Spreading produce news at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture
Spreading produce news at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture
As usual, it is a busy time of the year at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
With summer crops in full swing and farmers getting ready to start harvesting their fall offerings, officials at the department are aggressively helping to get the word out about what is happening with farmers across the entire state of New Jersey.
“As we have for the past several years, the department’s marketing staff have been out promoting the crops that came in throughout the summer, with giveaways of grape tomatoes, blueberries and peaches at various boardwalks along the Jersey Shore,” said Joe Atchison III, the department’s assistant secretary and director of marketing. “Those are always incredibly popular events, as New Jersey residents wait all year for the opportunity to have their fresh, local produce.”
Just a few weeks ago, New Jersey played host to 71 agricultural marketing professionals from departments of agriculture representing 26 states throughout the United States as part of the North American Agricultural Marketing Officials annual conference and all were amazed by the breadth of agriculture in the Garden State.
Atchison said this has, so far, been a good year, weather-wise, for Garden State farmers.
“There wasn’t the severe drought pressure that they had to contend with last year,” he noted. “That is giving them the leeway to focus on crop issues. Farmers are anticipating a strong fall harvest, which means that not only will the quality of the produce be great, but prices will be kept in check due to abundant crops and less irrigation expense. The lack of rainfall was particularly hard-felt by our cranberry growers last year, as flooding the bogs for harvest was challenging. We expect the cranberry harvest throughout October to be more in line with prior years’ harvests.”
The department is also aggressively promoting the state’s produce. Atchison said the “promotional year” starts shortly after the annual State Agricultural Convention, as the community gears up for the early-season crops. That leads, into the summer crops and then rounds out with the fall crops including spinach, beets, hard squashes, broccoli, cauliflower, apples and cranberries.
“Our social-media campaigns are in full swing through that entire stretch of time,” he said. “We have electronic billboards on the major roadways throughout New Jersey and run radio spots on weekends promoting the crops as they come into market. We continue our use of traditional media to reach a somewhat older audience that isn’t as adept at social media so that we may cast as wide a net as possible.”
But, there is more work to be done. Atchison said that, first and foremost, farmers and wholesalers should become a part of the highly-regarded Jersey Fresh marketing program.
“As the first state-sponsored quality grading and marketing program for agricultural products, Jersey Fresh set the bar for getting the word out about the quality of our farmers’ products,” he said. “For just $30 a year, farmers can access all of the promotional and point-of-purchase materials of the program. Retailers also have access to the banners, bin wraps and price cards that are part of the program, and we work to ensure that all who seek to promote New Jersey agricultural products have these tools that can be displayed in supermarkets or on-farm retail shops.
“Research has shown that products labeled with the Jersey Fresh brand are held in high regard by consumers in the mid-Atlantic region,” Atchison continued. “The program has come to be highly recognized not only for the promotional side of it, but also for the quality-grading aspect, which tells consumers they’re getting not only the freshest produce, but the highest-quality items as well.”
