Southwest Marketing Network: Expanding Markets for Small-Scale Alternative and Minority Farmers and Ranchers

View the project final report

• 2005 annual report
• 2006 annual report
• 2007 annual report

Commodities

• Vegetables: greens (leafy), tomatoes
• Animals: bovine, poultry, sheep

Practices

• Animal Production: grazing - multispecies, range improvement
• Education and Training: demonstration, networking, technical assistance
• Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, budgets/cost and returns, cooperatives, marketing management, risk management, value added
• Production Systems: transitioning to organic
• Sustainable Communities: new business opportunities, partnerships, sustainability measures

The Southwest Marketing Network is a four-state (NM, CO, AZ, UT, and Tribal communities) collaborative of farmers, ranchers, and service providers. Through this project we are providing producers several ways to access training and conferences through "distance learning" tools. This project is increasing producer knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and skills by providing connections with other producers and buyers, technical and financial assistance, marketing and business skills, and peer examples to help them increase their profitability. The information is shared through hands-on trainings in the field and conference workshops that are also professionally videoed for producers who cannot participate directly.

Our goal is to positively affect at least 500 producers (see information below) with specific tools over the two-year period that they can and/or will use to increase their production, marketing opportunities, and income. As a result, during the first year more that 150 producers have received information and training and approximately 150 service providers.

Out of our goals we want to create four in-the-field hands-on trainings that are also distance trainings. Of this we have done two trainings and have created one distance learning tool that has been provided to more than 300 producers and service providers out of at least 500 over two years.

We have created an eight-hour distance learning tool with marketing, production, and business management tools that has been disseminated to 247 participants at the SWMN 2005 conference (from the 2004 conference presentations and workshops). Specific learning sessions were video taped as well as keynote presentations and a PowerPoint presentation that is currently being finalized and will be disseminated at the March 2006 SWMN conference to participants and will be made available to anyone who wishes to receive the learning tools.