Strengthening Farmers' Markets Through Advanced Business Training and Mentoring

Strengthening Farmers' Markets Through Advanced Business Training and Mentoring

Summary

Farmers markets are key organizations for expanding local market opportunity for farmers, yet weakness in their business structure can undermine their ability to fulfill their economic and community promise. This project provides training for resource providers from Cooperative Extension, NRCS and State Departments of Agriculture and from Main Street programs, Chambers of Commerce and other economic development organizations to support their efforts to strengthen the business fundamentals of this unique type of group-based agricultural enterprise.

Training has been conducted for resource providers, market managers, board and vendors from each the six New England States; training modules have been distributed nationwide by a New York Cooperative Extension Educator. Training programs and mentoring have covered farmers market board, staff and member roles and responsibilities; member retention and recruitment; equity and fund raising; legal, governance and management structures; operational audits; conflict resolution; market and business planning; community alliances and the role of a state or regional farmers market association. Resource providers have participated with farmers market board, vendors and/ or staff person in training and mentoring programs and development of actionable plans to start or strengthen a market. The project mentoring is assisting resource providers in planning and conducting local farmers market training programs and development of state associations. Input from farmers market participants have helped plan, publicize and conduct the trainings. Resource providers have developed competency in farmers market technical assistance including the delivery of model educational programs. Resource provider training materials are available on the Cooperative Development Institute’s “Group-Based Business Sustaining Agriculture in the Northeast” web page at www.cdi,coop.

Partnerships with farmers market organizations and mentorships with agricultural resource providers were developed to design and conduct farmers market training programs in 5 individual states–CT, MA, VT, NH, ME—as well as two region-wide programs.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Performance target—.
Of the sixty agricultural educators participating in the Farmers Market Business Training Program held around the region, 10 Cooperative Extension, NRCS and other rural, community and economic development resource providers will provide technical assistance that results in the strengthening of a local farmers market by farmers and/or market managers. Two participants will help farmers develop or strengthen a state farmers market association.

We reached the target by working with 10 resource providers in NH, MA, CT, ME and VT. In so doing we helped the providers organize regional market managers business development programs as well as programs in CT, MA, NH, VT and ME. Two of the participants worked together to develop a state-wide farmers market in VT. The impact of all this work was to bring attention to the business of farmers markets, develop market managers as a constituency and enhance capacity for training and technical assistance.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Milestone 1: 300 Cooperative Extension and other rural, community and economic development resource providers and 400 farmers markets in New England receive information about the Farmers Market Business Development training program.

This milestone was achieved through program releases distributed by e-mail to farmers markets, farmers market organizations, public agencies such as Departments of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension, RD, NRCS and RC&D, Main Street programs, non-profit agricultural/small farm organizations and to the agricultural media. We have followed up with telephone conversations and site visits. We continue to reach out to this database as new trainings are offered. The project list serv New England Farmers Market Exchange reaches more than 500 farmers market managers and service providers in the region.

Milestone 2: 60 resource providers and 60 farmers and/or managers, attend the farmers market business training courses held in each New England state.

2005: Region-wide farmers market training held in the fall of 2005, involved 7 resource providers and 10 markets. Follow-up involved 2 resource providers in a planning discussion with state farmers market representatives from MA, CT and NH about the feasibility of establishing a New England-wide farmers market association and a mentoring project in Maine led by an Agriculture Department staff person, supported by Cooperative Extension, Main Street and a farmers’ organization to consider a Farmers Market Partnership Council in Maine. Further needs assessment determined that neither a NE regional nor a ME state-wide organization was a priority for markets.

2006: Targeted the three northern New England States: VT, NH and ME. Two farmers market business planning training sessions were conducted at NOFA VT’s Direct Marketing Conference, one on board effectiveness and one on market funding and we facilitated a panel discussion on manager roles, responsibilities and challenges. Twenty farmers market vendors/board members attended each of the training sessions with five service providers. As a result of the sessions, the project agreed to mentor a staff person from NOFA-VT in efforts to develop a state-wide farmers market association, with support from staff from the Agency of Agriculture and Resource Conservation and Development. A December workshop brought 4 resource providers together to assist 5 farmers market representatives in a planning session for the organization.

A training session held at the February 2006 Farm & Forest Expo in Manchester NH focused on “Business Planning for Farmers' Markets" and included "Toolkit for Doing Your Own Farmers' Market Research" and "Financing For Farmer's Markets." The material was well-received by the audience of farmers’ market vendors/board members (10) and agricultural staff (5). A mentoring project with a UNH Cooperative Extension Educator, to develop a market managers seminar resulted. The seminar was conducted in March 2008 and involved 35 market managers.

2007: Established contacts in MA, CT, RI and NY. Worked with a team of 5 resource providers from ME, NH, CT and MA to organize four workshops on farmers market topics for the New England Regional Direct Market Conference. Over 600 people attended the two day gathering. Each Farmers Market workshop was attended by 40 to 100 people. Through these workshops as well as through our Conference trade show booth we reached an additional 33 resource providers. An important outcome for the project was further development of mentoring relationships to work on market master training programs in 2008 in CT, MA, NH and VT. We continued mentoring support for Vermont’s efforts to create a statewide association of farmers markets.

2008: We concluded our VT mentoring engagement by facilitating a meeting to launch the Vermont Farmers Market Association (attended by 54 farmers and 6 resource providers) and conducting a workshop on conflict management (14 markets and 1 resource provider). We completed work with CT resource providers on a statewide market manager’s seminar and provided a conflict management workshop for the gathering of 150 market managers and 7 resource providers. We also completed a mentoring project with a NH resource provider for a market masters workshop, including a session on legal structuring (35 markets and I resource provider)

Milestone 3: 15 resource providers use mentoring assistance to develop and deliver business training programs for farmers markets.

We have mentored 2 providers from VT, 1 from NH, 4 from Maine, 2 from MA and 2 from CT. Besides general mentoring on a wide variety of farmers’ market business issues, projects that emerged include: development of statewide associations (VT and ME), state training programs (MA, CT, NY VT) and region-wide training programs. All but one person who no longer works with farmers markets due to a job change continue to be engaged in supporting farmers markets. We worked with one resource provider from NY on the development of resource materials for farmers markets and with another from Ohio on the development of a training program for farmer markets.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Training modules have been developed on: Market Planning, Business Planning, Financing/Fundraising, Board Effectiveness, Resolving Market Conflicts, Legal Structures, Building Alliances and Evaluating Market Operations and Contributions, exceeding our project proposal. The content for all modules has been tested with farmers market managers and refined according to feedback. Four of the modules were included on a Farmers Market Training DVD developed by a Cooperative Extension Educator in NY and have been distributed nationally.

We created partnerships and established systems for communicating with farmers markets and resource providers in all six New England states. The farmers market list serv is an effective key resource for market board, staff and vendors and resource providers alike, especially during the market season.

We helped bring farmers’ business development needs to the forefront of training and technical assistance. We’ve identified farmers market resource providers and created a regional team with interest and expertise in farmers market programming.

We provided mentoring assistance to a New York market on legal structuring and board/manager roles and responsibilities, to a Vermont market on board/manager roles and responsibilities, and to three MA markets on legal structuring.

We provided mentoring support to two regional and 5 state market master training programs (NH, VT, ME, CT and MA) and to the successful launch of the Vermont Farmers Market Association.