Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: hops, potatoes, sunflower, wheat
- Fruits: apples, berries (blueberries), berries (other), berries (strawberries), melons
- Vegetables: artichokes, asparagus, beans, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucurbits, eggplant, garlic, greens (leafy), leeks, onions, parsnips, peas (culinary), peppers, radishes (culinary), sweet corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips
- Additional Plants: herbs
- Animals: bovine, goats, poultry, rabbits, sheep, swine
- Animal Products: dairy
- Miscellaneous: mushrooms
Practices
- Animal Production: free-range, grazing - rotational, herbal medicines
- Crop Production: food product quality/safety
- Education and Training: technical assistance
- Farm Business Management: agricultural finance, agritourism, budgets/cost and returns, community-supported agriculture, e-commerce, farm-to-institution, feasibility study, market study, marketing management, new enterprise development, value added
- Production Systems: organic agriculture
- Sustainable Communities: community services, employment opportunities, ethnic differences/cultural and demographic change, local and regional food systems, new business opportunities, public participation, social capital, social networks, urban/rural integration
Proposal abstract:
Chenango-Madison Bounty supports local farmers and processors by creating new markets for locally grown and processed foods, thereby strengthening the local economy and providing healthy food to all citizens of the Greater Chenango & Madison County community in an environmentally responsible way. With the assistance of SARE Sustainable Communities funding, Chenango-Madison Bounty plans to transition to become CNY Bounty (Central New York Bounty) and begin home and wholesale deliveries throughout Onondaga County. Onondaga County includes the largest urban center in the region, Syracuse, and thus offers the potential of a greatly expanded customer base, as well as the opportunity to promote a more sustainable community through the bridging of rural and urban areas of Central NY.
Project objectives from proposal:
The mission of Chenango-Madison Bounty is to support local farmers and processors by creating new markets for locally produced foods, thereby strengthening the local economy and providing healthy food to all citizens of the Greater Chenango & Madison County community in an environmentally responsible way.
Each week, Bounty staff coordinate weekly product availability with farmers and processors and upload the products, prices, photos and descriptions on the website. Processed products must contain at least 25% locally grown ingredients (although exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis by the Producer Advisory Committee). Farmers set their own prices and Bounty marks them up 30% to cover all overhead costs (marketing, distribution, website, bookkeeping, etc.). Consumers (individual households and restaurants) can go online to www.cnybounty.com before Monday at noon to place an order. Orders are collected from the farm on Tuesday evening and/or Wednesday morning by Bounty staff, taken to the shared distribution center at Purdy and Sons in Sherburne, NY, and distributed by Bounty staff to customers’ doorsteps or strategically located drop off points on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. Delivery is free for orders over $35 or for orders of any size to drop off points. Currently customers can pay by cash, check or EBT (food stamps).
As of November 1, 2009, Chenango-Madison Bounty has exceeded $219,000 in total sales (over $168,000 of which has been returned to the farms), engaged 89 producers and processors, satisfied over 600 unique customers (the past several weeks have averaged almost 90 orders/week, with an average order per customer of $44.50), and made presentations at community events to over 3,000 people. This is a great start, but in order for the project to be successful (i.e. sustainable without grant funding), it needs 200 customers ordering per week (see attached business plan).
With the assistance of SARE Sustainable Communities funding, Chenango-Madison Bounty plans to transition to become CNYBounty (Central New York Bounty) and begin home deliveries throughout Onondaga County. Onondaga County includes the largest urban center in the region, Syracuse, and thus offers the potential of a greatly expanded customer base. Increasing the delivery area to include Onondaga County will expand the Bounty target customer area from about 130,000 to 870,000 people.
1. Increase in total number of customers ordering from Onondaga County from 64 (as of November 1, 2009) to 250 by January 2011.
2. Increase in total number of Onondaga County customers ordering per week from 15 to 150 by January 2011.
3. Increase average order amount ($) of Onondaga County customers from $25 to $45.50
4. Increase in the number of wholesale orders per week (i.e. sales to restaurants, grocery/natural food stores, etc.) from 2 (November 2009) to 8 by January 2011.
5. Increase in the number of farms/processors from Onondaga County participating in the Bounty from 0 to 15 by January 2011
6. Increase in the total number of farms/processors participating in the Bounty from 88 (November 2009) to 120 by January 2011
7. Improved farm profitability (to measure this we will establish baseline data of what each participating farm grossed through the Bounty in 2009 and compare it with 2010).
8. Increase in total gross Bounty revenue from $169,000 (estimated 2009) to $775,000 by 2012
9. The Bounty, with its easy-entry marketing and distribution system will facilitate the development of at least four value-added products using locally grown ingredients by December 2011
Additionally, the Bounty will attempt to measure the number of farm jobs created by the Bounty. For example, at least 10 of the farmers/processors currently participating in the Bounty are new or aspiring farmers. Many of them currently have off-farm jobs to supplement their income. If and when Bounty sales are large enough (particularly when combined with other marketing channels like a farmers’ market), many of theses people intend to work on-farm full time.