We are in the process of starting our own Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative Food Buying Group based out of our house. The plan is to try to build a network of buying groups throughout Winnipeg to build a grassroots community of farmers and eaters that would act as a distribution network for locally and sustainably produced food.
Click here to download more information…Info Package 1… Info Package 2
Contact jgriffen (at) hotmail.com for more information about how to get involved.
Tyler Jones on Afton Field Farm
I visited Tyler Jones of Afton Field Farm near Corvallis (website……..blog). We talked about food buying clubs/groups and it brought me back to some previous ideas I had around starting one such club back in Manitoba with members of the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative. Check out this video of Tyler talking about his clubs/groups.
Farmers and ranchers who direct market need to be jills and jacks of all trades. Grower, shipper, seller, distributor, marketer, fixer, troubleshooter, processor, etc. Undoubtedly, many of the folks I talk to are up to the task and balance these tasks with impressive skill and patience. Still…..there is never enough time in a day. (more…)
I stumbled across a link to the United States Department of Agriculture’s YouTube site the other day. To my surprise, they had a channel dedicated to a new initiative launched earlier this year entitled “know your farmer, know your food”. Click for YouTube channel.
Ostensibly, the initiative aims to connect local consumers with local producers to create new economic opportunities for communities. The campaign includes a short video of the secretary of agriculture encouraging consumers to get to know their farmer and promoting the importance of local food.
I don’t have a sense of the authenticity of this campaign. Is there real action behind these words? (more…)
Screenshot of www.localharvest.com local food listings website
As any farmer who has embarked on the journey of selling local food will tell you, marketing directly to consumers is about more than producing a healthy, tasty and desirable food product. It is also about making connections with those who are interested in eating such a product. There are many methods of building a network of customers. A few you might consider.
- Build your own website (www.wordpress.com is a free website building tool that you might check out)
- Attend conferences, events and workshops where you will interact with potential customers. Or better yet – give talks at them
- Knock on doors
- Put up posters (more…)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8uv5eSince our first meeting in October 2006, we have been working closely with the farmers and supporting partners of the Harvest Moon Society Local Food Initiative to develop a collective marketing group to bring locally produced food to the homes of Manitobans. It has been an intense, challenging and highly rewarding two and half years and we have accomplished a great deal. We began moving food from farm to fork in late 2008 and are tweaking and re-ordering our distribution, communication and transportation systems to meet both the needs of the farmers and eaters involved in this initiative. The launch of a website provides an important tool for communicating with the participants in this small scale food network. You can check it out at www.harvestmoonfood.ca. This summer should be an exciting one
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