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Buy-Local Campaigns
Cooperative Marketing | Buy-Local Campaigns
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Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaigns
sponsored by Food Routes (www.foodroutes.org)
boost sales of local products across the United States. |
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Public campaigns can engage consumers and promote purchases from
farmers and ranchers. In 2003, California vegetable grower MaryAnn
Vasconcellos approached the Central Coast Resource Conservation
& Development Council (RC&D) with the idea of launching
a campaign informing consumers why and where to buy local. Vasconcellos,
who had spoken with many area growers while conducting workshops
for the nonprofit Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF),
reported that many were asking how they might better market their
products.
To Vasconcellos, the time seemed right to approach California consumers
with messages about how they could convert a growing interest in
food to supporting local farmers. If consumers were willing to pay
for open spaces by supporting local producers, why not help connect
growers and consumers by branding their food, fiber and flowers
as local?
With a farmer/rancher grant from SARE, Vasconcellos and the Central
Coast RC&D designed and launched a Website, designed a “buy
local” label and created a marketing structure that farmers
could see working. The “Buy Fresh Buy Local” campaign
was designed to reflect the wide array of products and the diversity
of their operations, which included u-pick, farm stands and markets
and such varied goods as alpaca fleeces, grass-fed beef and lamb,
as well as fruit and vegetables.
“Buy local” campaigns are underway in many parts of
the country. Nationally, the FoodRoutes Network offers low-cost
and customized publicity materials to help you or your group start
a “buy local” campaign.
In remote rural areas, farmers banding together have strengthened
market development. Ten farmers markets representing 150 small farms
in western North Carolina joined forces to form the Mountain Tailgate
Market Association (MTMA), bringing the power of a group behind
promotion and performance. The term tailgate market, in fact, may
be unique to the rural South, referring to lots and school yards
where farmers drop their tailgates to reveal fresh-picked bounty.
Since tailgate markets lean toward a show-up and set-up style, the
small venues can be challenging to promote for farmers, many of
whom have limited resources, as well as their small rural communities.
A SARE grant provided the resources to develop a logo for the association,
conduct a multi-media promotional campaign, survey shoppers and
vendors at all 10 markets, and conduct a workshop for the vendors.
According to project leader Charlie Jackson, a farmer who is also
on staff of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, the
SARE activities resulted in heightened visibility of the markets,
brought many new customers, provided a strong base of information
on customer and vendor perceptions of the markets and strengthened
the cohesiveness of the group.
Surveys were particularly valuable, considering that about 1,600
customers and 60 vendors responded. The rapid feedback guided future
promotional decisions. For example, the surveys indicated that most
new customers found the markets through word of mouth, so the vendors
capitalized on that by asking customers to bring a friend on a particular
market day designated as Summer Celebration. That day was the season’s
high point for traffic and sales.
“It’s inspiring to see a group of farmers sitting down
and planning together,” Jackson says. “Group promotion
is a major benefit of the association.” That cooperation has
led to plans for a 100-vendor market in Asheville, N.C.
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