for:
- Listening to Hear
- Pausing to Respond
- Acting to Maximize
May 28 - Session Three: "Inclusively Excellent – Maximizing the Family Loop"
Participants will learn strategies for:
- Setting Expectations
- Establishing Positive Modes of Operations
- Solidifying Cohesiveness
Dr. Katrina Hutchins, affectionately known as, "Dr. K" is the President & CEO of Re-Source Solutions, a personal and professional growth and development company. A Certified Personal & Executive Coach, Consultant, Inspirational Speaker, Author, and Professor with decades of experience as a senior leader in the nonprofit, philanthropic, higher education, and faith-based sectors, Dr. K is committed to positioning her voice in a way that amplifies the voices of others. As such, she has coached individuals and spoken to audiences all over the country.
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We’ve all been there. You are working as hard as you can and it doesn’t seem like kids know how to work anymore?! Well, let’s face it, they don’t, and all your headaches from last year are going to continue to get worse until you CHOOSE to do something about it. We’ve developed a COMPLETE employee management system that over 135 farms have implemented. Tom U says, “Hugh, your system changed my LIFE!” Don’t go to work dreading your employees another day
-> CLICK NOW to watch our FREE series about why employees are CLUELESS, and what you can DO about it .
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COVID-19 Effects On Agritourism — Peer Experiences and Lessons Learned Online Roundtable
NAFDMA
 NAFDMA - The International Agritourism Association recently hosted another member roundtable discussion to offer resource sharing, idea generation, and practical solutions as we continue to tackle the effects of COVID-19 on the agritourism industry.
We are making this roundtable discussion available to everyone, regardless of membership status with NAFDMA.
Please click here to listen to the conversation. This can be shared widely with your network and others in the industry who may benefit.
Additional resources from the roundtable can be found here.
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We are heading to Georgia for the 2021 Agritourism Convention & Expo! Feb. 4-8, 2021
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Save the Date for
NAFDMA Agritourism UK Farm Tour — March 4-6, 2021
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Understanding the secrets of retail merchandising skills results in increased sales per square foot. With the busy season coming, it is important to get the basics right.
During this 60 minute webinar, John will cover the following topics to help you maximize sales in your farm market.
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Family owned Valley Road Woodworks manufactures all
types of wagons and tricycles, even ones for adults! They are
heavy-duty and low maintenance, and will give your farm and
customers years of enjoyment. The wagons and trikes are
especially useful and popular at pick-your-own farms!
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After The Flood
John Kennedy Consulting
 NAFDMA Members have exclusive access to John Kennedy INSIGHTS by visiting Nafdma.com/john-kennedy. Be sure you are logged in to access.
In 2016, the small mill town of Ellicott City, Maryland experienced a catastrophic "1,000 Year Flood" that decimated the downtown area along with nearly 100 small businesses. The damage to the town was physical to the properties, psychological to the owners and residents, and financial to the businesses. Over the following two years, Ellicott City committed to rebuild, recover and renew their economic and emotional value to the great state of Maryland.
Unfortunately, in 2018, a second "1,000 Year Flood" followed and any traction and recovery that had been gained was not only stopped, but set back by what some suggest may be a decade. Some businesses will not recover, rebuild, or renew. An Air Force Veteran hero that was helping to rescue a woman lost his life as well. His name was Eddison Hermond. May his memory be a blessing.
I have recently revisited Ellicott City to see with my own eyes the progress that is being made to rebuild, recover, and renew, and I was struck by the resilience of the shop owners and businesses that are committed to returning to town (new or existing) while I was equally saddened by the number of buildings and businesses that are up for sale, abandoned, or no longer standing. The physical, psychological and financial harm that was done (not just once but twice) was not recoverable for some.
To add insult to injury, then came the virus ...
I feel this current crisis is a similar tragedy as the floods ... so many small businesses throughout small towns in America are reeling from its effect on life as we knew it. Instead of it being local or regional though, it is national and global.
The lessons and blessings from this pandemic are similar to those learned from the Great Ellicott City floods — Build. Back. Better.
The key elements of the "new now" in the garden center world are many in number — Innovation and the speed of change, leveraging talent and technology, developing/driving e-commerce, health and safety relating to staff and customers, financial wellness, personal self-care, team engagement, legal/HR issues that may arise with employment, and many more. In essence, everything is on the table in this new now and nothing should be either taken for granted or dismissed out of hand as we navigate the next steps moving forward ... "after the flood."
In this article, I am going to tackle just a one of the above-mentioned impacts: Innovation.
In Simon Sinek's book "Start with Why," he highlights the different types of people and companies as they approach innovation and change management.
There are "innovators" that are usually well ahead of the curve and are nimble and flexible in their approach to change. They make up about 3% of businesses. Next there are the "early adopters" that make up about 13%. They are not quite risk takers, yet they are also not risk averse. They are happy to wait and see how the "innovators" blaze a trail, and then they follow in that direction.
These two groups have adopted change as a core value and have been ahead of the curve in embracing technology and e-commerce solutions for their clients for years. As the Covid-19 pandemic silently spread and infected our nation and the world, the innovators were already set up for the "convenience economy" while most other businesses were embracing the "experience economy" (the third economy is "price").
Amazon is currently hiring 100,000 new employees to meet the need and rapid shift from the "experience economy" to the "convenience economy."
Wegmans, Chick-fil-A, Insta-Cart, and even small restaurants had already engaged in curbside pickup, and many others were making headway in this direction. Their adaption to the "new now" was fairly seamless (other than the extremely important health challenges of social distancing, masks, sanitizing, national and state guidelines and employee/customer safety).
The next two groups from Simon's book are the Early and Late Majorities. They each represent about 34% of the business population and are usually hesitant to change based on fear of change, blurred vision of the future, lack of creativity, intellectual laziness, or financially challenged. The time it will take for them to catch up to the early adopters/innovators is longer, more challenging, more expensive and often times too late.
The final group (16%) are the Laggards (Noun: A person who makes slow progress and falls behind others). Their adaption to change timeline still remains in the 1980's.
The key to this event or crisis is this — Who we were prior to the pandemic does not need to define who we are moving forward.
I know many garden centers that within a few quick weeks jumped from a Late Majority to Early Adopter/Innovator. I call that "forced innovation" and I am totally cool with that. Whatever it takes to get the outcome that is needed is just fine as long as you learn the lesson, celebrate the blessing, establish the "new now" and never look back.
The new "convenience economy" that your customers are now receiving from you today will become the new "experience economy" that they will expect from you tomorrow. It will never be the same again. And the quicker we are able to accept this truth, the quicker you will recover and Build. Back. Better.
Ellicott City, Maryland will never be the same. Some buildings will forever be unoccupied or demolished. The back to back crises the city and businesses endured (along with a horrific fire the decade before) had a physical element that is not present in the Covid-19 Pandemic. A small blessing in comparison to the headwinds we are all facing moving forward.
The psychological and financial elements are omni-present in both examples.
May you overcome them with Grace, Faith, Hope, Love and Patience ... things that God delivers daily ... if asked. May you find them today.
John
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Are you a member?
NAFDMA
Are you a member? Be sure you request to join our Members Only Facebook Group and NEW Members Only Marketplace.
The links can be found on nafdma.com when you are logged in and navigate to Member Connection and then Facebook Groups.
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Owner/Executive Online Community for Premium Members
NAFDMA
 As an owner or an executive level member of your organization, you now have a platform to have discussions regarding human resources, hiring, staff management, and other topics which may not be suitable for discussion in an open forum such as Facebook. Using the Twist communication program, Premium Member account owners (and other owner/executive level members within your organization) can discuss these topics in a secure environment, but still get the advice and direction using a forum.
Are you a Premium Member? Details to access benefits can be found on nafdma.com when you are logged in and navigate to Member Connection and then Premium Members Only.
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Agritourism adjusts to new guidelines as state opens up
Farm and Dairy
At Breitenbach Winery, in Dover, Ohio, May 16, customers gathered on the outdoor patio. Some wore hats and sunglasses. Some wore masks. But most had one thing in common.
"Everybody's so happy and excited to get back outside and just come in and be human again," said Dalton Bixler, owner.
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Delaware issues guidance to help u-pick farms open for the season
Dover Post
The Delaware Department of Agriculture issued guidance recently to help local u-pick farms safely open to the public for the season.
This guidance will help farm staff and visitors to u-pick farm operations participate in a safe manner to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
"Each year when fresh Delaware grown strawberries come into season, many of our family farms begin to open their U-Pick operations to the public," said Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse.
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CNY farm sells out drive-in movie event, plans more
Syracuse.com
Now that drive-in movie theaters are allowed to resume operating in New York state, a Central New York farm has been given the go-ahead to host its first ever pop-up drive-in movie event. And it's already sold out.
Arlington Acres in LaFayette, New York, will show "The Goonies" on a big screen after sunset on Saturday, May 23.
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We still have peaches: Hill Country season is off to a sweet start
The Austin American-Statesman
The coronavirus pandemic might just be a boost to this year's Hill Country peach season.
After months of shelter-in-place orders, the state is starting to reopen just as the first peaches of the year hit the roadside stands on U.S. 290 between Johnson City and Fredericksburg that was once known only for peaches and the LBJ Ranch.
Now, that stretch of highway is home to more than 50 wineries, distilleries and tasting rooms that far outnumber the peach orchards that are part of an agritourism industry that started nearly 100 years ago.
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How to build your own virtual wine tour on Google Earth
The Manual
If we overlooked the transportive power of the digital age before, we're surely not doing so now. Stuck at home but armed with a Wi-Fi connection, we are still able to do a lot of virtual tours, even if it involves a lot more clicking than actual walking.
The pandemic has shuttered tourism as we know it and, for wine, that means no cruises on famous European rivers, no saunters through iconic vineyards, no dusty cellar tours curated by seventh-generation vintners.
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Bradford Barn looking at ways to sustain business, keep clients happy during pandemic
Bradford Today
Many businesses have faced financial hardships during the COVID-19 crisis, especially those in the service industry like bars, restaurants and hair salons.
One of the biggest players in the service industry being hit right hard now are wedding and event vendors.
Jim and Jennifer Johannessen, owners of the Bradford Barn event venue on the 9th Line, are facing challenges and uncertainty as the government continues to extend measures preventing large gatherings.
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COVID-19 isn't giving Ontario wineries time to breathe
TVO
On paper, Jakub Lipinski manages operations at Big Head Wines, a family-run winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, in the heart of Ontario's wine country. But, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he's taken on a new role: delivery driver. In April alone, Lipinski drove 10,500 kilometres, dropping off libations to customers as Big Head adapts to doing business in a province under a state of emergency.
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Virus threat creates unease in Michigan summer tourism haven
The Associated Press via Star Tribune
Clare Nagrant earns her living from tourism, so she's taken a beating during the coronavirus-imposed shutdown. A few months ago, she was juggling four jobs. Now she's down to one part-time gig with a distillery that stayed open by adding hand sanitizer to its product line.
Yet the 42-year-old single mom doesn't feel the usual excitement about thousands of free-spending summer visitors flocking to northern Michigan's lake country, even though its restaurants, taverns and shops are being allowed to reopen this weekend.
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7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063
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