The Community Market Project

Status of reaching performance target:  Although the proposal, as written, was designed so that 10 markets would participate in an in-depth program, we adjusted the format to allow any markets in the state to participate.  This change was made to provide the opportunity for more markets to participate and to provide a more robust learning community among markets statewide. In addition, without funding for individual market mini-grants, we adjusted the deliverables to reflect work that was completed in-group settings, instead of one-on-one.       In the first phase of this project, instead of releasing an RFP for market participation in the market learning community, we contacted all of the farmers’ market managers to confirm their professional development needs, and to assess their interest and availability to attend regional trainings.  In our grant proposal, we proposed the following four trainings, which were confirmed as priority professional development topics when we surveyed the market managers:   1. Evaluating Effective Promotions and Making Strategic Marketing Investments   2. Safe Food Handling and Implementing Market Regulations   3. Developing an Effective Board   4 Building Budgets of a Sustainable Market       We developed these trainings in consultation with the Vermont Farmers Market Association board, and Darlene Wolnik, a farmers’ market consultant and current Market Programs Advisor for the Farmers Market Coalition. Four professional development regional roundtables were held in November and December 2012, on two of the training topics:  Building Sustainable Market Budgets and Evaluating Effective Promotions and Making Strategic Marketing Investments.       Markets were invited to attend any of the roundtables and could attend more than one, but were encouraged to attend the one in their region to provide networking opportunities with their neighbor markets.  The dates of the 2013 trainings, and number of attendees were as follows:   -       November 28^th in St. Johnsbury focused on Building Sustainable Budgets, 8 participants   -       December 3^rd in Winooski focused on Building Sustainable Budgets, 10 participants   -       December 4^th in White River Junction focused on Marketing/Promotions, 18 participants   -       December 6^th in Middlebury focused on Marketing/Promotions, 8 participants   -       Two other roundtables were planned, one for Bennington and another for Brattleboro, but not enough RSVPs were received and they were canceled.       A total of 44 participants attended the four roundtables. The Vermont Farmers’ Market Association (VTFMA) collaborated with NOFA-VT to provide outreach to VTFMA members about these events.  Four VTFMA board members also attended – providing meaningful feedback about how the VTFMA can support their member markets and partner with NOFA-VT to provide further professional development trainings and support.       At the January 2013 Direct Marketing Conference, two trainings were held:  Food Safety at Farmers’ Markets and Farmers’ Market Governance.  With their matching grant, the Castanea Foundation provided sponsored a registration for each market to send a representative to the January 2013 DMC and 36 market organizers attended.   In addition, the Vermont Farmers’ Market Association held their annual meeting at the Direct Marketing Conference.  The key focus at the meeting was to gather input on the needs for the development of best practices for markets. Based on this feedback, the VTFMA and NOFA-VT staff created a series of best practices documents to guide the work of Vermont farmers' markets. These documents are intended as guides, not standards.  The intention of these guides is to promote ideas for marketing, governance, and safety practices that, if followed, will help markets thrive. The VTFMA focused on three of the four key issues identified in the grant proposal:  governance, market safety (including food safety), and marketing.  These guides can be found here: http://vtfma.org/index.php/membership/best-practices-for-farmers-markets. It has been identified that a best practice guide is needed for budgeting/accounting/record keeping and the VTFMA is will develop that in the future.       During the summer 2013 season, NOFA-VT staff visited 9 markets across the state to observe and consult with markets on topics ranging from marketing, governance issues, and supporting  the market’s food access programs.  NOFA-VT staff also consulted on the phone frequently with many market organizers from across the state requesting support.       Five regional roundtables were held in October – December 2013. Based on feedback from participants at the 2012 roundtables that they wanted time primarily for networking, and due to the fact that there were intensive working sessions scheduled for the 2014 DMC, we took out the training component from the roundtables and held 3 hour meetings that were primarily networking sessions. These sessions were very well received. Markets were invited to attend any of the roundtables and could attend more than one, but were encouraged to attend the one in their region to provide networking opportunities with their neighboring markets. The dates of the 2013 roundtable networking sessions and attendance were as follows:   -       October 28^th in Essex Jct, 12 market representatives   -       November 5^th in Rutland, 8 market representatives   -       November 11^th in St. Johnsbury, 5 market representatives   -       December 4^th in Brattleboro, 2 market representatives (due to illness and conflicts, multiple folks who had pre-registered missed the meeting)   -       December 10^th in Norwich, 9 market representatives   -       One other roundtable was planned for Bennington but all of the interested Bennington Co. folks ended up coming to the meeting in Rutland.       A total of 36 participants attended the 2013 roundtables.  The Vermont Farmers’ Market Association (VTFMA) collaborated with NOFA-VT to provide outreach to VTFMA members about these events. Four VTFMA board members also attended – providing meaningful feedback about how the VTFMA can support their member markets and partner with NOFA-VT to provide further professional development trainings and support.       On January 12, 2014, we held an intensive farmers’ market professional development track at the 2014 DMC. The trainings making up this intensive track were:   -       Building High Impact Board Teams:  Leadership Skills that Make the Difference   -       Marketing Tools, Best Practices, & Guidelines for Better Organizing & Promoting Farmers’ Markets   -       Making the Case for Your Market in Your Community   -       Flagship Market Roundtable.   We again had funds, this time from a USDA Farmers’ Market Promotion Grant, to enable one market organizer from each VTFMA member market to attend the DMC for free - a great way to increase participation in this professional development opportunity.  Thirty-four market representatives attended the conference.       Now that this project is over, we will continue to build upon the strong relationships that market managers have developed.  We will pair markets that are looking for mentorship with markets that have experience.  We believe that these mentorships will strengthen the connections between markets and contribute to stronger markets.       To evaluate progress towards meeting our performance targets, participants in the regional roundtables and Direct Marketing Conferences completed surveys. These surveys allowed us to analyze changes in knowledge in the professional development area discussed at the event as well as other performance targets.  The results of the survey are noted below.       Performance Target 1: All participating markets will have identified the appropriate management and governance structure to fit their market size and needs. If they are not already operating within that structure, they will have created a strategic plan of how to get there.       Performance Target 2:All markets will have adopted bylaws and created guidelines.       Performance Target 3: All markets will have a Board of Directors or advisory committee, depending on market size and needs.       Status of Performance Target 1, 2, and 3:   All of the markets participating in the 2013 roundtables reported having bylaws and a board or steering committee (or are incorporated under an organization that does).  Many of the markets indicate that they would like to revise/update their bylaws and/or that their board is not as active as they would like.  Although we do not have funding to work individually with markets, we can address this need by pairing a market needing support with a mentor market, hosting workshops at our Direct Marketing Conference, and developing best practices documents that address these needs.       Performance Target 4:All markets will have developed a market budget.       Status of Performance Target 4:   The VTFMA has determined that a best practice document on farmers market financials is important and is looking into the resources it would take to develop one. In addition, NOFA-VT has determined that while best practices like those that the VTFMA will develop will help markets, markets will need individual support to make these changes at their markets.  We believe that with the support of organizations like NEGEF and Vermont Farm Viability, we will make progress in 2014 on this issue.       Performance Target 5: 60% of participating market representatives believe they have increased their profitability and viability as a result of their participation in this project.       Status of Performance Target 5:   -       Participants in the Farmers Market Governance Workshop at the 2013 DMC were asked, ‘As a market, do you feel like you are better prepared to maintain and increase the success of your market management due to your participation in this program?’ 93% (14 of 15 market representatives) who responded to the written survey said yes.   -       Participants in the Food Safety at Farmers’ Markets Workshop at the 2013 DMC, were asked,‘As a market, do you feel like you are better prepared to maintain and increase the success of your market management due to your participation in this program?’ 93% (13 of 14 market representatives) who responded to the written survey said yes.   -       When asked at the 2013 Regional Roundtables participant survey, “On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = Not at all and 5 = Yes!), do you feel like you got ideas that will help you increase the profitability of your market due to your participation in this roundtable?”, the responses were: 1 - 0 votes; 2 – 3 votes; 3 – 4 votes; 4 – 9 votes; 5 – 8 votes.  This equates to 71% of responding markets choosing 4 or 5.   -       When surveyed after attending the 2014 DMC intensive farmers’ market track, “On a scale of 1 to 5 (1=Not at all and 5=Yes!) do you feel like you got ideas that will help you increase the profitability of your market due to your participation in this conference?”, the responses were: 1 – 1 vote; 2 – 0 votes; 3 – 4 votes; 4 – 4 votes, 5 – 10 votes.  This equates to 74% of responding markets choosing 4 or 5.       Performance Target 6: 60% of the participating markets will have increased their agricultural sales by 10% from the market season prior to starting the program (2011) to the season after completing the program (2013).       Status of Performance Target 6: We were only able to evaluate the market that participated in both the 2011 and 2013 annual surveys.  Eighteen participating markets completed both the 2011 and 2013 annual surveys. Of those markets, 14 markets self-reported an increase or stayed level (78%) while 10 markets self-reported an increase of 10% or more (56%).  This performance measure was problematic due to the fact that many markets reported for one year, but not the other so it was challenging to get comparable data.  In addition, there were occasionally errors found in the math of some of the markets and additional errors may have not been found.  In general, the majority of markets reported that their gross sales were increasing.