Partnering Organization: AgWest Farm Credit

Project Summary:

Washington State produces approximately 95% of the nation’s red raspberry crop. The WA Red Raspberry Commission has taken efforts in recent years to further promote and brand WA Raspberries in the marketplace – which in turn assists the AWFC raspberry grower customer base in their options for marketing of product. With this project, the goal will be to research and pitch other marketing streams for WA Raspberries like the example linked below. Think big – food products, social media efforts, partnerships with stores, etc. are all examples of further marketing ideas that would be a good kicking off point for research.

Project Goals:

• Developmental and economic research of marketing ideas for WA Red Raspberry products and/or other promotions
• Conclusion on the impact these marketing efforts would have on WA Raspberry growers
• Pitch of project conclusions to the WA Red Raspberry Commission and AWFC Staff at Ag West FC Headquarters in Spokane

Resources Regarding Marketing Raspberries and Other Fruits

Brose, M.D. (1988). Marketing system of the red raspberry industry in the Pacific Northwest. Agricultural Research Center, College of Agriculture and Home Economics, Washington State University. (This is a physical book located at Owen Library. 

Crandall, P.C.. (1995). Bramble production: The management and marketing of raspberries and blackberries. Food Products Press. (This is a physical book located at Owen Library. 

Nonnecke, G., Duffy, M., & Funt, R. C. (2013). Marketing of raspberries. In Raspberries (pp. 191–200). CABI. (This is useful book chapter that pertains to marketing strategies of raspberries. 

• This chapter is in the book Raspberries edited by Richard C. Funt and Harvey K. Hall, which may also be of interest. 

Penn State University Extension. (2005). Fruit and vegetable marketing for small-scale and part-time growers. (Some background regarding marketing fruit and vegetables. 

Background Data

USDA. (2022). 2021 State agriculture overview. (See information pertaining to production and value of raspberries in Washington). 

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (May 6, 2021). (More information about production, acreage, and costs of raspberries within Washington over several years). 

WSU Extension Service. Red raspberry. (Lots of good information regarding production, cultivars, and more).  

Think about the keywords that you will be using for your searches. Using a simple term like "marketing" AND "farm*" might get you too many erroneous search results. Therefore, you'll want to develop a search strategy to combine your keywords to make useful search strings.

To learn more about developing keywords and search strings check out this link.

Note: The following keywords and search strings are just some quick ideas, you may come up with better keywords and search strings yourselves.

If you have any question, please email me.

Developing Keywords for the Questions that Need to be Investigated (As per Project Description)

This project asks a lot of different question. Below are some keywords and search statements that may help you answer these questions.

To learn more about developing keywords and search strings check out this link.

Note: The following keywords and search strings are just some quick ideas, you may come up with better keywords and search strings yourselves.

Some Potential Keywords that May be Helpful: 

marketing OR advertis* OR "social media" OR promot* OR merchandising OR retailing OR branding

raspberr* OR fruit* OR produce OR vegetable*

cooperation OR alliance* OR partnership* OR association*

store* OR retailer* OR *market* OR distributer*

Some Examples of Keyword Searches:

marketing OR advertis* OR "social media" OR promot* OR merchandising OR retailing OR branding
AND
raspberr* OR fruit* OR produce OR vegetable*
AND
cooperation OR alliance* OR partnership* OR association*
AND
store* OR retailer* OR *market* OR distributer*
Here is that search in the WSU Libraries' catalog  

Here is a similar search in Web of Science

marketing OR advertis* OR "social media" OR promot* OR merchandising OR retailing OR branding
AND
raspberr* OR fruit* OR produce OR vegetable*
Here is that the search in the WSU Libraries' catalog 

Note: Try different keyword combinations yourself. Also, try changing the search parameters (for example, try a "Any Field" search in place of a "Title" search and vice versa).

You will probably also have to locate scholarly and peer-reviewed research. Below are a few scholarly databases that will be particularly helpful.

• Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)

  Includes Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences and Science Citation indexes, Journal Citation Reports, BIOSIS Previews, BIOSIS Citation Index, Derwent Innovations patent searching, MEDLINE, and Zoological Record. Updated weekly.

• Washington State University Library Catalog (Search It)

  Search It is the WSU library catalog. You can search among many different types of resources and order materials from other institutions if they are not immediately available through WSU. You will find the most resources in Search It but you will also find the most noise

• AGRICOLA (EBSCO)

  AGRICOLA contains bibliographic records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library.

Part of this project requires an understanding of global agricultural supply chains. This is a pretty broad topic but the links below should help provide some insight into that. 

Helpful Industry Resources

• Nexis Uni - Provides information on U.S. and international private and public companies. Info may include: Company description and history, competitors, subsidiaries, size, officers and directors, annual stock price averages, and more.
• Business Source Complete - Allows you to search company and industry information across popular press, trade journals, product reviews, and much more. Also provides information regarding company and industry profiles. This may be helpful when for searching for information regarding companies within the hop industry. 

For more in-depth information regarding corporate research, take a look at the Company Research Library Guide. 

Newspaper and Trade Publications

• Newspaper Source - This database provides selected full text coverage for 245 newspapers, newswires and other sources.
• Nexis Uni - An excellent source for searching for information within state/regional/US newspapers (including the New York Times) as well as English-language foreign newspapers and foreign language newspapers. 

See also WSU News and Newspaper Research Guide.