ENUMCLAW, Wash. — For years, dairy farmers Cathy and Tim Thomasson have welcomed visitors to their farm for field trips, corn mazes and other harvest-time activities.
Now thousands of Northwest grocery shoppers will see Cathy Thomasson's face in the dairy section of Fred Meyer supermarkets. "We wanted customers to see a different kind of image: farmers as business owners, as CEOs," a dairy marketer said.
Jeff Steele, director of retail marketing at Washington Dairy Products Commission, said he worked with his counterparts in Oregon and Idaho to organize the in-store promotion. "Customers have said they want to know more about where their dairy products come from," he said.
The three selected farmers — Cathy Thomasson, of Enumclaw; Ed DeGroot, of Mountain Home, Idaho; and Louie Kazemier of Rickreall, Ore. — are featured on a promotional poster that is part of a regional campaign, titled "Meet Your Local Dairy Farmer."
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