Southwestern Michigan Marketing Plan for Locally-Grown Produce

Southwestern Michigan Marketing Plan for Locally-Grown Produce

Summary

In order for smaller producers of fruits and vegetables to capture the local supermarket business, growers must assure volume deliveries and identify products with labels. The objectives of this project were to develop and implement a marketing plan to differentiate between local and shipped-in produce, establish a consortium of local growers to market under a common label, and target Michigan consumers to support and request locally grown produce. The goal is to develop a container and label for exclusive use of growers in the consortium, pack the container only with premium quality produce, and provide the volume to meet chain store needs. The project has been extended to allow additional time to meet the goals of the project.