On Monday 31 March 2008, almost a hundered keen FARMA members descended upon Farndon Fields Farm Shop in Leicestershire to learn 'What makes a Winner.'

See our video below:

While Santa takes his holidays, now is your chance to plan for a cracker of a Christmas 2008.

FARMA is delighted to offer expertise from two fine farm retailers at this event: Nigel Chandler has seen Garsons, Esher grown its Christmas business year-on-year through great product selection, merchandising and keen marginsetting. For Georgina Mason at Gonalston farm shop, planning for Christmas is a year-long process, starting with an assessment of Christmas just gone, sourcing new and better products for the next, and then introducing them in plenty of time to ensure customers take notice.
Sadie Lynes from Jadecliff Christmas Trees Ltd, and Copas Traditional Turkeys will be offering advice on the most essential Christmas products.

Also featuring...

TOTALLY FOCUSED TRADE SHOW
Saving you valuable time and effort, this year we’ve brought the suppliers to you. The FARMA Seasonal Trade show features companies specially selected for their suitability to the farm retail sector.

A SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN
Halloween is a trick not to be missed. Family attractions from pumpkin trails to haunted houses not only provide a half-term treat, but pull in the crowds to the farm shop and cafe, boosting your business before the Christmas rush.

WORKSHOPS
Hands-on activities and discussion forums to inspire you to think outside the box and develop your consumer offer. Use the ideas to create your own festive product range for the shop and restaurant, or pick up some tips on running your own workshops and activities.

Ticket price just £30 plus VAT!

Click here for the brochure and for booking info (low-resolution PDF)
Click here for high-resolution PDF

Farndon Fields Farm Shop won the Farm Retailer of the Year, 2008 because it remains rooted in growing foods that it sells, and because its authenticity is partnered with superb retail skills and customer service second-to-none. It’s a farm shop that truly represents the sector at its best.
Join FARMA members for a day at Farndon Fields Farm Shop, getting behind the scenes to see what makes a winner.

Topics covered include...

• THE CHALLENGES OF OWN PRODUCE
Different growing regimes on soils more suited to grazing than producing crops. Tunnels, table-top cultivation for strawberries. Internal costs and profitability

• CREATING CUSTOMER FOCUSED TEAMS

• SYSTEMS
analysing profitability of a farm shop department and using systems to help you manage your business

• GREAT FARM SHOP LAYOUT & WHY IT WORKS

• MARKETING

Plus!

• LAUNCHING THE NEW FARMA ‘REAL FARM SHOP’ CAMPAIGN

Ticket price just £55 plus VAT!

Click here for more information and booking info
Click here for high-resolution version

This could be the most significant initiative since PYO started...

Retail analysts agree that provenance is the next big battleground for consumer choice. Pick-Your-Own is brilliantly placed to be the freshest, most exciting retail format - and it’s the one that the supermarkets will find most difficult of all to copy. But we cannot assume that today’s consumers know what PYO is; two generations have grown up since the 1970’s, indoctrinated in convenience, unaware of seasonality.

FARMA will be seeking the industry’s support for the creation of a strong, national brand, instantly recognisable as denoting a quality outlet, backed by inspected standards This makes practical as well as commercial sense. PYO is one of the last parts of the food & farming industries not have a Quality-Assured regime, either set by the industry itself or imposed on it
by others; surely it’s time to move ahead?

We need your support to make this happen.

Click here for the brochure and for booking info

BBC Countryfile visited Stroud Farmers' Market, winner of this year's Certified Farmers' Market of the Year award and talked with Clare Gerbrands, market manager, and our own Gareth Jones. Sandy Boyd of Ludlow Food Centre was also interviewed in the programme on the topic of farm shops.

See the programme below:

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LIFTON STRAWBERRY FIELDS FARM SHOP and OCCOMBE FARM SHOP & DEMONSTRATION FARM are different in their approach - but each has developed a unique consumer EXPERIENCE OF FOOD to a high degree.
Both are FARMA Award Winners 2008. The process of selecting these Awards is rigorous; winners are businesses that FARMA is proud to put forward as exemplary in their field.

• Learn from seeing best-practice and new ideas in action;
• Profit from networking;
• and be inspired by focused discussion.

Lifton Strawberry Fields Farm Shop, Devon
Monday 4 February 2008: 10am-4.30pm

Lifton Strawberry Fields, winner of the first FARMA ‘Own & Local’ Award and the on-farm Bakery Award 2008, is just off the A30 where Devon meets Cornwall.
The farm rears beef, growing its own barley, maize and grass as feed, plus Christmas poultry. On land surrounding the farm shop there is soft fruit, an orchard growing traditional apple & pear varieties, and vegetable production, some of it in polytunnels. Famous for PYO fruit for some 17 years, Lifton Strawberry Fields Farm Shop opened on 1 June 2002 and was extended in 2006.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

• Creating, staffing and managing an open kitchen
• Building staff teams focused on quality
• Adding value - bakery, ice cream, butchery
• Year round farm production for the farm shop
• Cost centres and margins
• Creating events that you, and your customers, enjoy
• Making the most of your location

Ticket price £55 per person

Occombe Farm Shop, Devon
Tuesday 5 February 2008: 10am-4.30pm

Occombe Farm Shop, winner of FARMA’s Best Newcomer Award 2008, is probably unique in that it is at the heart of a farming operation of some 250 acres of environmentally important farmland, spread in a 20-miles radius around Torbay, owned by the Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust (TCCT). What makes it like your farm shop is that it is charged with making a meaningful profit, in this case for the TCCT to plough back into its environmental work, with huge benefits to the community and further afield.
Starting a retailing venture from scratch was a challenge for director, Dominic Acland and his team, including Suzanne Ley, Occombe Farm manager. Now in its second year, the venture is showing it has great potential.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

• Eco-friendly building technology
• Harnessing technology for communication
• Running a farmers’ market on site & other regular events
• Explore communication themes for today’s customers
• Cost centres and margins

Click here to find out more more & book!

Picture shows (L-R): Sheila Dillon, Gareth Jones (FARMA), and Henrietta Green in the studio discussing the role of farmers' markets

Click here to visit the Food Programme website

>> Ideas from fellow farm retailers
Speakers at this conference include Sandy Boyd (Ludlow Food Centre), Georgina Mason (Gonalston Farm Shop), Judith Taylor (Horstead Farming Group) and Sally Jackson (Pink Pig Organics) … and many more. Their experiences, insights and inspiration will help you to grow, whether you’ve been retailing for six weeks or six years. How to make your first million … how to work in collaboration with other farmers … employment and catering … using the internet effectively.

>> Farm retailing in action
On Monday 12 November four different FARMA tours will visit a total of 21 farm retail businesses of various kinds. There is nothing quite like the FARMA tours … a breath of fresh air, ideas galore and lots of networking with like-minded people. They’re the best way to learn about what’s new and happening in the sector.
PS: all the tours start at 7.30am

>> Customer Service matters even more than you think!
During the FARMA Awards this year entrants were visited by a professional mystery shopper. Jonathan Winchester ran the program for FARMA. He's speaking on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 November. Why twice? Because we think his message is so important.
Farm shops, farmers’ markets, pick-your-own and even home delivery direct from the farm are different from supermarkets, where we have come to expect anonymity, perhaps a greeting at the till (if we’re lucky) – but have you noticed how all the cashiers offer to pack your bags? It shows that they have received customer service training...
Your customers need clues, they need to know what to expect and how to react in a farm shop or at farmers’ market – and the way you manage their shopping experience goes a long way to determining whether they become loyal customers or you never see them again.

You need to hear what Jonathan has to say.

>> Seven Habits of Effective Farm Retailers
Stephen Covey’s best selling management book, ‘Seven Habits of Effective Managers’ is life-changing. The principles are simple and fundamental. Rick Turner, owner of The Big Sheep, the no1 tourist attraction, walks the talk every day. In a two-and-a-half hours workshop on Tuesday morning, 13 November, he will reveal how ideas from Stephen Covey and others have melded into a management approach that enables personal and business growth.

>> Upside Down Management
We’re very pleased that John Timpson has agreed to speak. Go into any Timpson’s shoe repair shop and you’ll see evidence of John’s approach: his staff are empowered to delight their customers and the difference this makes is tangible. Staff and customers feel great. Find out how you can do this too …

It’s all there for you at the FARMA 2007 Conference from Monday 12 November – Wednesday 14 November. All you have to do is be there!

>> Click here for more details and driving directions

>> Click here for Conference brochure (5.69mb)
>> Click here for low-res, quicker loading Conference brochure (819kb)

Stephen O'Brien, MP for Eddisbury, Cheshire, attended Vale Royal Certified Farmers' Market on Saturday 16th June. Pictured with Monica Haworth, manager of the farmers' market.

The visit was to demonstrate his support for
farmers' markets during British Markets Month, which was launched on the 18th June with a reception in the Macmillan Room at Portcullis House,
Westminster, London, by the All Party Parliamentary Markets Group (APPMG)

The focus of the month is "fresh, tasty and local" and celebrates our heritage of markets including the revival of farmers' markets.

Click here to find out more