Growing Assets: Linking Direct Market Producers Beth Zabel, BBC Program Coordinator National Extension Risk Management Education Conference April 17, 2007 Phoenix, Arizona

Bridging Brown County Mission Strengthening the Brown County Minnesota community by bridging relationships of understanding and communication

Bridging Brown County Goals Foster better communication among communities Raise awareness of the interdependency among communities Promote the county’s quality of life Support economic development throughout the county Support individual community traditions

Blandin Foundation Community Advantage Leadership Program In 2005, BBC sent a county-wide group to an intensive 3 days workshop to learn about identification and development of community assets.

CALP training results Target Asset – Agriculture. Goal – Increase on-farm income. BBC hired a facilitator to support group activities.

Refining the goal Invited direct market producers to join group. Phone survey of direct market producers in 5 counties. Help us market! Help us spread the word about local food! Help customers use fresh foods. Help us build our businesses. What about a year-around market? Changed name FARM Team - Food, Agriculture and Rural Marketing Team Started looking for funding Blandin Foundation Community Grant Beim Foundation

Ground to Gourmet Cooking demonstrations featuring local cooks and local foods Goal – 1 presentation in each community and each farmers’ market in Brown County Flyer with producers and local food information Basic supplies portable oven electric fry pan table disposable sample cups/spoons Results Consumers and producers wanted MORE! Quick and easy recipes

Will the consumers in Brown County support a year-around Farmers’ Market ? Identified potential site in Sleepy Eye Hired a market consultant What is the best way to get this information to producers? Feasibility Study

Asset identification and development workshop Assist producers in identifying their own assets Bring together producers with community members Interested consumers Business people Community groups Assist producers and community members develop collaborative working relationships Identify topics for further study.

NCRM Grant Proposal 1.Growing Assets Asset identification workshop in Fall Growing Assets II Series of producer directed workshops in winter and spring of Ground to Gourmet 2006 – summer of Recipe cards – consumer education/marketing 2.Producer coupons – measure effectiveness

Growing Assets: Using Assets to Grow Business and Community Karen Lehman Minnesota Project Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University

Growing Assets: Using Assets to Grow Business and Community 18 producers and community leaders Small group exercises identifying personal, association and institutional assets. action plans linking assets together. Shared results of Feasibility study Identified topics for further study

Identifying Assets Personal What do you grow? What do you know how to do? How do you want your business to grow? Association Social capital – who do you know? Institutional Community assets Feasibility Study Results

Action Plans Heritage tomatoes Adult Daycare Migrant School

Action Plans Triple Rivers Producers Ground to Gourmet Community Education

Feasibility Study Results Positives Historic Berg Hotel has Main Street location, good traffic and is centrally located to producers Triple Rivers Producers recently started a web site Negatives inconsistency of farmer's market shoppers inconsistent volume and quality in current supply chain. distance from the farms to distribution points Recommendation Continue to develop consistent market through TRP website Possible future project with cultural and educational components ie: “destination market”

Topics Ag-Tourism Market Planning Community Supported Agriculture Business Planning E-Business Heartland Food Initiative

Growing Assets II Ken Gustafson, University of Minnesota Extension Specialist Terry Sveine, Chamber of Commerce Tourism Specialist RichNes Alpacas Topic: Ag-Tourism

Growing Assets II Topic: Marketing Plans Nancy Pehling, Creative Ad Solutions Freebies Print ads Web marketing Branding Logos What is a destination?

Growing Assets II Topic: Community Supported Agriculture Local CSA producers (100 mile radius) Gary Guthrie, Harmony Farm Corry Bregendahl, North Central Regional Center for Rural Development

Growing Assets II Heartland Food Initiative Minnesota Project Explore and support use of local foods in commercial venues (restaurants and stores) Convening focus groups with chefs, food distributors and producers Transportation issues Quality issues Standardization Quantity

Ground to Gourmet demonstrations Farmers’ markets Community celebrations Event Putting Green Grill –n Golf

Overall Results 18 producers and community members attended the Growing Assets workshop 72 producers and community members attended the Growing Assets II sessions 30+ Ground to Gourmet demonstrations More frequent demonstrations = more participants Often tried different variety/type of product 200+ producer coupons reimbursed Increased overall sales

Thank you for this opportunity to share the FARM Team story with you!