USDA’s Local Food Directories Ed Ragland –Economist Carlos Coleman – Agricultural Marketing Specialist Americo Vega-Labiosa – Agricultural Marketing Specialist Agricultural Marketing Service U. S. Department of Agriculture 2018 National Agricultural Marketing Summit September 17, 2018
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USDA’s Local Food Directories · 2011 online directory - updated quarterly. 2012 online directory - updated monthly. 2013 - Current -- online directory - updated every 2 business
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USDA’s Local Food DirectoriesEd Ragland –Economist
USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
History of USDA’s Farmers Market Directory (cont.)
Survey of farmers market managers – listed in Directory
• Identify trends in FM sector
• Increase the dialogue about the sector and elevate the discussion
• Provide suggestions to the sector to improve market revenues
• Office of Management and Budget, (OMB) raised the bar
• National Agricultural Statistics Service, (NASS) collaborating with Agricultural Marketing Service, (AMS)
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
NASS/AMS 2020 Survey of U.S. Farmers Market Sector
• First statistically sound look at the entire FM sector
• First time that FM data will be reported by NASS
• First population estimate of the FM sector in the U.S.
• Survey will be voluntary
• FM Directory will only show updated listings
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory lists:
markets that feature two or more farm vendors selling agricultural products directly to customers at a common, recurrent physical location.
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
USDA’s National CSA Directory lists:
farm or network/association of multiple farms that offer consumers regular (usually weekly) deliveries of locally-grown farm products during one or more harvest season(s) on a subscription or membership basis.
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
The Food Hub Directory lists:
businesses or organizations that actively manage the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of source-identified food products to multiple buyers from multiple producers, primarily local and regional producers, to strengthen the ability of these producers to satisfy local and regional wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
USDA’s National On-Farm Market Directory lists:
markets managed by a single farm operator that sells agricultural and/or horticultural products directly to consumers from a location on their farm property or on property adjacent to that farm.
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
Update of Local Food Directory Platform• unique and stable ID’s
• direct to customer enterprises will list on the same platform sharing contact information across directories
• API users will have to fill out survey prior to getting access to data so API users can be identified and communicated with regarding data updates
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
Update of Local Food Directory Platform• Agri-tourism directory will be added to platform
• Community garden directory will be added to platform
• Information hub will be built to allow FM managers to share information with State Associations, State Dept. of Agriculture, Market Maker ……
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
Who uses USDA’s Local Food Directories?
• Researchers (who would want to download the whole database)
• Buyers of local food• Potential market suppliers• Supplementary businesses (e.g. mid-scale processor) who
might place a business near a cluster of hubs• Researchers doing feasibility studies• Lenders understanding the local food marketplace
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USDA’s definition of food hubs for the purpose of the food hub directory.
Why does it matters?1. Marketing Tool
2. Research and policy making
How to search in USDA’s Local Food Directorieswww.usdalocalfooddirectories.com
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Local Food Directories home page. The food hub directory is one of 4 direct to customer directories. They include the farmers market directory, the Community Supported Agriculture, (CSA), directory, food hub directory and the on-farm market directory. All of these directories are free to the public and enterprises that choose to list in the directories. All directories are self-service, direct to customer enterprises can list or update their listing at any time. New listing and/or updated listing will appear in the directory within 2 business days. Clicking the orange directory search button on the right allows a search of any of the 4 local food directories.
• National Farmers Market Directory
- Payment methods accepted
- Address
- Products
- Number of vendors
- Operating days and hours
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Clicking on the operations a user can see the listing
• National Food Hub Directory
- Legal status
- Type of wholesale markets served
- Type of direct-marketing served
- Production practices required by product
- Operational services offered
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Clicking on the operations a user can see the listing
Purpose of the USDA National Farmers Market Manager Survey?
• Collects information about farmers market trends and activities to assist managers with their organizing and promotional efforts
• Provide benchmark data and information that can help inform decision-making for local and regional food planners
• Inform the public about one of the more important marketing channels for new, beginning, and smaller-scale agricultural businesses
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We have two types of information collections with regard to the farmers markets: the National Farmers Market Directory and the National Farmers Market Manager Survey
Constantly Evolving Conditions and Drivers for Farmers Market Development
Novel Community
Event
Opportunity for New,
Beginning, and Smaller-scale
Production
Site to Acquire Fresh, Locally-
Sourced Products
An Instrument for Sustainable
Economic Development
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The interest in farmers markets are diverse and we understand that we must continue to improve the quality of the data we collect and also how we disseminate that information. Additionally, the conditions and drivers for farmers market development are constantly evolving. Farmers markets have been framed as novel community events, to marketing opportunities for producers and more recently looked to as one instrument (among many) for sustainable economic development. We can’t dismiss any of these interests in our attempt to account for changes in the farmers market sector.
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Reporting on farmers market trends and developments continues to be one of the primary requests for information we receive in our office. Market organizers, administrators, producers, consumers, communities, and researchers generally want to know about the health of this particular sector. We have found that large multi-chapter reports are not always the best way to disseminate information about farmers markets and so have turned to our public affairs and communications liaisons for advice on how to do this better. The infographic above is one outcome of our collective work – as a result, we’ve seen our information shared more broadly than it has been in the past.
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This past year, we adopted a more applied approach to the use of farmers market manager survey information. The infographic above is the product of our efforts to make the information collected from farmers market managers useful for them and prospective market developers. For instance, we asked what kinds of goals would the typical market managers construct for their market and then sought to identify the kinds of activities that were closely associated with those goals. Thus, if a market manager sought to increase sales then they could take a look at this infographic to learn that health programming and community programming have been linked to an increase in farmers market sales.
Market Conditions from the Manager’s Perspective
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Subsequent manager surveys would capture similar data fields while also inquiring about manager perceptions of economic conditions at their respective markets. The chart here is sourced from the 2006 National Farmers Market Manager Survey Report by Tropp and Ragland (2009). What’s interesting here is what’s going on the Southwest and Mid-Atlantic – in the former 53 percent responded there was more demand than supply and in the latter 51 percent responded that the two were roughly equal. It’d be interesting to know what this looks like a little over a decade later – more importantly, we gain some firsthand account of what the economic terrain is like for direct market producers.
Popular Marketing Strategies
1%
2%
3%
7%
15%
24%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
SERVED AS AN AGGREGATION/ DISTRIBUTION POINT FOR LARGE VOLUME SALES TO WHOLESALE BUYERS (E.G. FOOD HUBS)
MOBILE FARM MARKET
SATELLITE/ OUTREACH MARKETS IN FOOD DESERTS
MARKETED DIRECTLY TO FOOD SERVICE
MARKETED DIRECTLY TO RESTAURANTS
SERVED AS A COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA) ENTERPRISE PICKUP/ DROP OFF POINT
Percentage of Markets Hosting Alternative Marketing Channels
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Here’s another graphic created using the 2013 National Farmers Market Manager Survey. I chose this graphic because I think it highlights something that many local food practitioners have noted anecdotally – that farmers markets are actually sites for other types of direct marketing activity. Our own urban ag, CSA, and mobile market work were also… The survey helps us empirically verify experiential anecdotes and assess the preponderance of specific cases. Notice here that the farmers market-CSA model is the most popular FM hybrid type…
Socrata Web Reporting and Open Data Platform
"A Look in the Mirror" - allow market managers to query farmers market attributes similar to their own to gain a sense of what markets like themselves do and how they perform using survey data
"Sector Snapshots" - curated high level statistics on the farmers market sector using survey data
"Counting Markets" - publicize farmers market participation in the Local Food Directories and estimated counts at the State, Regional and National Level
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Therefore, we’re undertaking a process to develop our web reporting capabilities to make the data we collect more accessible to the public. Many of you might be familiar with the excel export function of the directory – we’re now looking for ways to enable the public to view data while protecting personal identifiable information of those who share with us. For example, we think it’d be great if market managers across the country could compare their market’s performance and activities with markets with similar organizational attributes. Also, standardized metrics for the farmers market sector will help us keep track of developments by comparing snapshots overtime of the same data. And of course, we’ll continue to publicize farmers market counts both in the directory as well as the count derived from more statistically rigorous estimations.
2020 National Farmers Market Manager Survey with NASS
The first scientific estimate of the number of farmers markets located in the U.S. (Web scraping)
The first National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) survey of the U.S. farmers market sector (Instrument Design, Cognitive Testing, Pre-survey mailings)
Information about farmers market operations, management, and performance
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This brings me to our Interagency Agreement with the National Agricultural Statistics Service to administer the national farmers market manager survey. It will conduct the first scientific estimate of the number of farmers markets located in the US. NASS is known for the local food marketing practices survey and also the ag census survey – here they will employ the same social scientific rigor with respect to the national farmers market manager survey to acquire information about farmers market operations, management and performance.
How can YOU help?
Market Managers – Update your listing in the USDA Farmers Market Directory http://www.usdalocalfooddirectories.com/farmersmarketdirectoryupdate/FM_Portal_Public.aspx
• FM Association Directors and State/Municipal Contacts –Send Farmers Market Lists to the Directory/Survey [email protected]