USDA-AMS Cooperative Agreement, May 2020 – September 2021 University of Kentucky, Colorado State University, Northeast Regional Center of Rural Development at Pennsylvania State University…
The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health and social distancing mandates caused unprecedented shifts and disruptions for local and regional food systems (LRFS). The pandemic also brought new and heightened attention to the structure and resiliency of US food systems, and LRFS appeared to be positioned to significantly increase the scope and scale of their market reach as a result. Researchers from three universities collaborated with…
City Seed, in New Haven, CT interviewed farmers from the markets and conducted research on the impact of climate change on farmers, particularly on pricing, production, and supply….
The Pandemic Response and Safety (PRS) Grant Program provides grants to specialty crop producers and processors, other select producers, meat and other processors, distributors, and farmers markets to respond to coronavirus, including for measures to protect workers against novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID–19)….
Agritourism operators developed timed, ticketed entry systems to manage the flow of visitors. These systems were often mediated by online platforms. By restricting visitor capacity, farm operators could better allocate resources to create safe conditions for visitors….
In this Ideas Lab Webinar, you will get to see a short video screening and facilitated discussion on CSA member retention. We'll use our collective learned experiences from the past year to share strategies to maintain long-time CSA membership….
In this webinar, Corinna Bench, Founder of MyDigitalFarmer.com and Tricia Phelps, CEO of Taste the Local Difference will guide you through best strategies to build an online presence, hook your audience, and help them sign up for your CSA….
This webinar focuses on how CSA farmers and farmer support organizations are producing new & engaging virtual experiences and learning a lot in the process. Come learn as we discuss the most successful, challenging, and innovative aspects of virtual CSA fairs, farmer field days, fundraising events and farmer-led CSA member events! Speakers include Katie Harvey, Elizabeth Corio, Briana Alfaro, and Lauren Rudersdorf….
This webinar explores the basic principles of food access and features CSA farmers and support organizations that have developed best practices to connect the CSA model to a broader, more inclusive audience. Speakers include Garrett Ziegler from Michigan State University Extension & West Michigan Growers Group, Mike Edwardson of Plainsong Farm (MI), Liv Froehlich from FairShare CSA Coalition (WI), and Linda Davies of Winter Green Farm (OR)….
The first objective of this brief is to establish a more transparent and better understanding of the budgets of farmers market organizations. This document includes case studies with budgetary data from the Boulder County Farmers Markets (BCFM) in Colorado and the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association (PCFMA) in the San Francisco Bay Area. The case studies are intended to help farmers market managers conceptualize the expenditures and revenue streams of markets with different organizational…
Farm To Institution New England and National Farm To School Network
Communities with existing farm to school initiatives and multi-agency collaboratives were able to quickly pivot to provide urgently needed food access while re-investing local, philanthropic, and federal dollars into a local food economy reeling from pandemic disruptions. It is precisely because of community-scale networks and ongoing partnerships (rather than large scale or consolidated efforts) that initiatives highlighted in this brief were able to provide hundreds of thousands of pounds of locally produced, fresh, and…
Farmers Markets were compelled to alter their models in a variety of ways at the onset of the pandemic. They conformed to social distancing guidelines and other public safety requirements which allowed them to remain open and continue serving vendors and customers safely and effectively. Some changed to contactless drive-thru or curbside models, where customers pre-ordered products online or by phone and picked it up in their vehicle. Others opted for crowd control measures…
National Association Of State Departments Of Agriculture Foundation
State departments of agriculture are working with federal agencies, corporations, and nonprofits to purchase food surpluses from farmers to distribute at food banks. This brief explores the unique strategies and partnerships four state departments of agriculture have used to develop and administer these purchasing programs….
During 2020, FRESHFARM, an organization that manages farmers markets in the Washington, D.C., area, piloted a relatively low-cost device that counts the number of pings from mobile phones as they connect with a Wi-Fi network. This technology does not reveal any of the phone owner’s identifying information, nor does it collect data from phones. Instead, these counts provide a way for farmers market managers to estimate the number of visitors and their length of…