Howe Meadow Vendor News Email

Countryside Conservancy at Howe Meadow collects and shares sales data with its vendors weekly.

Creating a Farmers Market Living Lab: Lessons Learned in Growing a Farmers Market

This booklet is the result of asking the question, “What can we do to increase sales and attendance at our market?”, reports the results from using our market as a “living lab” to systematically test ideas to answer this question.

Stagnant, Saturated, or Ready to Surge? Strategic Marketing Investments for Vermont’s Direct to Consumer Markets

This report was commissioned by NOFA-VT to understand how current trends in food retailing and consumer values shape the opportunities and challenges for Vermont’s direct-to-consumer food marketers. The report is based on secondary research and interviews with 28 direct marketing stakeholders conducted from June– September 2017.
Through this report we ask:
With so many market outlets, is the local foods marketplace saturated? Is there still room for direct markets to provide viable outlets for producers? What strategies can we employ to support and strengthen
Vermont’s direct markets?

Consumer Insights to Support Messaging for Vermont Direct Markets

This study examines responses from three focus groups and two online surveys of in state and out-of-state food consumers in Vermont to determine the frequency, motivation, and barriers of shopping at direct markets.

Vermont Farmers’ Markets and Grocery Stores: A Price Comparison

The primary objectives of this price comparison study are threefold:
1. Establish an overview of prices at farmers’ markets that consumers can
expect to encounter in Vermont, and how they compare with grocery store
prices.
2. Utilize the pricing data to formulate more effective outreach efforts for EBT
beneficiaries who may be reluctant to visit farmers’ markets due to the
perception that prices at farmers’ markets are higher. For example,
identifying periods of the growing season when farmers’ markets prices are
particularly low or identifying specific produce prices that are particularly
low can better inform purchasing decisions by EBT users.
3. Provide farmers’ market producers and market managers with robust pricing
data that can inform their pricing decisions

ND Farmers Market Pricing

The North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA) collects prices of specialty crops that are sold across the state. The data is collected on a voluntary basis. Here are some details about the data that you can view.

• The data is city specific.
• Farmers market vendors voluntarily provided pricing and unit measurement information to the NDDA.
• The prices are only for products that a producer brought to the market during that specific data collection period.
• The pricing does not reflect any sale prices or volume discounts.
• The NDDA tried to calculate pricing on a consistent scale based on the information provided. However, measurements such as “per bunch” are not standardized.
• The prices listed are for informational use only. Changes in market supply and demand may cause future prices to adjust to meet market conditions.
• Data collection started in 2016

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PHOTOVOICE: SHARING PICTURES, TELLING STORIES AND CHANGING COMMUNITIES

A community approach to using a participatory action research method that employs photography and group dialogue as a means for marginalized
individuals to deepen their understanding of a community issue or
concern. The visual images and accompanying stories are the tools
used to reach policy- and decision-makers.

Counting Visitors at Markets

How is a market to make an accurate count of visitors? Most markets select one of three current methods when conducting a count. All three require staffing and a little planning. All three are only estimates of annual attendance. Those methods are commonly called:
Full count
Sample (or Timed Entry) count
Walkthrough (or Walk Around) count
This article covers the pros and cons of each method as well as one new method being used by markets in D.C.

Focusing on SNAP: Farmers Markets and Focus Group Outreach

With funding from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Farmers Market SNAP Support Grants (FMSSG), five market organizations employed focus groups in 2016 to refine their SNAP marketing strategy and uncover any remaining barriers for SNAP shoppers at farmers markets.This case study profiles those efforts and includes links to available resources and contact information.

COUNTING SHOPPERS at YOUR FARMERS MARKET

Guide to counting shoppers using RMA or walkthrough methods.