Building local partnerships to sustain local farm festivals and relocalize markets

This project collaboratively develops new marketing approaches for farmers in rural communities. Farmers growing food in smaller communities in rural Minnesota frequently truck their products 50-100 miles to larger metropolitan areas to access customers. These long drives increase fuel costs, transportation time, and carbon emissions, and decrease investment in the local social and economic fabric. The overarching aim is to expand hyper-local markets for farmers in rural communities by increasing the quantity and reliability of purchasing by households, restaurants/stores, and institutions within the community. We do this by creating an annual on-farm local food festival in each community that generates excitement and awareness about the value of and ways to access local foods. This project builds on existing partnerships between Renewing the Countryside, Sustainable Farming Association, Minnesota Farmers Union, and pairs of farmers and local food leaders in 7 rural MN communities, where we are currently piloting local food festivals with support from USDA. Funding from SARE will allow these community teams to dive deeper into the critical local partnership building that will allow the annual event to become self-sustaining through local sponsorship and support.