Panel 4

Marketing Your Products & Educating Our Public

Panel Objective: session provides attendees with ideas about creative marketing techniques at the farm level, for counties, and beyond, with:

• Dee Harley, Harley Farms - Exploring the subtleties of public education and marketing.

• Deborah Walton, Canvas Ranch - Creating marketing models that work for you.

• Karen Killebrew, Board President of Placer Grown  - Branding your product with a county based marketing program.

Expert: Brigitte Moran, Agricultural Institute of Marin

Moderator: Stephanie Larson, UCCE Sonoma

Dee Harley has led Harley Farms for 18 years and was awarded the 2007 San Mateo County Farmer of the Year. As a teenager in Yorkshire, Dee was selected for HRH Prince Charles’ youth expedition project, Operation Raleigh, which encourages self-confidence and leadership through adventure, exploration and community service. Harley Farms is proud to serve the community of Pescadero, California, with handmade food, work for local people, high-school students and people with special needs, and as a community meeting-place. Harley Farms is a small but highly successful business, and it owes this success to the dedication and talent of farm staff.

Deborah Walton is the owner of Canvas Ranch in Petaluma, CA, where she raises Babydoll Southdown sheep, cashmere goats, and Araucana chickens, and runs a 125-member CSA.  She is also Marketing Coordinator for the Santa Rosa Junior College’s Shone Farm, and a member of Farm Trails, the North Bay Wool Growers, and Northwest Cashmere Producers.  Prior to starting her ranch operation 10 years ago, Deborah was the owner and president of Genus Group Marketing Communications for 15 years.  She continues to provide marketing consulting to select clients.

Karen Killebrew is a marketing consultant based in Applegate, CA. Her services include marketing and media plans, market assessment, public relations, project management and event planning.  Karen has worked with a wide spectrum of businesses and non-profit organizations in Northern California. She is a freelance writer, and has written numerous articles about Placer County’s family farms. She has been a volunteer member of the Placer Farm and Barn Tour planning committee, designing and writing brochures for each tour host and maintaining the event website.    She serves on the board of PlacerGROWN, and is a member of the Sierra Business Council, the California Roundtable for Recreation, Parks and Tourism, the Placer Gold Slow Food Convivium, and a number of local land trusts and conservation organizations.

Brigitte Moran joined the Ag Institute in 2004, and its sister organization Marin Farmers Markets, as Executive Director. She has over 20 years experience facilitating farmers markets, having started the downtown San Rafael Farmers Market on 4th Street in 1989.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Volunteer and Non-Profit Leadership, the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, and the Farmer Market Coalition, a non-profit representing farmers markets nationwide.