Local Harvest Connecting Growers and Consumers
Matching consumers with local farmers is not always an easy task, but now an Internet-based system is playing matchmaker, and growers in Alabama and the Southeast are encouraged to sign up.
Every day nearly 5,000 consumers go to www.localharvest.org to search this electronic directory of family farmers selling directly to consumers.
Consumers can search the directory by state, city, Zip code, farm type or farm product to learn where to buy farm products grown near them.
Currently Southern farms and farmers' markets are significantly underrepresented in this directory. The concern is that Southern consumers who do not find farms in their area listed on this popular Web site will assume there are no sources for locally grown foods in their area.
"Consumers are learning the value of eating locally grown foods, but are struggling to find sources. It's a real shame for family farmers to miss out on this business," says Pamela Corcoran, executive director of Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG), an organization working to help family farming be more sustainable.
Family farmers engaged in direct marketing and managers of farmers' markets are encouraged to take advantage of the free listing LocalHarvest.org provides. They can get added to the directory by going to www.localharvest.org and following the easy steps to creating a free listing. Each farm or market in the directory gets an individual Web page that gives a description of the farm or farmers' market, lists the farm products they sell, tells where their products can be purchased and can even include a picture. While it is possible to offer products for sale over the Internet, mostly the listings tell customers where they can go to buy the products.
If you don't have computer access, contact Pamela Corcoran at 540-344-5013 for a mail-in registration form you can use to have your farm included on the listing. Corcoran says, "We know a lot of farmers don't have computers yet. Fortunately, you don't have to have a computer to take advantage of the Internet! Just mail in the form telling where your products can be purchased and it gets posted on the Web for you!"
SSWAG is offering yet another chance for small Alabama farmers to make a connection through The Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference, to be held Jan. 21-23, 2005, at the New Orleans Airport Hilton. This 14th annual event is created by and for farmers and others working toward a more sustainable agriculture for family farms, our environment and our society. The conference attracts more than 500 of the most innovative farmers and others working for sustainable food systems in the South.
The program features nearly 50 sessions on sustainable production, direct marketing and community food systems, plus field trips, food, exhibits and informal opportunities to visit with folks with common interests, cutting edge information and practical experience. The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association will hold their national meeting in conjunction with this conference, and the creators of the New Orleans Crescent City Farmers Market are planning a two-day pre-conference training session on farmer's market management.
Complete conference program details will be posted at http://www.ssawg.org/.