Direct-to-Consumer Marketing Growing Faster Than Total Agricultural Sales

      Posted On: June 8, 2009

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2009 — A new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) shows direct-to-consumer farm marketing in the United States is growing faster than total agricultural sales—the two categories increased 104.7 percent and 47.6 percent, respectively, from 1997 to 2007.

AMS’s Marketing Services Division developed Facts on Direct-To-Consumer Food Marketing to examine the contribution that direct-to-consumer marketing is making to the food system in different regions of the country. The report compares data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture with those from previous years. The Census, which is updated every five years by the Department’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, looks at crop production, farm size by sales and acreage, and marketing outlets, among other factors, giving a snapshot of U.S. agricultural production.

The AMS fact sheet focuses on farm sales made directly to consumers in marketing outlets such as farm stands, farmers markets and community-supported agriculture, and highlights the growing importance of direct marketing to U.S. farmers nationwide, and in specific regions and states.