New River Sustainable Agriculture Marketing Plan

New River Sustainable Agriculture Marketing Plan

Summary

New River Community Partners will help develop a web-based marketing program for local producers and develop a brand identity for a regional marketing effort. We will also develop a label for grass-fed beef producers and help promote the local farmers markets.

Objectives/Performance Targets

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Accomplishments/Milestones

Criteria for selecting producers for the web-site have been developed and the first producers for the internet marketing site have been selected and have received training. They have also received individual help with their own business logo design and other marketing tools for their individual businesses. The web site should go ‘live’ in the next few months. The last technical details are being worked out. The design issues for a grass-fed meat label are being dealt with and this label may turn into a label that could be used on beef, lamb and goats. We also have several producers interested in pasture poultry and they may be interested in the label also. We are looking to see if one basic design will fit all needs. We signed our contract in May last year so we are working with the local farmer’s markets this summer on flyers to promote themselves.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

• The funds from this grant have combined with funds from the Duke Endowment and the NC Rural Center to develop a regional branding identity, develop a transactional internet site to market locally produced value-added agriculture products along with local produced craft items, and help promote locally raised and processed meat. The local farmer’s markets will have flyers to advertise the local producers that sell at these markets. These efforts combined with the ingenuity of local producers will help develop a sustainable agriculture effort in our region.