More on-line retailing growth buzz

We keep stressing this in our MarketReady training.  Local foods suppliers (fresh foods, processed products, anything with a local label on it) need to get caught up with the on-line buying trend.  I just loved this recent articel by Marshall Marcovitz in The Gourmet Retailer.  Check it out - quick and fun read - Going Digital is Marketing Magic.  Digital media is here to stay and is being consumed in huge doses.

I love seeing the growth in markets like Penn's Corner, Hoosier Harvest, and Fair Shares CCSA.  Many other great examples, not to endorse any one specifically, where farmers are selling through aggregation on-line sites like these.  And some pretty creative entrepreneurs are connected with each group.  These go way beyond the simple directory of "here's where you can find local food" application of the ecommerce world.  Lower search costs for shoppers can provide a huge boost in market interest.  Ask the autotrade.com folks.

These sites are not a full substitute for the experiential dimension of local foods (visiting the farm market or a u-pick orchard) valued by locavores, but they sure are a nice complement. 

Insurance Basics & FAQs

The MarketReady team gets a lot of questions about insurance, so we decided to pull some information together for you! If you need to learn a bit more about insurance, or if you need to ensure your current coverage is adequate, check out our Insurance Basics & FAQs resource by clicking below.

Insurance Basics & FAQs

• Click on Additional Resources at the bottom of the page
• Find the document "Insurance Basics & FAQs"

Appalachian Grown Regional Brand

Very nice feature about the Appalachian Grown brand here - the ASAP folks do a great job getting this brand out.  Wish we supported it better in KY.

I personally resist rigid definitions of "local".  I like the richness of everything from communities to micro-regions to states to regions of the country to parts of the world.  It all can provide various textures of geographic indication that are meaningful to different consumers.

I mention in the MR training that New Mexico stores defines "local" as anything from within a 4-state area.  Why not?  Shared cultures and food interests aren't bound by narrow food miles definitions.

KyFarmStart Beginning Farmer Conference

When: Saturday, Oct. 5 from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm

Registration: 7am

Cost: $15 (Includes light breakfast, breaks and lunch)

Location: Ky State Univ Farm, Center for Sustainability 
                 (5 miles south of I-64; 1.5 mi. off rt. 127)

Topics: Financial planning; market access; land access; loans 
             and grants; legal questions – and more

Register at: www.communityfarmalliance.org

More Info?          

Contact:  Sarah.lovett@uky.edu or  beginningfarmers@cfaky.org

Food Safety Conversations for KY-TN Food

I wish I had known about the Tennessee Food Safety Task Force sooner.  What a great coalition working to help develop food safety solutions for local food.  I wish we in KY could do this program along with them.  Buyers, scientists, various state and local governments, school foodservice buyers all meeting to talk about local food and how to do it as safely as possible.

You can see what you missed skimming over the program.  Many excellent presentation - - every MarketReady alum should check in. 

The good news - - I'm promised by the program organizers that they are going to post the presentations.

Sarah Johnson, (Nashville Grown Food Hub) Jon Dicki (Nashville Schools FSD), and Jeremy Barlow (Sloco Sandwich Shop) sharing the innovative things they are each doing to support local food in the Nashville, TN area.

Also especially enjoyed hearing about the Food City's buy local program.  Great news for the KY/TN/VA region.  Hooray for the regional that is getting this local food merchandising right.  Mike Tipton, the FC Produce buyer, has been doing an awesome job.  I really hope you can check in soon to the TN Food Safety Task Force site and see his presentation.

Whole Foods, Local Food, and Grocers Backward Integrating

Very nice article on the current state of Whole Foods and their local foods sourcing efforts here http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-02/whole-foods-local-forager-elly-truesdell-is-a-grocery-tastemaker

We've had great input from area "foragers" at various MarketReady programs in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.  We actually had Whole Foods folks at each of our Tennessee grower training sites last year and had a bonus in-store tour in Chattanooga.  Very impressive.  I was impressed at their efforts to personalize the merchandising - pictures of stores and farms locally - interestingly including some from nearby Southern Georgia.

Back to this article - - I've seen this concept popping up in several grocers - rooftop gardens or grow-your-own local.  It's in keeping, I suppose, with the hyper-local sourcing business model being explored by a number of restuarants - (see What's Hot in 2013 NRA Chef's Survey item #7).

Are consumers really drawn to this?  Does "hyper-local" work for the grocery store?  I'm in Wegman's in State College, PA, one of my favorite grocery stores anywhere, and I see a big sign featuring Wegman's Farm.  Really?  Sure enough, Wegman's has gotten into the farming business - - see here .  This is one way to manage your upstream supply chain to assure a supply of local produce - start your own dedicated grocer-owned farm in the middle of your sales region.

Are consumers ONLY interested in geographic proximity when they are choosing products being merchandised as "local"?  Lots to say on this point.  But interested here to get reaction from the buy local community.

"Farms to Food Banks" Report

The Kentucky Association of Food Banks received a Specialty Crop Block Grant for the Farms to Food Banks program, which aims to increase consumption and awareness of fruits and vegetables among low-income consumers. The UK Food Systems Innovation Center just released their findings in the following report, which can be accessed by clicking the link below. 

CLICK HERE!