Keeping Farmers Informed with Hunter McBrayer, Alabama Farmers Federation
In this episode of the Direct Farm Podcast, Hunter McBrayer, Director of the Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, joins us to share the mission and values of ALFA and how their work helps Farmers make an impact - agriculturally and scientifically.
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Rory: 0:26
Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast. We've got a great conversation for you today with the Alabama Farmers Federation, also known as ALFA. AFLA's goal is to advance agriculture in the state of Alabama through education, research, and a wide variety of programs and promotion. I'm delighted to welcome Hunter McBrayer, Executive Director of the Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, and Director of the Bee and Honey Greenhouse and Nursery and sod divisions. Welcome Hunter!
Hunter McBrayer: 0:55
Hi, Rory. Thanks for having me join you today.
Rory: 0:58
Yeah, it's great to have you here. Now for listeners who may not have heard of ALFA can you kind of tell us about its history, when it started and kind of what's your guy's mission is?
Hunter McBrayer: 1:06
Sure. So whenever people hear ALFA, which is the Alabama Farmers Federation, sometimes that makes them scratch their head a little bit, but most people in farming communities across the country are familiar with Farm Bureau and The American Farm Bureau Federation. And so, just like, you know, there's Washington state Farm Bureau or Georgia Farm Bureau or wherever you may be. We're really the Farm Bureau for Alabama. We just have a little bit different name. We are actually celebrating our 100 year anniversary this year. And so, we're excited about that. The big centennial celebrations have kind of been taking place at every event we've had throughout the year, but what it really comes down to, and the mission is we have it as created by farmers, led by farmers and dedicated to helping farmers in and rural Alabama by promoting social economic and educational resources for them. And what that really comes down to is us working every day to make sure that Alabama's Farmers and the rural Alabamians voices are heard at the local state and federal level.
Rory: 2:07
Awesome. And you can tell just from your title there, that obviously you guys kind of have a hands in a lot of different hats. There there's a lot of multiple facets to what ALFA does, and so could you maybe kind of discuss how those apply to all your different divisions?
Hunter McBrayer: 2:19
Probably the easiest way to say this is we're Alabama's largest general farm organization. So just like most other states we have a Cattleman's association or a Poultry is a big business down here in Southeast. And so, we have a poultry and egg association. We cover all of them. And so we have 17 different commodity groups, three affiliated associations. And so you, you heard in my title, I'm the Director for the Bee and Honey Division, the Greenhouse Nurture and Sod Division. And then the Alabama fruit and vegetable growers association is an affiliated association that has its own board, its own conference kind of a little bit separate. We also have Alabama Peanut Producers Association and the Alabama Treasure Forest Association. But what it really comes down to is there's five commodity directors or division directors like me. And we work every day to stay abreast of the issues that are affecting our specific commodities or our specific areas of production agriculture. And so I work pretty much daily on it may be something to do with markets, labor, ag labor is huge in, in the specialty crop world, pesticides you name it. If it's really beginning to impact our growers of specialty crops, that's my job. And then I have colleagues that kind of do the same thing, whether it's timber you know, dairy, pork, poultry, whatever it may be.
Rory: 3:36
Awesome. And so you kind of talked about there, the impact, how those different things that go on outside of farmers' daily lives impact them. In what ways does ALFA serve the farmers specifically?
Hunter McBrayer: 3:47
So to keep it from being too boring, I guess we have policy. And so we're a grassroots organization. Our president of our organization is elected as a farmer, he's a farmer he's elected by voting delegates from across the state to lead and organize this organization, but what drives us is policy. All of our policy is formulated by our members and it may be very specific. We support or we oppose these different things. But then what that allows us to do as staff or as directors is to take that policy and put that into motion, you know? It helps us lobby at the state and federal level. We have lobbyists that work over at the state house here. Go up to DC and work closely with our federal delegation. As the commodity directors, we're kind of the specialist we want to kind of hone in and focus on these things and be watching for it. And then of course, talking with our growers that are out in the state to say, Hey, how are these things impacting you, or this is coming down the line. What may it be? We also work pretty closely, uh, and it's a little bit different with each one of the crops, but we work really close with our other stakeholder groups. So our Department of Agriculture, our Department of Environmental Management. And then of course with our land grants, we have, we actually have three land grant universities in the state of Alabama. Auburn University, Tuskegee which is kind of the walking dog of land grants that everybody recognizes, of course. And then I'm in Alabama A&M and so we worked really closely with those universities to make sure that the research that's being done at those or the grant money that's going to those is really impacting Alabama farmers.
Rory: 5:21
Awesome. That's really great to hear too, especially within the state of Alabama. Shifting gears here a little bit to the business and market side of farming specifically in Alabama, have you noticed any kind of changes in the market recently? Regarding increases of buyers and how they expect convenience to be delivered to them, as well as maybe how they're meeting the needs of buyers in terms of selling direct for the farms?
Hunter McBrayer: 5:45
So Alabama is a little bit of a unique market here. When people think Southeast, they think Georgia, obviously a peach day, South Carolina, huge peach, sweet potato state now. Florida tomatoes and all the other vegetables and fruits. But here in Alabama, We have a relatively small number of growers. So maybe 1400 to 1500 growers that are very much geared. I would say probably 95% of our farms are geared to direct consumer sales. And so, there's a huge emphasis on farmer's markets or farm stands throughout the last couple of years, even, you know, not to focus too much on COVID, but before COVID and the pandemic really kicked off. We saw more and more people wanting the convenience that they get with a store. You know, you can go to whatever your chain grocery store is, and you can probably get it delivered to your house through Instacart or something and consumers like that. And a lot of our growers really started picking up that, Hey, we really need to be focused on some CSAs or selling stuff online so that our customers, the market's there. We have enough customers here in Alabama, that we can sell everything that we grow and not have to worry about the wholesale market for the most part. But we had this untapped potential. That I think a lot of our folks have really realized.
Rory: 7:03
Yeah, that's huge and something we've definitely seen at Barn2Door is that even though you may live in a rural community or something, that market is there. People want to buy from their local farmers. It's just a matter of oftentimes making it convenient enough as going to the grocery store to get their types of things, which we've seen a lot of farms have success with subscriptions. And like you said, CSAs things like that, which is great to see farmers kind of taking those steps. So additionally How have farmers kind of, changed the way they've maybe packaged and price their products? Have you noticed any kind of changes and things like that specifically? We see a lot of farmers be very successful with bundle boxes and subscriptions in terms of providing the same products, but maybe in a different medium for customers to consume.
Hunter McBrayer: 7:46
Yeah. So I think that I've seen a little bit of a shift in the way let's just take, you know, we, we loosely use this term CSA boxes, right? I don't know how that, how everybody feels about that, but you know, Community Supported Agriculture well, it may actually be where people are buying subscriptions and doing these things, but it also may just be people lack the fact that they can go to someone's website or go to someone's Facebook page or however, they're getting that information and go and see what's available right now. And instead of having to go to the farmer's market and feel like, Hey, I'm going to go and buy peaches over here. I'm going about a watermelon here. And then I'm going to go and do this here. They can go straight to a farm or straight to a pickup point and get whatever's in season. And they may even have a little bit of option. You know, some of our folks they, it may be a fruit box or a vegetable box, or it may be something where they're kind of putting things together, maybe some vegetables and herbs that go well together in a dish. And that they're even providing some recipe cards and those kinds of things of how to use these products in different ways to get the most out of that. Which is something that, you know, I guess a few of the grocery stores have recipes of the week or whatever else, but that's not really something that you're going to get most places is, here's what's in season and here's some really good recipes that you may have to add another ingredient or two, but here's most of what you need and it's going to be the very best flavor that you could get from anywhere.
Rory: 9:00
Yeah. And that's a tiny little step that we see farms make that makes a huge difference is, you know, a lot of people they're used to seeing the same exact fruits and vegetables, or cuts of meat on the shelves in their grocery store. And, there may be things that they come across in a subscription box that they've never seen before. So kind of giving them a little bit of guidance on how to prepare that is a little step that goes a long way and definitely makes it easier for those buyers to renew their subscriptions and things like that.
Hunter McBrayer: 9:27
Well, Rory, I'll stop you for just a second, if I can. The other thing, which I'm a fruit and vegetable guy that's my lane, but I will say we have a ton of people that are doing freezer beef and freezer pork and those kinds of things. And some of these guys are now beginning to realize, Hey, if we put our heads together, And come together as a protein provider and a vegetable or fruit provider, we can sell even more products. And so that's been pretty exciting to see as some of the partnerships that we've seen across the state over the last couple of years to really begin to move more of that more local product together.
Rory: 9:59
Yeah, exactly and it further increases the convenience of those things for buyers is then you're getting multiple products. You're getting your whole grocery cart from one source, which is great. So we're talking Alabama here specifically, which it's great to kind of hear the state specific perspective from you. In what ways can kind of state specific branding help farms connect with their local audience? Cause I know this is huge, even for you guys to help you connect with farmers. It's very important to you guys to make sure that they know you're representing Alabama. So how can farmers kind of do that with their products to consumers?
Hunter McBrayer: 10:32
Yeah. So, I'll say this as we're just actually coming off our very first farm to table dinner with our state agricultural brand, which is Sweet Grown in Alabama. It's a little bit play on words as you . Might pick up. It's a relatively new program where we've had different farmer's market pushes or something in the past, but we never really had the Georgia grown, if you will, that everybody sees, or especially down here that people recognize. And we knew based on research that, and it's, it's no secret that consumers will pay 30% or higher prices on something. And it doesn't matter if it's labeled as organic or conventional or some of those things local is what generally really piques people's interest. And so we wanted to develop a brand that people could readily identify that they would see driving up and down the interstate on billboards, and be able to walk into a grocery store, but then also associate that name with their neighbor or someone in the state and let them know that there's integrity in that brand and we've seen that. I guess we're in our second or third full year, I think the second full year of Sweet Grown Alabama. It's a database that we've built to connect, you know, I think the brand that the director uses for that is connecting families to farms or farms to families. That's 100% what it does. We have a database where people can go and find their local farmer. It takes them right to their website, several of which are probably Barn2Door. And that's not just for fruits and vegetables, you know, that's for meats, and anything that can be grown here in the state. And it's exciting. We see people more and more focused on, on what it is, and hopefully is as we get a little bit more continuity of product throughout the year, you know, it's a little bit seasonal right now. People will be able to go in 12 months out of the year at a grocery store or, and not depend on the farmer's market and be able to readily identify what's grown right here in Alabama, which is exciting.
Rory: 12:21
Yeah. I mean, that's a huge, huge point for a lot of buyers is they want local. And so being able to identify products as coming from within their state is obviously a huge selling point for a lot of consumers. Barn2Door we put out blogs and different focuses on some of the farmers that are doing really well, so do you have maybe a specific success story in mind?
Hunter McBrayer: 12:41
I guess if I pick one out I might get bashed a little bit, but I will say one of, one of your Barn2Door customers actually, Boozer farms up here in the heart of Alabama. Chilton county, Alabama. Taylor Hatchett is the one, her maiden name was Boozer. Which interestingly enough, her dad was at Alabama Extensions fruit specialist for years and years and years, but she's actually the one that started the farm and pulled him into it. It's really a unique story. She's our past president of fruit and vegetable growers association. And she is a market minded person. Even though she has horticulture degrees and those things, she was really pursuing a different path and she has taken that marketing that she used in her previous roles and applied that to farming. And it's such a unique deal where, you know, whether it's it's videos, getting people to get to know them as individuals is such a huge part of selling more and more product. And I think I had maybe mentioned to you before that one of the guys that I talk with regularly, he has a radio show here. And so he ends up talking about a lot of our fruit and vegetable growers. He lives just over an hour away from their farm, and it's not convenient. It's not a convenience thing to drive an hour to their farm, to pick up a box every week. As he says, he's addicted to that fresh farm box. And so, just using that type of media to get that information out there has been so huge And doing it in a creative way. that's more than just posting pictures of vegetables. But telling that story and making it in a convenient, easy to use way has really changed the game for her and so many others.
Rory: 14:16
And that's really awesome to hear, especially because that personal connection and knowing your farmer, that's something that a grocery store can't provide. And so it's really great when farmers are able to establish that with their buyers. Cause it definitely is the best ways to keep them coming back. Hunter, you guys have a big event coming up. The Fruit and Vegetable Growers Convention is coming up on November 18th through the 19th. Can you maybe talk about what attendees can expect from that event and what they can expect to learn at that event?
Hunter McBrayer: 14:43
Yeah. So we've had our Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference for really almost 40 years now, which is pretty exciting. And it has grown over the years. And previously before the Federation brought it in, it was a very extension heavy meeting, I guess, would be the best way to say that , we've taken to change that, and so this year's conference, as you said, be down in Gulf Shores, Alabama, which is a great place by the way, to come in November. If, if anybody's interested in that or out of there, but we also pack a ton of educational sessions in the two days. So we have right now, 32 breakout sessions, individual sessions, we run four concurrent tracks based on, tree fruit, small fruit, fruit, and vegetable, and then farm management and marketing. And we have a lot of information in there. We record all the sessions and then we give all of the attendees what they may have missed if they had to pick one or the other over it. And it's really just. Two days of education, but then also the networking side of it. We also have a trade show there where people can visit with the vendors that are specific fruit and vegetable, whether it's seed providers or packaging or whatever it may be. And it's really just a way to bring our growers together to build that network that's there, but then also, hopefully they leave with some of the most cutting edge research from universities from really across the country, but especially the Southeast which really, they can take back home and ultimately help them make a little bit more money or help them come up with some new, innovative ideas to maybe market the products.
Rory: 16:13
That's great to hear, so for farmers, maybe looking to attend that event, where could they find more information about the event and also of course, registered to attend?
Hunter McBrayer: 16:21
Sure. So our registration will open up on August the 18th. We'll, we'll have all of that information available through our website, AFVGA, Alabama Fruit Vegetable Growers Association, AFVGA.org. They can follow us on Facebook, or they can go to ALFAfarmers.org. Which is the kind of the main body there and find all that information. We have a top-notch team and I'm taking myself out of that conversation. We have a top-notch team that puts together our meetings and helps us. It helps us really make them worth coming to and it's an exciting thing. This is the first year that we've been back down at the Gulf. We were in Clanton, Alabama for a pretty good while. We're excited about hopefully having a big crowd and people getting to enjoy being away from home and away from their farm for a couple days.
Rory: 17:07
Yeah, and I know Barn2Door plans to attend as well. So we're excited to send some of our representatives for the state of Alabama down there to get to meet some of the farmers that they work with on a daily or weekly basis. And so, definitely exciting. Again, that's going to be the 18th and the 19th, correct?
Hunter McBrayer: 17:24
That is correct, of November.
Rory: 17:26
Very much looking forward to that. So then also, you guys crank out a whole lot of content. It's very impressive. You guys have the Alabama Ag podcast. You've got multiple newsletters. I believe some focusing kind of on the legislative side, some on the agriculture side, you've got a magazine, you've got the simply Southern TV show. What is the overall focus of some of that content? I know I just listed a bunch of things there, but what is some of the focus of that and how can farmers access that?
Hunter McBrayer: 17:53
We believe that the best thing that a farmer can do is be informed. And so that's, really why you get all of that content. Our Simply Southern television show, it's on RFD TV. It gets picked up and plays across the country, but it's focused on Alabama farmers and rural Alabama. Of course there's an entertainment side of it. Alabama Ag Cast, it's really focused with on our commodity division and maybe our external affairs, which is the ones that kind of go to the state house and do some heavy lifting for us on the issues that are at hand. And what's really affecting a farmer and it's it's every week. And so it's always up to date it's relevant information, our newsletters, at different times of the year, people can sign up for those and get that information that's coming out. We have one that we call the cultivator it's every two weeks and it's just, what's been happening in Alabama Agriculture. And as you said, there's a lot of ways that people can find that information or get that information. That's Alabama specific, but then also of course they can always reach out to us, you know, that's, that's what we're here for is to be the voice, a unified voice of, you know, we've got about 340,000 members now, and that's a pretty strong voice whenever we carry that anywhere. And so that's, that's what we're here to do is to help try to serve our folks and keep them informed and, hopefully improve their lives, just a little bit.
Rory: 19:04
That's awesome. Great to hear. So obviously we talked about the conference and how that's coming up in November, but what else is kind of on the horizon for ALFA, what kind of things are you guys looking to tackle next?
Hunter McBrayer: 19:15
We have a pretty big hill to climb and in some ways to keep agriculture at the forefront of everyone's mind we want to continue to show that not only is agriculture, the most important industry in the country or in the world. And that it's what feeds everybody, but also that farmers. are doing their very best to provide the safest, most secure food supply that they possibly can. And that's our mission every day. And, and whether it's older, new with changing politics and changing views we're going to do our very best to make sure that people understand that the food that they're getting at the table, at the grocery store, at a restaurant is if it's American grown, that's going to be the very best that they can get anywhere. And we're going to keep, continue to push that and preach until we're blue, I guess.
Rory: 20:01
Yeah, that's great. We love to hear that. Well, Hunter, I want to extend my thanks to you and the entire staff and membership at ALFA at Barn2Door we're delighted to serve farms in all 50 states, including ALFA members in Alabama. For more information on ALFA, you can visit ALFAFarmers.org to learn more about Barn2Door, including access to numerous free resources and best practices to grow and manage your farm business. Go to www.Barn2Door.com/resources. Thank you for tuning in, and we will see you next week!