Economic/Marketing

The scope of this NCR-SARE Research and Education project was designed to assist the Roots of Appalachia Growers Association (RAGA) develop a learning network among growers, to close the gap between growers and current research activities, and support RAGA entering the marketplace.

The third edition of the "Accepting Bridge Cards at Michigan Farmers Markets" resource manual will help farmers markets decide if they should accept food assistance benefits. If they decide to become an authorized SNAP retailer, it will help implement this food assistance program.

When the farming system deviates from a conventional corn-soybean rotation, the usual division of costs and returns in a 50-50 crop share lease may no longer fairly reflect the inputs of each party. This sheet demonstrates how crop share agreements can be adapted for sustainable and organic agriculture.

This curriculum on Colorado’s Department of Agriculture website was designed to provide detailed training resources for agricultural professionals and farmers interested in expanding their income sources and entering into the agritourism industry. 

NCR-SARE supports value-added marketing of agricultural products, which provides more profit for producers while enhancing local communities and multiplying consumer choices. Since 1995, NCR-SARE has invested in alternative marketing strategies through com- petitive grants to help regional farmers and ranchers develop skills and supportive relationships with others that assist them in creating and sustaining profitable, sustainable ag marketing ventures and to help make more direct connections between food buyers and food producers in the region.

University of California researchers are discovering the keys to success for regionally based supply chains, which play a major role in vibrant local food systems.

Bringing the business planning process alive, Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses helps today's alternative and sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs transform farm-grown inspiration into profitable enterprises.

Communities often have access to a variety of production agriculture expertise, including University Extension Educators, Resource Conservation and Development coordinators and assistants and vocational agriculture instructors who are commonly consulted for advice and guidance, especially in the area of sustainable agriculture practices. University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension Specialist, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, says that these resource experts can feel unprepared to help when it is time for a product or service to move to the marketplace. Burkhart-Kriesel is working to create targeted professional development for creating feasibility and marketing plans, and conceptualizing and organizing online direct marketing websites.

Business planning can help alternative and sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs transform farm-grown inspiration into profitable enterprises. NCR-SARE funded research is helping farmers learn how to set goals, research processing alternatives, determine potential markets and evaluate financing options. NCR-SARE has invested in more than 150 research and education business planning projects to help achieve the sustainability of operations and to optimize production, discover or develop markets, and enhance environmental benefits

This short documentary follows the story of the Batalden-Smith family, a three generation Minnesota family who grow and locally press organic Camelina Oil.

The Imperial Stock Ranch, which began in 1871, faces a new and serious challenge to its very survival: how to create new markets for its products.

A public television program partly supported by SARE features the talents of the nation’s most acclaimed chefs­ and the farmers they rely upon.

In this video clip, NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher grant recipient, Xe Susane Moua, talks about City Backyard Farming, LLC, an urban farming project in St Paul, MN.

The Community and Local Food Resources website provides resources to support rural communities just beginning to build their community food systems as well as those whose local food systems are already strong. Resources are intended for farmers and producers, community organizations, and Extension Educators but may interest anyone in community and local foods.

This website hosts an interactive map that locates over 170 data layers for a variety of factors that influence the sustainability of food systems in Virginia and North Carolina. 

Jeanne Carver describes the importance of listening to customers when developing new value-added markets for your farm products.

Using sustainable agriculture practices on your rented land can help protect soil and water quality, increase income over the long term, and satisfy personal values for the landowner and/or the tenant.

This course covers planning and business development, marketing opportunities and strategies for farm/ranch businesses, and managing the farm/ranch business for long-term success.

In 2005, Jim Sluyter received an NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher grant to help farmers, especially new and prospective ones, learn about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and sustainable agriculture through a 'mini-school' for prospective CSA farmers. As part of that project, Sluyter created a CSA "startup" manual in both English and Spanish. 

In Canistota, SD, a group of family farmers have been experimenting with methods for adding value to their products and income to their operations.

Tom and Ruth Neuberger were traditional livestock farmers in ‘70’s. During the credit crunch of early 80’s they found themselves in debt “up to their ears.” They sold off their livestock to pay off debt, and then had to devise a new business plan. 

They turned to poultry. 

Shermain Hardesty and Penny Leff of the University of California Small Farm Program see an opportunity in agritourism to increase and diversify profits for producers, given the increased public demand for local foods and for education about local farms and ranches...

"Direct Marketing of Specialty Food Products" is designed to provide business owners with strategies and tools to help sell directly to consumers. The program includes video interviews of food entrepreneurs who are using social media tools to market and sell their product online.

To help it survive in challenging economic times, the Imperial Stock Ranch has increased profits by adopting direct, value-added marketing of wool products.

A grassroots apple-breeding program has released its first apple variety, EverCrisp. The variety was bred by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA), a group of more than 140 apple growers who are interested in developing new varieties for the Midwest.

This UMass Extension website offers resources on winter vegetable crop storage and marketing, as well as information on low-cost season extension, including the use of low tunnels and hoop houses.

These in-depth training manuals, produced by the University of California Santa Cruz, help instructors conduct hands-on teaching in organic farming and gardening, direct marketing, and small-farm business planning.

Faced with rising costs and foreign competition, a group of apple growers launched a cooperative direct marketing effort for their sustainably raised fruit.

Dan and Bonnie Blackledge have started a canola oil business on their farm in Marion, Michigan. B & B Farms Canola Oil’s first pressing was only about 50 gallons, but it stands out as the first canola oil grown and pressed in Michigan.

This farmer-created, consumer-oriented website lists hundreds of farms and ranches around the country that offer accommodations.

The Farmers Market Federation of New York has offers this comprehensive training resource, the Farmers Market Managers Training Manual. This manual is the product of a three-year training effort funded through a Northeast SARE Professional Development grant.

To support the producer decision-making process for on-farm and value-added elderberry enterprise opportunities, the University of Missouri has developed a production and marketing guide, a financial decision support tool, videos on elderberry wine production, and more.

This report and video summarizes a comprehensive investigation of the chemical and physical properties of pasture-based milk when made into cheese, butter or other products, and describes strategies for producing, marketing and positioning pasture-based dairy products to earn premium value from them.

This guide details the steps taken by Mohawk Harvest Cooperative Market to successfully establish their cooperative in upstate, NY. Information on planning for and running a cooperative can be found in this handbook. 

Hundreds of farmers in Appalachia making the switch to sustainable methods have received vital help from SARE-supported Appalachian Sustainable Development.

How to Direct Market Your Beef portrays how one couple used its family’s ranch to launch a profitable, grass-based beef operation focused on direct market sales.

After working nights in a factory job, Kevin Cooley is realizing his dream and creating new field to market methods for small produce farms at Cooley Family Farms in Lafayette, IN. 

Just off of Highway 77, running north from El Dorado, Kansas, runs seventy three acres of agritourism property which is a part of Carroll and Becky Walters’ family farm and pumpkin patch, Walters’ Pumpkin Patch. 

Working in an extension office, co-owner of Dakota Family Mill, Adrian Biewer, became aware of the health needs that wholegrain products could address. Developing a better tasting wholegrain product made practical sense.

In 2006, the farm families of Dakota Family Mill, Duane and Jean Smith, Bob and Debra Evenson, and Adrian and Anne Biewer, submitted a proposal to the NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant program, and were selected for funding.

The localvore movement leads to multifarm cooperation.

Graduate student's research on agriculture at the rural-urban interface has profound implications for government farm policy.

The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, supported by SARE grants, has helped dozens of small farmers in Massachusetts establish their roots.

A growing group of people are interested in getting more local foods into the hands of consumers -- and providing additional marketing channels for farmers to produce sustainable, local foods. “Scaling Up” local food refers to the process of building the system necessary to make local food available to a wider segment of the population than currently possible. NCR-SARE has supported research and education in some of the key challenge areas to scaling up local foods including agricultural production, storage and transportation, and marketing and sales.

Local Harvest: A Multifarm CSA Handbook offers straightforward guidance on cooperative marketing, an innovative practice that is helping CSAs stay strong and viable over the long term.

Marketing is an essential component of any successful composting operation, along with best practices and a commitment to quality.

This 20-page bulletin offers snapshots of the many alternatives to marketing commodities through conventional channels.

A regional toolkit of strategies to support the evolution of a sustainable Portland Metropolitan Foodshed. Toolkits are for farmers, ranchers, policymakers and consumers.

These fact sheets discuss alternative containers, marketing and crop selection, alternatives to synthetic herbicides and integrated pest management in nurseries.

Down a winding country road in Garnett, Kansas stands the Bauman farm, where agriculture is a family affair. Upon purchasing the farm in 2001, the family’s first farm venture was to raise pastured chickens and livestock. Today, the Baumans sell about 7,000 broiler chickens each year and an average 350 dozen eggs a week.

With the help of a grant from the NCRSARE Farmer Rancher grant program, the Baumans experimented with pasturing different species of animals in the same area. With the “pasture stacking” project, the family increased their broiler chickens’ average weight by 50 percent.

Don Bustos has used solar energy to cut his winter greenhouse heating bill to almost nothing.

A publication to foster recognition of the Appalachia region and encourage preservation of heirloom seed varieties.

Beach plum (Prunus maritima Marsh) is one of several shrubby plums native to North America. The jams produced from this fruit command premium prices at farm stands and specialty markets, even in comparison with jam made from other locally grown fruit. However, the wild-collected supply of fruit does not meet this niche market’s demand.

Ranch ownership transitions can be complex, involving issues such as generational needs, tax issues, social attitudes, and recreational landowner competition.  In an effort to help simplify the process, Calvin Adams of Beloit, KS, Cade Rensink of Ada, KS, and Ted Alexander of Medicine Lodge, KS, and the Kansas Ranch and Range Management Internship Program are working to get experienced and well-trained young ranchers back on the ranch through a summer internship program.

For decades, John Allen has helped farmers develop business skills and strategies, improving their profitability and helping to revitalize rural communities.

Promoting Local Food

Order an entire set of SARE Outreach books and bulletins for one low price.

Information on budgeting, financial analysis, business planning and marketing strategies for a season extension enterprise.

The San Joaquin Valley of California is one of the most productive and diverse agricultural areas in the country. However, Daniel O’Connell of the Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT), along with local producers, gathered data that identified challenges in building a healthier regional food system.  These challenges, similar those many other regions face, included  lack of infrastructure to provide for adequate distribution channels, minimal awareness by consumers about where and how to access product in the region,  land use decisions on the urban-rural edge that impacted farmers with pressures that drove up land and production costs, and the Valley’s disconnect from broader, statewide food systems thought, policy changes and economic benefits from localized trends like value-added processing.

This three-year study involved five innovative farmers in building high tunnels to investigate best practices in high-tunnel construction, tomato production and factors influencing profitability.

Because of high obesity and diabetes rates and a lack of locally-grown foods on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Washakie, Wyoming, Justine Russell launched her PDP-funded project with the goal of increasing awareness of the potential for a farmers market on the Reservation. In less than two years, she and her partners accomplished so much more than increasing awareness.

Hailing from small vegetable farms, cattle ranches and grain farms covering thousands of acres, the producers in The New American Farmer, 2nd edition have embraced new sustainable approaches to agriculture.

In one complete volume, this must-have resource for direct market producers covers the latest tips and trends from leading-edge sellers, managers and market planners all over the country.

This full-color book profiles 50 inspiring young people—one from every state—who are revitalizing rural America with new enterprises.