Building Professional Support for Institutional Purchasing - Buy Local Campaign Programs

Building Professional Support for Institutional Purchasing - Buy Local Campaign Programs

Summary

This program is building the capacity of 100 Northeast Cooperative Extension Agents and sustainable agricultural professionals to assist farmers, food service directors, student groups, faculty, and others in the development of institutional purchasing and ‘buy local’ campaign projects. Agricultural professionals trained in the nuts and bolts of these types of projects can play an important role in catalyzing these initiatives, increasing their odds of success, and ultimately improving the economic viability of farmers in their region. We are producing a training manual, conducting eight professional development workshops, and providing technical assistance to participants who will implement action plans.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Of the 100 Extension and other agricultural professionals who participate in the first training workshop, 70 will demonstrate increased knowledge and skills to facilitate and foster institutional purchasing and/or buy local campaign projects. Sixty four per cent of those will initiate, assist with or participate in such projects.

Accomplishments/Milestones

We have completed the training manual. We have nearly met our first milestone of “one hundred agriculture professionals will attend workshop #1”. We have held three of four scheduled workshops, with a total of approximately 70 participants. Of these, about 75% indicate interest or commitment to participating in the rest of the project.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Although we are in the early phase of the project, the participants in the first set of workshops indicated, based on pre- and post-workshop surveys, that they gained valuable information about institutional purchasing and buy local campaigns and that they feel more prepared to lead or assist with an institutional purchasing or buy local campaign project.

Collaborators: