Project Title:  “Price Direct” Local Foods Initiative  Round 2 (2004)  

Project Leader (s):  Price County UWEX Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent Mark Kopecky and Community Resource Development Educator Gail Huycke

Project Collaborators:   Jane Hansen, PriceDirect Marketing Specialist; Kathy Reinhard, Price County Tourism Director

Project Category:  Marketing   

Situation:  Price County has a small but significant agricultural sector.  Geographic location, climate, and soils tend to favor small farms based on short- and cool-season crops.  Our distance from major commodity markets limits the potential for typical commodity-based marketing for crops and meat animals. The 2003 Price County UWEX strategic planning process identified agricultural diversification as a high priority issue, and a needs assessment survey of the farmers themselves also identified alternative and value-added enterprises as an important issue. 

Some farmers and gardeners have experience or interest in selling vegetables or meat directly to consumers, but realize they need help identifying and reaching local markets.

Response:  In this phase of the project, we accomplished these activities:

• Conducted a survey to identify farmers and gardeners who want to develop local markets for their products;
• Held an initial meeting of interested growers to discuss the project and solicit requests for educational programs;
• Conducted educational programs on regulations affecting direct marketers and organic production and certification.
• Provided scholarships to help project participants attend educational programs such  as the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference and Organic University, “Branding Your Beliefs,” and the Wisconsin Grazing Conference.
• Identified potential retail and institutional markets for locally grown food (grocery stores, restaurants, schools, health care institutions, etc.).
• Surveyed retail and institutional food buyers to determine present interest in using locally grown foods along with logistical constraints (timing, quality standards, etc.).
• Conducted a year-end project meeting to apprise participants about the progress made so far and to gather input for next year’s activities (this meeting included a banquet prepared almost entirely with locally grown foods).

We also produced these products this year:

• Brochures identifying local food growers serving the Price County area. These brochures were sent to all households in the area as a supplement to the local shopper, and were also distributed through Chambers of Commerce, public libraries, the County Tourism Office, at community events, and through other outlets.
• A set of fact sheets on legal requirements governing direct marketing food products to retail and institutional food buyers (one fact sheet is for the growers and one is for the buyers).

Results: 

• Our initial interest survey identified 28 growers who were interested in direct marketing.
• Our PriceDirect brochure identified 19 local sources of food and other agricultural products.
• Our retail and institutional food buyers survey only identified a few potential customers, but it revealed that many potential buyers (as well as some regulators) mistakenly believed that it was illegal for these institutions to buy food products directly from farmers.  As a result, we published the food regulation fact sheets that have been disseminated statewide.
• We have received many favorable comments on the project from both growers and customers.  We have also gotten many notes from colleagues saying how useful the marketing regulations fact sheets are to them.

Evidence: 

• We are currently gathering formal evaluation data on how the brochure has helped growers connect with customers.
• We asked people who received scholarships through the program to give a review of what they learned and the usefulness of the event they attended.  All but one person felt the programs they attended with the help of the scholarships were very useful in their direct marketing business.