USDA’s Local Food DirectoriesEd Ragland –Economist

Carlos Coleman – Agricultural Marketing SpecialistAmerico Vega-Labiosa – Agricultural Marketing Specialist

Agricultural Marketing ServiceU. S. Department of Agriculture

2018 National Agricultural Marketing SummitSeptember 17, 2018

USDA’s Local Food Directories

Helping farmers that sell agricultural products direct from the farm to connect with their customers.

Why List in USDA’s Local Food Directories

• Its’s Free

• On-line

• Listing is self-service, and updates appear within 2 business days

• Markets can be mapped

• Driving instructions to your market are available

Why List in USDA’s Local Food Directories, (cont.)

• National in scope

• Policy makers and planners use it to estimate the size of the sector

• App developers access the data

• Your voice heard through surveys

USDA’s Local Food Directories is a family of direct to customer directories:

• Farmers Market Directory• Community Supported Agriculture Directory• Food Hub Directory• On-Farm Market Directory

History of USDA’s Farmers Market Directory

1994 – 2000 hard copy FM Directory published every other year

2002 – 2008 electronic FM directory data available every other year

2009 – electronic FM directory data available every year

2010 online directory - updated annually

History of USDA’s Farmers Market Directory (cont.)

2011 online directory - updated quarterly

2012 online directory - updated monthly

2013 - Current -- online directory - updated every 2 business days

2014 - added 3 new directories CSA, Food Hub, On-Farm Market

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)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 ……

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

Why does it matters?1. Marketing Tool

2. Research and policy making

How to search in USDA’s Local Food Directorieswww.usdalocalfooddirectories.com

• National Farmers Market Directory

- Payment methods accepted

- Address

- Products

- Number of vendors

- Operating days and hours

Presenter

Presentation Notes

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

Presenter

Presentation Notes

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

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

Presenter

Presentation Notes

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.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

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

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

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

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

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 teamEdward.Ragland@ams.usda.gov

AmericoJ.Vega-Labiosa@ams.usda.govCarlosP.Coleman@ams.usda.gov

Farmers Market Exchange App Poster Session

Monday, Sept 17, 3:15pm.

Crystal Ballroom, 1st floor.

Edward Ragland, EconomistCarlos Coleman, Agricultural Marketing Specialist Americo Vega-Labiosa, Agricultural Marketing Specialist

USDA, Agricultural Marketing ServicesMarketing Services Division

Phone: (202) 720-8317

E-mail: Edward.Ragland@ams.usda.govE-mail: CarlosP.Coleman@ams.usda.gov

E-mail: AmericoJ.Vega-Labiosa@ams.usda.gov

Website: www.usdalocalfooddirectories.com