ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Join the University of Minnesota Extension for a small farm and local foods marketing seminar on Thursday, November 7, 2019 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This event is bringing together local food growers and purchaser to provide tangible steps to help you grow your own local food market. The cost to attend is just $15 and registration is available at z.umn.edu/localfood.
The event will kick off with registration at 8:00 am. Three local foods producers will present on how they grew their farm market to include grocery stores, restaurants and nation-wide shipments. These farmers will share their successes and hard lessons learned along the way. Their hope is that you can learn from their trials. Then, you will work through building a brand for your business and the steps it takes to maintain a strong brand.
You probably know that connecting with your consumers in person and online is key to growing your business; but figuring that out can be challenging. The seminar will have two social media track options. You can take social media for the beginner and figure out how to get started with an online presence. If you have already kicked off your social media platforms but you want to dig in and learn how to harness it better, track two will be for you. You will walk away with the know-how to post to get the biggest impact. You will also learn a bit about building a successful email campaign.
After lunch a panel of local foods purchasing businesses will discuss what it takes to be a grower for them. If your goal is to be a grower for the restaurant or grocery store down the street this panel is for you. The day will conclude with a resource round table. You get to choose the organizations you want to learn more about and the resources they have available to help make you more successful.
All this information and more will be a part of the Small Farm and Local Foods Marketing Seminar on November 7, 2019 at the Tuscan Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The cost of the seminar is just $15 and includes lunch! Reserve your spot today at z.umn.edu/localfood.
If you have questions or would like more information, contact seminar host and local Extension Educator; Katie Drewitz at 320-255-6169 ext. 1 or wins0115@umn.edu. Special thank you to Minnesota Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) for the grant that is helping to keep registration cost for this event low.
— Katie Winslow, University of Minnesota Extension
For more news from Minnesota, click here.