Tag: Community Building

Market Mindfulness

Market Mindfulness #8: Wanted: Farmers Market Vendors!

CFA Admin

By Jennifer Weeber, Northfork Local Food Coordinator

Close your eyes and imagine your ideal farmers market. What do you see? How does that differ from your current market? If one of those differences is more vendors who offer a broader range of products, this blog is for you. While there is not a magic formula for vendor recruitment and it is a challenging task, developing a vendor recruitment plan for your market can increase the likelihood that your efforts will be successful. The following are some tips on creating that plan:

Know your market.

Do you need more vendors? Do you need larger quantities of products that are already sold at your market? Do you need different types of products? Do you need all of the above? What do your customers want? With this information in hand, you can figure out your actual gaps and begin to identify the type of vendors you need. Before going to the work of recruiting, though, talk with your current vendors. Are any of them willing and able to expand the quantity or type of their offerings? If so, you are helping your vendors grow their own businesses while you are growing the market.

Anticipate your customers’ buying habits.

In an ideal scenario, everyone you recruit to your market will make money immediately and never leave ever again! BUT that isn’t how this works, is it? When it comes to actively recruiting, you’re going to need to focus your energy on items you know your customers will buy.  Spending your time recruiting a pate vendor for your market, when you know that there are only five or six regulars who might be interested in buying it is not time well spent. Pay attention to what is already there and would be complimentary to that. OR what has long been popular but sells out faster than it can grow!

Get prepared.

Why should a vendor sell at your market? Before attempting to recruit new vendors, you should be able to concisely answer this question. Your answer should be unique to your market and flexible enough to be targeted to the type of vendor you are recruiting (e.g. vegetable farmer, baker, meat producer). It may include information about your market’s mission, what benefits are available to market members, gross sales your market generates, and why you are interested in them and their products (e.g. We have a customer demand for yeasted breads that we cannot currently meet and several people have recommended you as excellent baker.).

What sort of informational materials do you need? A one-page flyer or a rack card which promotes your market to potential vendors may be a powerful tool which can be used in your recruiting efforts. This should provide basic information about the market, why vendors would want to sell at your market, and what they should do if they are interested.

A packet of information should be readily available for potential vendors who indicate an interest in your market. This packet should contain information on the market such as days and times of operation and the set-up process, vendor requirements such as permits, training, and insurance, payment methods and programs such as SNAP and Kentucky Double Dollars, vendor fees, and any other relevant information along with a copy of the market rules and a vendor application.

Find vendors.

Where in your community do the type of vendors you wish to recruit hang out? Who may have access to them? Some ideas to get you started are listed below:

  • Talk with your current vendors
  • County Extension offices (http://extension.ca.uky.edu/)
  • Farm Service Agencies (https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Kentucky/index)
  • Kentucky Department of Agriculture (http://www.kyagr.com/)
  • Natural Resources and Conservation Service (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/ky/home/)
  • Agriculture classes and programs at Big Sandy, Elizabethtown, Henderson, Madisonville, Maysville, Owensboro, and Southcentral Community and Technical Colleges (kctcs.edu)
  • Farm supply stores
  • Winter agricultural workshops
  • High school agriculture and consumer science programs
  • Future Farmers of America
  • Producer organizations (farmer, baker, arts and crafts)
  • Beginning, urban, or refugee farming programs
  • Gardening clubs
  • Churches
  • Roadside stands and restaurants and retailers selling local foods
  • Social media groups
  • Community Farm Alliance’s Farm to Table Team

Figure out the messenger.

Who is the right person to ask a potential vendor about joining your market? Think about who you are trying to recruit and in what setting. It may be the market manager. Or, it could be another vendor, a market volunteer, a board member, or someone else. It could be a tag team effort with a volunteer making the initial contact and then introducing the potential vendor to the market manager for additional information.

Support your vendors.

What help do new vendors need to be successful at your market? New vendors may need help with pricing, setting up their booth to be visually appealing, customer service, or some other skill. There may be language barriers between the vendors and customers. Talk with your new vendors about what they need. Observe how they are doing. Your attention to them will help to create regular vendors for the market as well as to help them grow their own businesses.

How can you support your established vendors so that they remain with your market and continue to be successful? Talk with them about what they need. Observe how they are doing. Match established vendors with new vendors to provide mentoring. This can help established vendors to develop their leadership skills and new vendors to integrate into the social network of the market.

Grow your vendors.

It may be that there is no one in your community who is producing the products at the scale you need for your market. In that case, think about how you can grow some vendors. Are there some gardeners who always have a little excess produce? Is there someone who always makes delicious cookies and breads for the school bake sale? Perhaps they would be willing to try out the market a time or two. If things go well for them, to what resources can you connect them to help them produce enough to regularly sell at the market?

You can also start growing the next generation of vendors by encouraging youth to participate in your market. Consider hosting “youth vendor” days or having a “junior vendor” application. Use of a booth or the annual membership is offered at a reduced price or is even free to give the youth the opportunity to try out the market and gain new skills. Be prepared to spend extra time in helping your young vendors figure out pricing, their display, and other marketing aspects. Pairing each youth with an established vendor can reduce the tensions that can come with new sales competition and provide the youth with mentoring which can help them hone their agriculture and marketing skills.

Dig into additional resources.

A variety of resources exist to help you think more about how you can successfully recruit vendors. Here are few to get you started:

Reach out to CFA.

Please reach out to the CFA Farmers Market Support Team if we can be of further assistance to you. Good luck in your vendor recruiting adventures!

 

 

 

 

 

Market Mindfulness

Market Mindfulness #5: Benefits of Farmers Markets & Community Partnerships

CFA Admin

By Jann Knappage Food System Specialist

University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Nutrition Education Program

While investigating the idea of how farmers markets can create quality community partnerships, I interviewed representatives from three different markets: Berea Farmers Market, Floyd County Farmers Market and Perry County Farmers Market. The following suggestions and ideas come from those conversations, as well as my personal experience selling at farmers markets and working with farmers market producers.

Our Kentucky food system is a dynamic and complex system that effects each of us individually, every single day. Cornell University defines a community food system as, “food production, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal to enhance the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of a particular place.” Our farmers markets are one piece of the food system pie in our communities. At first glance, farmers markets are a place where producers can directly sell their farm products to individuals and families in their community. Farmers markets are also a venue for community development. When farmers markets prioritize community partnership development, they are solidifying the markets place within the community as a space for economic vitality, food access, relationship building and general prosperity.

“Fostering connections with community supporters and utilizing the nutrient-rich market space to seed relationships among community groups intensifies the role of the market within the community.  This partnership building is beneficial to market sustainability, which is necessary for the wellbeing of farmers and consumers.” –Cristina Sandolo, Project Co-Director, Nourishing Neighborhoods for Wholesome Wave

How to Engage a Community Partner:

Good communication is key to beginning any partnership. Expressing hopes, wants and needs is essential to understanding if a partnership between organizations is a good fit for both entities.

Conversations between farmers markets and community partners can start a variety of ways: face-to-face, by phone call, or e-mail. This will vary greatly based on a variety of factors, such as how you were introduced to the partner, accessibility to partner and/or time allotment for these types of conversations. The biggest thing to remember is in order to know if a partnership is possible, you need to ask! Don’t be afraid to start a conversation and see where it leads.

“In thousands of communities across the country this summer, farmers markets are more than simply a place to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables. They are hubs for information and home to thousands of innovative partnerships that teach skills and expand knowledge about food, health, and agriculture.” – Elizabeth Comiskey, Farmers Market Coalition

Things to remember when starting a conversation:

  • Introduce yourself > who are you, how are you associated with the farmers market
  • Introduce the farmers market > share details such as: location, vendor details, times of operation, goals and objectives…etc.
  • How you heard about this particular community partner > through a friend, flyer, social media or other?
  • Propose idea for partnership > What activity or program will happen because of this partnership? What is the time commitment? Will this happen once or be reoccurring?
  • Ask if the potential partner has any questions/concerns/comments
  • Ask if your goals and objectives align
  • If a partnerships seems likely > schedule a time to meet and include other market members to begin planning.

Each of the farmers markets interviewed agreed that many of their successful community partnerships occurred when the community partner approached the market first. This showed to the markets that the potential partner was proactive and interested enough that they initiated a conversation. This made the markets feel secure and created initial trust between the market and potential partner. Without the initial partner enthusiasm, markets were still willing to collaborate, but feared the partnership would end up being one sided and add more work for the market manager and/or market producers.

Markets agreed that the partnerships that felt the most natural were always the most successful. Things that lead to this natural flow were: mission’s aligning, common food access goals, mutualistic promotion, and shared enthusiasm for programming. The interviewed markets agreed that any collaborations that felt forced or one sided were never successful. Members agreed that when this happened, they forfeited their efforts and moved on with no hard feelings, but positive other partnerships can be made.

Listed below are examples of ways community partners are currently being utilized in Kentucky farmers markets.

Educational Programming:

  • Summer Food Service Program site at the farmers market
  • Daycare centers hosting programming (fun for kids & center gets free advertisement)
  • Save the Children Book Donations
  • Children’s authors doing story time at the farmers market

Exercise:

  • Zumba, yoga, etc. gyms doing a demonstration class at the farmers market
  • Having dance groups from around the county perform at the farmers market
  • Kids on the Move– providing Carrot Cash and hosting field day at the farmers market (Perry County)

Extension Involvement:

  • Food sampling
  • Cooking demonstrations
  • Distribution of educational materials
  • Distribution of Plate it Up Kentucky Proud recipe cards
  • Advisement at farmers market meetings
  • Soil sampling for farmers market producers

Faith-based Organizations:

  • Providing grants for double dollar incentive programs for SNAP, WIC & SFMNP

Health Department:

  • WIC farmers market vouchers
  • Grants offered through health department
  • Walking club that has the farmers market on route
  • Distribute special vouchers that promote spending at the farmers market (~$5-10)

Hospitals/Clinics:

  • Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation: Farmacy Program
  • Help provide double dollars for nutrition assistance programs (ex. SNAP, WIC, SFMNP, Kids Bucks, Veggie Bucks…etc.)
  • 1x $5-10 farmers market vouchers for health screenings

Library:

  • Provision of free meeting space for farmer workshops
  • Book mobile
  • Coordination of children’s events on market days

Local Government:

  • Financial support
  • Provision of farmers market permanent structure
  • Space for pop-up markets in town center
  • Advertisement and promotion

Local Musicians:

Several KY farmers markets host local musicians at their markets. This draws people to the market, as well as promotes the musician. It can create a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere for market participants.

Nonprofits:

Rotary:

Has been known to provide fiscal sponsorship to their local farmers market in several Kentucky communities.

Senior Center:

  • Pop-up market at senior centers
  • Provides transportation for seniors to attend the market and use their SFMNP Vouchers

Tourism:

  • Farmers Market promotion in tourism brochures, magazines and social media posts
  • Inviting market vendors to set-up at special city/county events

As emphasized above community partnerships can take many forms and are unique to each farmers market. Community partnerships are essential when the goal is to make the farmers market a vibrant and successful entity that promotes “economic vitality, food access, relationship building and general prosperity.” Get creative and engage a variety or individuals and organizations from healthcare centers to summer feeding sites to fitness groups. When looking for community partnerships, the sky is the limit. I challenge you and your farmers market to make one (if not more) community partnership(s) this market season!

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Coming Soon: The Second Annual Eastern Kentucky Farmer Conference

CFA Admin

By Sister Kathy Curtis

Edited by Maggie Smith

In a few short weeks, February 22nd and 23rd, the Second Annual Eastern Kentucky Farmer Conference will bring farmers, producers, support organizations and curious bystanders to Hindman Settlement School for two full days of workshops, panels and networking opportunities. A planning team of statewide partner organizations including: Community Farm Alliance, Grow Appalachia, the Governor’s Office of Ag Policy, Hindman Settlement School, Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Kentucky State University and the University of Kentucky, have been meeting since this past summer to put together a conference that meets the needs of the small, family farmer and other eastern Kentucky producers of agricultural products. 

 

How did we come up with those needs? We asked the participants of the first conference to fill out an exit survey, then we used their responses to craft this year’s program.

The exit survey asked folks why they chose to attend the conference. These four responses were given: networking with other farmers, learning about marketing techniques and new markets, getting more information on farm production/planning and meeting resource providers. One participant said, “I was coming to the conference because it was close enough that I could drive back and forth each day and have access to all four of the above at one time.” And that was the vision behind the initial idea of a conference in eastern Kentucky in the first place.

Often when starting a new venture, the hoped-for outcome isn’t always achieved. We have all been to conferences and workshops that was just what we needed only to return home with lots of handouts and little hands on information. The Eastern Kentucky Farmer Conference set out to provide hands on tool to farmers and producers so that they left with something they could work with. And while there were some people who were not as satisfied, as they could have been, most the responses we received in the exit survey were very informative, and positive.

We heard:

I enjoyed “the classes on maple syrup production, poultry and rabbits. Also, the information tables set up with representatives to ask about their programs. For example, the KSU table with info on small farm grants and education grants.”

It was helpful to “network with other Farmers and resource providers to learn more of what is available and what are cost effective, real life ways of planting, growing, raising, marketing and selling what we grow and raise on our farms”

I built relationships by “having one on one conversations with farmers and farmer supporters throughout Eastern Kentucky”.

“There was a level of transparency/honesty from the speakers that I really appreciated, that is rare at conferences. People were not afraid to share challenges or things that hadn’t worked for them. I thought the caliber of this conference was truly exceptional”.

So, we have taken the suggestions, the likes, the dislikes and wove them together for the Second Annual Eastern Kentucky Farmer Conference.

The conference will follow three “tracks” each day. Participants can choose to stick with one track or shuffle to what meets their needs best. Check out the tentative agenda here. Some special conference features this year will be during Thursday afternoon where technical support providers and partner organizations will be available for one on one conversations. Also, Friday morning there will be a session called “Anything Goes Networking” which is a designated time to connect with other farmers, technical support providers or whatever/whomever you need. Friday afternoon there will be a farmer/buyer panel which will be a question and answer opportunity for producers interested in selling beyond farmer’s markets. And this year, there will be some local vendors of farm supplies and equipment on hand for questions and orders.

So, there you have it. Almost all you need to know about the best Farmer Conference eastern Kentucky has to offer. The cost is only Forty Dollars ($40) for both days or Twenty-Five Dollars ($25) for one. Price includes breakfast, lunch and dinner on Thursday and breakfast and lunch on Friday. For those who want to stay over, there is limited lodging available at Hindman Settlement School priced at Forty Dollars ($40) a night. Registration is open now here. If you have questions or want to know more, send an email to kathy@cfaky.org.

Can’t wait to see you there!

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The Goforth General Store

CFA Admin

By Sister Kathy Curtis

Inez is located just about as far east as you can get and still be in Kentucky.  Inez is the little town where, in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared his “War on Poverty”. Like the rest of the region, Inez, has had its share of economic upswings and downturns. And like the rest of the coalfield counties today things are grim. Martin County’s last working coal mine will close at the end of the month and so will it’s health center.

In the middle of this doom and gloom is a really bright spot of hope. Jared and Laken Goforth opened their general store just two months ago in response to the outpouring of prayer they had been hearing in their community. “God laid it on our hearts to do something for the community, so we opened this store.” Jared Goforth told me.

The Cain Building, where the general store is located, was built in 1936 and was a Texaco service station for a number of years. The building, which had been donated to the Martin County Historical Society had been damaged by a fire. When Jared Goforth, a talented carpenter and self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades, was hired to repair the damage, he saw potential in the renovated space. “We wanted a place where the community could come,” Jared told me. “We decided on calling it a “general store” because it has all sorts of things in it. Plus it sounds old-timey.”

The store has a great mix of items provided by at least six community members in addition to the. The Sudsy Gals handmade soap fills a hutch on one side of the room sandwiched between a rack of shoes, for sale, and wall hangings done by Laken.. “I don’t get much time for that right now,” Laken told me, holding her nine month old son Finley. Down the middle of the store are shelves filled with knit dishcloths, utensils with horn handles, hand painted jars and of course UK themed Christmas ornaments, all handmade by Jared and Laken’s friends and neighbors. “It’s their store too,” Jared said.

The store also sells Goforth General Store jellies, relishes and sauces. I asked Jared if he processed them himself. “No, actually those are from the Amish. But, we are working with KCARD (Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development) and next year we hope to have our micro-processing certification and be able to sell our own.” He is also planning on getting the store registered as an official Kentucky Proud Farm Store so he can sell not only his own products but those created by other microprocessors in the area.

“All the produce I sell comes from our farm and from a couple other farmers in the area. Sometimes a farmer I know will come in with some stuff he had left [from market] and I’ll buy it from him”. Currently, “we are selling mums now from Griffith Family Farms in Johnson County.” The Goforth General Store offers fresh meats from Appalachian Meats in Prestonsburg too. “That’s where I take my pigs to be processed. We sell our pork here too” said Jared.

Our tour around the store ended up back in the corner with the old fashioned cash register, where antique tins, boxes and bins were full of penny candy. “Which is five dollars a pound now.” Jared told me. The back corner is also where Laken had spent most of her time while I was visiting putting together orders that had been coming in for the Miner’s Bucket lunch, something I had been thinking about since leaving Floyd County.

I had timed my trip to arrive about noon-thirty, hoping to catch the tail end of the lunch rush. Yes, the Goforth General Store also sells hot lunches. The Miner’s bucket lunch is a sandwich, a bag of chips and a drink for $5.00 and today’s special was fried bologna on white bread. Now, I love whole grains and fresh veggies with the best of them, but every now and again you have to wander down memory lane; for me, that’s fried bologna on white bread with a touch of mustard. Yum!

As Laken handed me my sandwich I asked her why a general store?

“We wanted to do something for our community and this seemed like it. It’s a big leap of faith. We love it here and we don’t want to have to leave. We want our kids to have the same thing we had; growing up in the country with family around.” Jared and Laken, who both grew up in Martin County,  have three children and like most mountains folks, family and place are very important to them.

As I headed out of the store, brown bag in hand, I noticed the iconic picture of President Johnson. He was talking with Martin County resident, Tom Fletcher, on that sunny afternoon fifty-three years ago. “There are some folks who wonder if that was such a good thing for us,” Jared mentioned as he bid me goodbye. Personally, I’m not sure either, but there is one thing I am pretty clear on: Eastern Kentucky is full of people like Jared and Laken Goforth.  People who are doing what they can to continue to live and raise their children in the region. For them, returning to some of the old ways like general stores, Friday night “pickin and grinnin” and fried bologna sandwiches is a real good thing.

The store is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 to 6:00 and the first Saturday of the month. “We are trying to open every other Friday evening for music.” Jared, an accomplished fiddle player too, says that “having a safe, family friendly place to come is important to the community too”. According to a recent post on their Facebook page, “Pickin and grinnin Friday at 7pm. We will have polish sausages and soup beans. Bring a chair! And all pickers and singers are welcome to come!!” Hope to see you all there.

 

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It Takes a Village

CFA Admin

by Sister Kathy Curtis

Sister Kathy Curtis here and I am honored and excited to have been chosen by Community Farm Alliance for this project. Through my work with the Grow Appalachia program at St. Vincent Mission, I have come to appreciate and value the stories that are an inseparable part of gardening in eastern KY. It was rare that I would visit someone’s home to check on their garden and not leave with an arm full of fresh veggies and an earful of wonderful stories.

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERAI love the name, Breaking Beans-The Appalachian Food Story Project, because it is really hard to break beans by yourself. It is a very boring chore so you always want someone else to help. With someone-anyone- helping you, fingers fly and so do tongues. While breaking beans, I have learned the “right way” to cook the beans we were working, as well as family stories, historical anecdotes, natural remedies and all sorts of mountain wisdom.

I recently asked a small group of people, “What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘Breaking Beans’?” Three responses were:

“Mamaw in her rocking chair with muscly fingers and a relaxed demeanor. Elvis playing in the background with sweat on her brow”. Candace Mullins-Grow Appalachia in Berea, Kentucky (don’t you love the image of “muscly fingers”?)

“Makes me remember those old lawn chairs that would burn your legs if they’d been in the sun…sitting out under the shade tree on those chairs and wondering if we’d ever finish. Once I promised I wouldn’t eat any beans ever again if I didn’t have to break them. I’d give anything for just one more of those afternoons with my Mawmaw and Pawpaw now.” -Roseann Kent, storyteller from Macon, GA.

And from Joyce Pinson’s Big Red Barn in Pike County, “Porch sitting sometimes so silent all you hear is the snap of the hulls and the dull thud when they go into a kettle, pieces at a time. The rattling of newspaper as yet another person joins the group, placing newspapers to catch the strings in their lap. Loud laughter and giggles, sharing the day’s events and the secret confidences that connect close family and friends. Different heaps….my father-in-law could string beans so elegantly the pile would be appear like fine threads-my pile looked like something the cat hacked up. Little youngin’s sitting on the porch floor counting beans, gathering up more piles of full pods to deliver to the “old” people. Bushel baskets and sore fingers. Sitting so long the porch light had to come on, and coffee sparked the energies. Sorting beans making sure no strings got passed into final production. Steamy hot kettles, one for fresh eating and the other a cauldron for the canning jars. Buckets of bean strings for the compost pile to enrich the soil so we can do it all again. Hot jars pinging. Green beans, fried tomatoes and a hunk of cornbread on the plate. Time well spent making memories”.

As you can see, fingers stringing and breaking beans must connect straight to that part of the brain that stores memories. And that is one of the things this project hopes to find-the deep, old mountain memory of agriculture in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

I look forward to hearing these stories and as is true of any good story-sharing them. So come back to the blog often. And if you’ve got any, bring along some beans to work.