Marketing for the Future of Small Family Farms: Sarah Gordon at TEDxAlbany 2011

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• published: 20 Dec 2011
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Sarah Avery Gordon is the founder and operator of FarmieMarket.com, the Capital Region's online farmers' market. Having grown up on a grass-fed beef farm (Gordon Farms) in Knox, NY, Sarah is inspired by wholesome local food produced on a small scale. In 2009, she began marketing her family's grass-fed beef on the Internet due to lagging sales using more traditional marketing venues, and was pleasantly surprised by the tremendous positive response and increase in sales she and her family experienced. Taking her marketing strategy to the next level, Sarah organized the Heldeberg Market in 2010, helping several of her farming friends from the Heldeberg Hilltowns market their goods through a central website hosting her first online farmers' market. Her goal was to increase profits for small farms that had limited marketing resources and skills. Heldeberg Market catalogs fresh weekly inventories from small farms so that Albany County customers can go online, shop, check out with their credit card and receive home delivery of their farm fresh goods. In her first year, Sarah personally delivered more than 500 orders to customers' doors. In 2011, Sarah increased the scale of her operation again, launching two more online farmers' markets under the central brand, FarmieMarket. Turning Point Market began serving Saratoga County in July 2011, and simultaneously Uncle Sam's Farmer Stand started serving Rensselaer County; Heldeberg Market was also expanded to serve Schenectady County. Now, customers all over the Capital Region can visit www.farmiemarket.com, click on their location, and shop for local produce, meats, eggs and more from the farms that are most local to them. Currently, Sarah is coordinating marketing activities for twenty small farms throughout the Capital Region and making deliveries to customers' doors three days a week in four counties. She prides herself on inciting "A farmer revolution. From the ground up." About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)