Growers encourage consumers to buy local products whenever possible. What happens to consumer confidence when they find out that some of those growers ignore their own words and import inputs and equipment, circumventing local dealers and economies?
Ag retailers are faced with the challenge of having former customers buy crop inputs through farm organizations, and then expecting those local retailers to scout fields when problems arise.
Similarly, some farmers go to the states to purchase combines or tractors, then count on local dealers to provide service.
These producers need to realize that consumers will have a hard time justifying support for a program like ‘buying local’ when those pitching it aren’t following their own advice. It only takes a few to make many look bad, and blatant contradictions like these are hard to overlook.
February 8, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Joanne you raise a great point in your blog. Farmers like everyone else are always looking for an effective way to cut costs. No one will blame them for that. However I fear it will take a few farmers to lose a crop over a product that did not work and the vendor from which they purchased it is hundreds, if not thousands of miles away, offering nothing more than sympathy over the telephone if they are lucky enough to reach someone.
The same principle applies to equipment. If something goes wrong you can hardly expect the local dealer that was overlooked for the purchase, to be anxious to complete the warranty repair work.
And at the end of the day as you rightly point out, consumers will have a hard time with the “buy local” pitch if farmers aren’t practicing what they are preaching.
February 14, 2008 at 12:24 am
[...] the United States is the right way to go. A fellow cohort of mine from the University of Guelph, Joanne Falk, wrote an excellent blog recently explaining some of the possible perils of farmers not buying locally. The other risk is of [...]
February 26, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Bottom line prices and savings achieved by buying equipment and other agricultural inputs abroad saves the consumer ultimately. Many consumers do want to purchase locally grown food, although i am doubtful that the origin of a farmer’s equipment is of much concern to them. I would be interested in any research or studies that focus on this.
What happens when the inputs you need to provide a bountiful and healthy local food supply cannot be purchased in your locality…