February 2002
UC workshop helps communities market local identities, products
DAVIS--Farmers market managers, business developers, farm advisors and other professionals will learn strategies to create local identities and sell agricultural products directly to consumers, restaurants and schools at a UC Davis workshop March 1.
"This day will focus on helping professionals increase consumer demand for direct marketed products in their local regions," said David Chaney, education coordinator for the UC Davis-based statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP), one of the workshop sponsors. "We are excited about our nationally known speakers and our workshop sessions, which are designed to be very interactive and practical."
Keynote speakers include Gus Schumacher, former Under Secretary for Agriculture for farm and foreign agricultural services at USDA and the director of a Washington, D.C. agricultural strategy firm, and Sibella Kraus, a leader in supporting regional food systems and director of the Sustainable Agriculture Education Network.
Breakout sessions will cover community supported agriculture (CSAs or subscription farms), selling to restaurants, working with immigrant farmers, creating local identifies, working with the media, getting consumers to the farm, marketing to schools as community institutions, working collaboratively with local businesses, and agriculture and tourism connections.
Gail Feenstra, SAREP food systems analyst, said she expects workshop participants to include Cooperative Extension advisors, USDA personnel, farmers and ranchers, and representatives from state agricultural agencies and other agricultural and community development organizations.
Participants will enjoy a lunch made with locally grown foods to showcase the salability of regional products, Feenstra said.
The workshop is sponsored by SAREP, the UC Small Farm Program, Community Food Security Coalition, California Federation of Certified Farmers' Markets and Davis Farmers Market Association, with funding from the Western Region USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. It will take place at the UC Davis Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center.
The conference fee is $60, which includes all materials, lunch and morning and afternoon snacks. For more information contact Chaney at dechaney@ucdavis.edu or Feenstra at gwfeenstra@ucdavis.edu.
Media Contacts
Lyra Halprin, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
