The restaurant industry is also using the term “sustainability” as a culinary theme and one we have been using in agriculture for many years.  Isn’t is great to know that our agricultural industry is being heard and that many small farms can now bring their crops fresh from the fields to the backdoor of the restaurant kitchen.

Another important top food trend (#6) is the focus to bring “nutrition” to children’s meals.  We have seen progress in this regard with several of the fast food chains but certainly not enough as we continue to record the obesity rising in our youth. It will be interesting to watch how individual restaurants and this industry plan to make menu changes that focus on children’s nutrition.

If you would like to watch a video telling you more about these Top 10 Trends just CLICK HERE.

Linking our local chefs with our local farmers is not always easy but many of our state agricultural departments are working to develop these networks. Our message remains “buy and eat local foods” because this is truly the best way to sustain your local family farms.

The show will cover such topics as: educating future consumers, accessing farm credit, managing risk through crop insurance, ag labor needs, entrepreneurship and many more.  For a complete show listing by week and topic CLICK HERE.  The show next week will feature the topic Agritourism and Eckert AgriMarketing was pleased to participate.  Be sure and tune in for this agritourism segment  September 7 & 8.  The agritourism perspective will be provided by Nancy Patterson from Indiana, Brenda Renyer from Kansas and by Jane Eckert. Both Nancy and Brenda manage successful agritourism operations.

The AAW is the national coalition of farm, ranch and agribusiness women, with 59 affiliate state and commodity organizations nationwide. Their annual conference this year will be held November 10-14 in St. Louis, MO.

Agritourism operators throughout North America are now gearing up for a tremendous fall season of apple picking, pumpkin picking, corn mazes and plenty of fall activities not to be missed. For a listing of agritourism operators by state or province go to www.ruralbounty.com

The Kentucky Farm Bureau has an agritourism initiative and has over 100 certified roadside markets that are part of their group.

The best way to learn about what other farms are doing is to take tours.  Farmers are always open to sharing their back doors with other out-of-state operators.  While summer and harvest seasons are a hard time to get away, most of these Kentucky farmers acknowledged that it is exactly the time to be visiting other farms.

At the conclusion of the tour, I spoke to the group briefly about, “Getting On Board the Internet Superhighway” and other marketing strategies they could use to grow their business.

The Kentucky Farm Bureau did a great job in organizing this trip and stopping at a variety of locations. While the farmers were at Eckert’s Country Store in Belleville, IL, I asked them a couple questions to produce a video.  To view the clip, click HERE.