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For farmers who sell direct to consumers, the days of taking whatever price they can get may be over.

With a little marketing, producers can begin creating new value for their products, explained Eric Barrett, an Ohio State Extension educator in Washington County.

"There's nothing wrong with agriculture that marketing can't fix," Barrett told Farm Bureau members during one of several management seminars held during annual meeting.

Barrett used coffee as an example of how marketing can increase the value of a product. As a commodity, farmers receive about $1 per pound of coffee. Grocery stores sell bagged coffee for $6 per pound. McDonald’s provides coffee as a service for the equivalent of $25 per pound, and Starbucks markets coffee as an experience for the equivalent of more than $50 per pound.

"Why can't we take our farms and do the same thing?" he asked.

Barrett said customers who shop at the grocery store aren't getting the experience they would by shopping at a farmer's market.

"They can't talk to you and know where the product comes from -- that's worth money," he said.

Barrett noted that if farmers aren't receiving complaints about their prices, they might not be charging enough. He suggested they should focus on quality, develop customer relationships and never apologize for a higher price. Farmers can help maintain relationships with consumers by developing their own brand, he said.

"If you're going to brand a product and people are going to remember you, you have to be consistent," he said.

That means that the farm name is the same wherever it’s printed, the stand is set up in the same place each week at the farmer's market and that the colors of barns and style of fencing project the appropriate image of the farm. Barrett said it is also important to develop a simple, memorable logo for the brand. Ultimately, consumers will develop brand loyalty, which will affect their purchasing decisions, he said.

For more information, visit www.directmarketing.osu.edu

Caption: Ohio State Extension educator Eric Barrett explains how farmers can take advantage of marketing.