Information technology enables the industry to monitor consumer preferences and track products throughout the value chain, incorporating this information at all levels. These technological changes also necessitate changes in marketing channels. Preservation of product identity is required to assure the character-specific product reaches the consumer demanding it. More direct marketing channels, such as production contracts and vertical integration, are required to maintain the identity of genetically altered or organically grown agricultural products. Experts predict that vertical integration of marketing channels will continue to escalate.
Farmers now shoulder the full cost of transporting their raw commodities to distant ports.
Saskatchewan producers half-way between Vancouver and Thunder Bay have witnessed the result of this change. Farmers have done everything in their power to adjust to these changes. They have increased their acreage, diversified into special crops and livestock, and reduced costs wherever possible. New strategies, different organizational structures, and new attitudes are necessary to help Saskatchewan agriculture survive. Farmers can exploit their position within a vertically integrated agricultural system if they retain ownership of their products beyond the farm gate and invest in ventures that add value to those products.