Rainy River farmers take the market by the horns; Abattoir, farmers' market, eat-local campaign have growers, producers encouraged.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: FORT FRANCES/RAINY RIVER

Devlin beef farmer Kim Cornell wouldn't call himself the pied piper of wireless, but it's sure paying off in building a loyal following.

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His investment in a wireless Visa/Debit machine to sell beef products at regional farmers' markets across northwestern Ontario cleared the way for his own approach to direct marketing. His persistence and ingenuity earned him a Premier's Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence this past summer.

Putting a face behind a product has part of the family's farming history in the area dating back to its earliest roots in 1897. "When my father (Gord) worked at the Fort Frances mill, he sold sides of beef by word of mouth."

Cornell Farms is about 10 km west of Fort Frances where Kim and wife, pat, raise between 500 and 600 head of Angus and Hereford cows.

Mad Cow Disease in 2003 cut a huge chunkout of their breeding stock business, but Cornell was determined to fill that hole. He made a concentrated push to sell burger patties, cole meat, steak and some sausage at regional farmers' markets in Fort Frances, Thunder Bay, Kenora, Sioux Lookout and Atikokan.

With 11,000 cows in the Rainy River district, there is plenty of local competition for consumers, so it meant taking to the road to market his pasture-raised, all-natural beef products.

What turned him onto wireless technology came after a visiting Calgary musical group was using a Visa/debit card device at their merchandise table to sell t-shirts and CD's. The battery-powered device worked like a cell phone.

"I said to my wife, look at that, I want one."

He saw it again during a technology presentation at the North American Farm-Direct Marketing Conference in Calgary two years ago. In the U.S., they sell for $250 apiece and companies issue them to employees to wear on their belts.

Still relatively new in Canada, it proved frustrating for Cornell to buy one. Canadian banks only lease them for $50 a month.

An internet search led him to Global Payments Inc., a U.S. banking solutions firm, where he bought one machine for $1,500. TBay Tel did the programming for him.

"It's an expensive little devil, but it really does build sales," says Conell.

In terms of consumer convenience, it sure built loyalty.

"What's happening at the market is people spend their cash at the other booths and come get their meat last. That's where it really pays for itself."

On one busy market day, three-quarter of his sales were wireless transactions.

With major food...