Blackberry Hill Farms – An Introduction To Agri-Tourism

Methods implemented for revenue generation

Discuss about the Blackberry Hills.

Blackberry hill farms are an up and rising specimen of agri-tourism. It is a commercial enterprise based out of a working farm. The amount of agricultural produce it churned out from the cereal growing crops and a small dairy amongst other things, every year was not humungous and overflowing, but barely made the cut. In order to earn something extra from the farm, because the revenue was not great, Jim and Mandy Walker decided to apply new methods to their farm. Starting with a ‘Pick your own produce’ option, which turned out to be successful because their farm was located nearby to a couple of dense population centres, they started implementing such ideas to other parts of their farmland. A petting zoo, that kept growing in size and strength, and a ‘Museum of Farming Heritage’ were two main attractions of the farm. The Walkers then started manufacturing their own products under the label ‘Blackberry Hill Farms’, ones that could easily be preserved.  All of these methods where introduced by the Walkers to tackle one problem after the other.

The cereal growing crop and dairy situation was tackled by introducing the PYO. The PYO option in itself was also problematic because it heavily depended on the season or the weather. This meant that the influx of customers was heavily limited to late spring and early autumn on top of it being frequently disrupted by rain. The seasonal roadblock was something that had to be dealt with otherwise the revenue would not do any better. The farm becoming a ‘Museum of Faming Heritage’ helped significantly. It managed to draw a lot of individuals, especially students, to the farm. The wish to see old-farm implements as well as methods and farming processes alongside well informed boards could easily be satisfied. The first extension that did not rely on the weather or season for the revenue it had to or did generate. The petting zoo was an additional benefit because it managed to pull in the younger crowd; an entry ticket helped them gather their profits. The products manufactured under their label kept the customer base intact all year out (Julien, 2005).

All of these additions and extensions that the Walkers introduced around the Blackberry Hill Farms are examples of how both their product and services were being armed to cope with the fluctuations that take place throughout the year.
One must also acknowledge the fact that problems and their causes are ever evolving and new solutions are necessary to fend those off (Selko, 2008).

1. Level Strategy/ Capacity Planning – Capacity can also be seen as the maximum level of output that can be sustained by a company/manufacturer to make products or provide services. In order to meet the changing demand of its products, the production capacity is often determined by the organization. The ‘how’ and ‘so’ of this process falls under Level Strategy or Capacity Planning.
2. Demand Chasing – At times, the demand of a product or a service becomes the decisive factor for the production. Strategising production of the output in order to meet the fluctuating demands is termed as Demand Chasing.
3. Demand Management – The ability to forecast the demand or value of the services amongst the masses and then take steps and measures to fix that comes under the ambit of Demand Management.

The ‘Blackberry Hill Farm’ label produce houses a lot of extra material because a proper count of individuals visiting the store is not kept. This problem can be easily solved by demand chasing. The local woman working in the factories do not have a permanent job yet.  The solution for this is level chasing.

The ‘Blackberry Hill Farm’ production line and the local women who are involved in the making of it are two scenarios which can be matched and solved via right procedures of Demand Management. The output from the preserving kitchen is the product, whereas the women who make them and simultaneously talk to little children provide service. In order to solve the demand, a formalised structure is necessary where the service providers can be employed full time to impart knowledge amongst visiting schoolchildren while making the produce (Croft, 2012).

References

Croft, C. (2012). Coping with fluctuations in demand. Retrieved from https://www.chriscroft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/coping_1.pdf

Julien, S. (2005). Coping with Demand Fluctuations in Service Industries. Retrieved from https://www.conwaymgmt.com/pdfs/nl-15-1-2005CopingwiththeDemandFluctuation.pdf

Selko, A. (2008, October 16). How process manufacturers deal with demand fluctuations. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from https://www.industryweek.com/companies-amp-executives/how-process-manufacturers-deal-demand-fluctuations