Video: Added Value: Direct Marketing for Farmers and Ranchers

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This video post is from our friends at Cooking Up a Story.

The Imperial Stock Ranch, which began in 1871 and was now run by Dan and Jeanne Carver, faced a new and serious challenge to its very survival: how to create new markets for its products to compensate for longstanding existing markets that had declined or shifted overseas. Jeanne Carver had to literally start at ground zero to get their wool to processor to product to market. She didn’t have the money to hire a marketer, or some other specialist, she had to do it herself – or face giving up their sheep. This video tells what happened and how Carver went about creating a new product and a new brand identity for their wool. The result was a thriving fiber and garment business built from the sheep’s wool that was unique to the ranch.

Their story and hard work also shows the tenacity and strength so many farmers and ranchers have in order to keep moving forward.