Pathways to Growth for Traditional FarmsPart 2 of a 4 Part Series on the Future of Short Food Supply Chains

Patrick.Crehan@cka.be

Acknowledgement: These findings are based on work done in the SKIN project on Short Food Supply Chains, funded by the EU H2020 program under grant agreement 728055. They reflect the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the consortium members or of the European Commission. More information about the SKIN project can be found at www.shortfoodchain.eu

Opportunities for improving the education of young farmers…

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Each year, Scott Brinker editor of the Chief Marketing Technologist Blog, organizes the compilation of an annual inventory of marketing technologies and the services they support in modern multi-channel marketing systems…

Charting the evolution of modern marketing technologies over the last 9 years…

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The problem with farmers’ markets…

KIOSKS and the challenges they face• Location, rent, utilities and cost of operation• Logistics, networks of kiosks and the high cost of technology• Security, theft, trust, vandalism, maintenance…• Throughput to break

From the structural point of view the coolomat is a modular container, which contains from 14+ boxes. Boxes can be regulated from -20C to + 10C

The system is centrally managed and retailers can communicate with it over our API.

ISSUES RELATED to INNOVATVE PoS systemsKiosks, Vending Machines, Smart Lockers, Pop-up shops…

Success criteria …• LOCATION: Finding places to put them, that don’t cost too much…• REGULATION: An opportunity for cooperation with local authorities…• SEASONALITY: Consumers need to form habits…• HABITUATION: They need to be “trained” to use the sales points...• SELECTION: Is the kiosk a one item shop? Does it only sell bread or strawberries?• REFILLS: If a consumer goes to the kiosk and there is nothing there … will they go again?• RETURNS: What about food that is not purchased, expires or goes bad? Is someone going to take it away …• MAINTENANCE: We have seen kiosks that appear to have been abandoned and vandalised…• SECURITY: For the produce and for the money involved …• COST of OPERATION: Technology is expensive, so is rent, so is labour … is the CoO of the kiosk less than the

extra profit from sales? What are the thresholds of profitability in terms of unit sales or sale volume?

These issues are interconnected…We saw some examples of new start-up ventures or early stage ideas being implemented …We need to know how the examples we saw are getting along after 6 months 1 year, 2 years…

Finding good solutions for many of these problems will be a question of good DISTRIBUTION and LOGISTICS

Retail transformation…• Brands moving away from retailers• Delivering direct to consumers…• Using pop-ups to create buzz …• Not just on the street but also in offices…

What lessons for D2C farmers?• A complement to kiosks… • Perhaps a solution for seasonal produce…• Pop-ups can bring the farm to the city…• Meet and greet, show videos, do demonstrations…• Explain the service and get subscriptions …

IndependentOnline OnlyDelivery

Landwinkel: Cooperative network of 100+ stores owned and managed by more than 100 producers, to offer variety, reach a bigger public and maintain a good reputation through branding…

In this network of physical farmer-owned stores…

Profits from retail can go back to the farmers based on better payment for produce, dividends, etc…

This is a franchise network created by cooperatives of the Balearic Isles, with a view to developing the market for the 500+ products offered by its 600+ members.

The network undertakes logistics and distribution, sales and marketing on behalf of its members. So far it has 16 stores in the Balearic isles and mainland Spain. It plans to open another 10 in the near future, including one in Lisbon.

La Louve de Paris

A cooperatively managed « hub » owned by farmers…

The hub takes care of storage, processing, packaging, online + offline sales and distribution…

Producers share profits based on a system that rewards “value” such as waste, miles, GHG, animal welfare…

The system serves over 10,000 consumers…

REKO

A flat, self-organizing, social media model…

No CEONo investorsNo buildingsNo overheads340,000+ members in Finland and growing…Recently entered Italy…

In many ways a solution to what ails the traditional farmers market.

It will be interesting to see how it evolves and clarify the value proposition for producer and consumers…

This was Part 2 of a 4-Part Series on the Future of Short Food Supply Chains

Part 1 provides an overview of a Foresight Report on the Future of Short Food Supply Chains. It looks across domains, across sectors, across the EU and abroad to the US, Japan and China to find out how things are changing in the world of food, retail and transport logistics, consumer habits, marketing and e-commerce logistics. It looks at his existing trends are likely to impact local food systems, and what kinds of opportunities this will present for the future of food and agriculture in Europe.

Part 2 looks in more detail at the situation of agricultural producers in Europe, their importance and points of weakness, examples of producers that excel in various aspects of doing business to increase their bottom line, emerging models for growth and questions that still need to be tackled in new approaches to implementing D2C business models. One of the most striking observations is the renewal of interest in cooperative business models across Europe, that enable even small farmers to increase revenues with the help of independent-, producer-driven and consumer-driven models of cooperation in production, sales, marketing and distribution.

Part 3 looks at the phenomenon of urban agriculture and how local food systems are being enriched by urban, hyper-local and ultra-local models that bring food production not only into the city or town, but into the shop, the school and place of work and even into the restaurant and kitchen. The focus is on models that appear financially sustainable and which are likely to have a high level of scalability and reproducibility.

Part 4 looks at the new emerging developments that have not yet entered the mainstream, which still have some way to go in terms of demonstrating their feasibility and acceptance, but which nevertheless look quite promising. These include the application of robotics (automation, AI and advanced electron-mechanical systems) to production, distribution and retail, as well as alternative protein sources and ventures based not so much on the replacement of meat and fish but on the replacement of other animal derivatives such as leather, wool, silk, feathers and down, in what looks like a move towards a plant-, microbe- and waste-based circular bio-economy.

The original foresight report that gave rise to this work was completed in early 2018 and is available for download along with various other resources including these slides and accompanying webinars are available for download on Research Gate, the CKA website and on the website of the SKIN project.