Making Plans for 2012
It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: what do you get when you combine 50+ farmers, a couple dozen Carpe Donuts, and some Mudhouse brew in a small room for five hours?
I can’t say I know the answer to that question…but I do know that last week we hosted our third annual Partner Producer meeting at Bundoran Farm.
This meeting is an essential part of our planning process for the new year. It’s the one time that we have a majority of our farmers together in the same place (it’s like herding cats, you guys!), and we take advantage of this special moment by having a jam-packed agenda and lots of time for networking.
This year, we started the meeting by reviewing the successes, challenges and general experiences in 2011. Some facts you might find interesting:
- 93% of our customers say they see a return on their investment in local food.
- 86% of our buyers have increased the amount of local food they buy thanks to their partnership with Local Food Hub.
- 86% of our buyers buy local because it supports the local economy and small family farms.
Right on! We also talked about the services we provide for our farmers: sales, distribution, marketing, education and more. The numbers:
- We helped our farmers sell 77% more food in 2011 than in 2010. 77%!
- 90% of our farmers said that our sales, purchasing, and distribution were the most important services we offered.
- 100% of our workshops in 2011 were sold out — and just wait til you see the lineup for 2012. Good stuff on the way.
We also spent a lot of time talking about issues like on-farm food safety (take a look at the On-Farm Food Safety Project) and GAP certification — both hot topics for small farms right now. For many farms, GAP certification can seem intimidating and expensive, but we are looking to demystify and simplify the process. More information that to come!
Finally, we concluded the meeting (after a delicious, local lunch) with a look at the coming season. Overall, things look great. We are adding new farms every day — a good thing, because the demand for local food just keeps on growing. We have a lot of exciting opportunities on the horizon!
We are anticipating another year of rapid growth, and we feel lucky that we are in a position to support Virginia’s family farms, feed our community, and contribute to our economy.
Thank you for buying local!