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Minutes of the Spring Meeting of Members present were: Mike Vermette (President), Ralph & Ann Jones, Val Skov, Dave Josephson, and our gracious hosts Pam & Wayne Speed. President Mike Vermette convened the meeting and introduced the guest speaker, Tania Swain, who is with the Western Mountain Alliance. She spoke of niche marketing – ideal for our Highland cattle. The organic product lines are now 2.5% of the market share, but that number is growing 20% per year. The new “organic” labeling is “local.” Buying local improves the economy, retains open farmland and helps the environment. It also helps the local community, allowing folks to know where their food comes from, how it is raised and who raises it. The new challenge for consumers is known as “locavore.” It challenges buyers to purchase food raised within a 50-mile radius of home. That means seasonal menus – no more South American blueberries or California spinach (16% of Chinese exports go to Wal-Mart). According to the Leopold Center in Iowa the concept of “food miles” should be considered in all food purchases. Food miles are the distance, cost and related expenses in delivering foods from the field to consumers. For example – California spinach to Maine:
Tania finished her talk with a discussion on the “virtual market.” This idea in cahoots with local foods from www.dacres.org, a web page local farms can list all available products with prices and extra information. Buyers can order on-line and deliveries can be made either at a farmer’s market or other agreed upon location. Consumers pay on-line and the “virtual market” pays the farm. Another possible marketing strategy is “Crown of Maine Co-op.” They are seeking producers to supply their store and restaurant customers. The downside is profit. Most farmers prefer to sell at retail versus wholesale pricing. Mark Faunce had posed the question about group orders at Tractor Supply; the issue would seem to be the cost saving vs. time spent setting up the orders and the amount of logistics involved in distribution. Amazingly, a sign just went up in Skowhegan that Tractor Supply is coming to town, certainly closer than the Vermont branch he mentioned. The meeting was adjourned and we were treated to a lunch of Highland burgers, several different salads and dessert. As always we viewed the cattle and had impromptu discussions on techniques, ideas and plans. The fall meeting will take place on October 13, 2007 at Mark & Sue Faunce’s farm in Limington. The meeting will begin at 10:00 am. The guest speaker will be announced at a later date. We will send out reminders closer to the meeting. We are indebted to our President, Mike Vermette, for taking these notes.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Members present were: Mike Vermette (President), Peter Schultz (Vice-President), Ralph & Ann Fitzpatrick Jones, Sidney & Lorraine Savage, Val Skov, Wayne & Pam Speed, David Josephson, Reggie Rackliff, Tad Walker, Daniel Hughes, Michael Graham, Mark & Sue Faunce, Roger Richards, Allan Smith and Brother Arnold (Secretary/Treasurer). President Mike Vermette convened the Annual Meeting at 10:00 am. He asked everyone in the room to introduce themselves. Mike then gave us an update on the web site. The old site was cancelled and with it the domain name was sold. To get the domain back it would cost us $75.00, so we are now going to be a “.org” instead of a “.com”. He still needs to get a disc from Matt Rolleston with all the background and set-up information on it. Mike asked that every member send him a description of their farm with two to four photographs. If you have a web site then they will link to it from our site. Mike and his wife Charlotte will maintain the site. We will have a for sale page for cattle, hay or equipment. We will also have a membership page. He would like these to be done as soon as possible. (Sorry Mike that I am not going the notes until 4 months later). Reggie Rackliff suggested that we advertise our web site in Uncle Henry’s. Mike doesn’t want to do this until we actually have the site up and running. The question was raised, “Why was the site removed?” Mike responded, that it was a mistake. It should have been transferred to Mike, but was cancelled through a mix-up with phone tag. The new host is Mainely Graphic and we obtained the domain name through them. Mark Faunce said that there should be one person to transfer and add information and that we should e-mail files to that person. In concluding the discussion on the web site Mike said that whoever hosts the next meeting would have the feature page. Br. Arnold, our Treasurer, passed around the Treasurer’s Report. We had an opening balance on January 1, 2006 of $370.00. Membership brought in $400.00 We gave Farming Magazine’s Scholarship Fund $50.00. We had 18 paid memberships for 2006; this represents the highest membership we have ever had. The next subject discussed was cattle sales. Wayne Speed wants to purchase between 5 and 20 head, up to 24 months in age. He will pay up to $600.00 for a mature animal. He intends on keeping them for 2 to 3 months, slaughter them and have them hang for 3 weeks to age and then sell the meat. Marjie Smith is trying to sell two cows. Contact her if interested. Mark Faunce is looking for a yellow or white heifer, 6 months to 2 years. Mike brought up the natural dog food market. They dry and grind bone for natural dog food and it might be something for folks to look into. Mark Faunce asked about retail prices of cut beef. Mike stated it should be 10% above supermarket price. Wolfe Neck Farms get 15% or $3.99 a pound. Mark responded that in Portland it retails at $4.99 per pound. Dan Hughes stated that Royal River gets $7.99 per pound at Natural Foods in Freeport. He puts one animal a week in the freezer during the summer. Wayne Speed said that natural or organic labeling is the in thing and that you can command a much higher price for that product. People don’t want hormones, clones, etc. Peter Schultz said that labeling is the key. Cloning gets through by not labeling it. We need to contact our politicians to ensure this doesn’t happen. Mark Faunce responded that we should offer more education and as well as recipes so to be able to attract a broader market. Meeting was adjourned at 11:15 am. |
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