Building Community Partnerships for a Sustainable Farmers Market

1. Building Community Partnerships for a Sustainable Farmers Market This presentation was produced using the document created by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), with funding by the Castanea Foundation. Sylvia Fagin, lead writer. Initial publication, May 2010. Enhancing the Community for Farmers Market Success

2. Success Engaging the community is essential for the success of a farmers market!

3. Engage This presentation will provide an overview of how a farmers market can engage the support of its community to achieve sustainable success.

4. Handshake Farmers market relationships are characterized by a handshake. The hand that pulled the potato, fed the chickens, and formed the cheese is the hand that accepts customers' money, answers questions, and seals a handshake contract: This food is good and clean and safe. I know, because I grew it and I eat it.

5. Relationship The relationship between farmer and eater—vendor and customer—is the primary relationship that exists at farmers markets. Many community partners are involved in successful farmers markets, and building solid relationships with these partners can strengthen your market and contribute to its long-term viability and success.

6. Potential Community Partners The number and type of community partners that can contribute to supporting a farmers market is nearly limitless. Some of the major categories of potential community partners are: • Businesses and Merchants • Government • Schools and educational institutions • Non-profit and faith-based organizations • Health and social service organizations • Customers

7. How can they support Markets? Community partners can support the farmers market by: • Serving on the market's board of directors. • Assisting with operations like site set-up, parking, signage, and cleaning. • Fundraising, including special events and grant writing. • Collaborating on communications like marketing materials and press releases. • Engaging in advocacy to speak on the market's behalf. • Providing financial support for operations or capital investment.

8. Building the Relationship • Ask, “How can the farmers market better serve you?” • Find out what it will take for a potential partner to support the market—and be ready with answers when community partners ask what they can do to support the market. • The more people and organizations are engaged, the more vibrant the market will be.

9. Why should communities support Farmers Market? • Farmers markets benefit communities. • Markets create a place where local farmers can sell their food at a higher profit margin, which benefits the local economy and preserves agricultural land. • Markets bring people together, strengthening the fabric of a community. • Markets bring people into downtowns, creating a “spill over” economic effect for other downtown businesses. • Farmers markets drive the development of new local food systems, make food more visible in public spaces, educate consumers about the diversity of healthy and local food products, and incubate new businesses.

10. Value Successful markets prove their community value to all of their stakeholders, be it local government, neighbouring businesses, or potential funders.

11. Why? & What? • Markets need to ask themselves: “Why should this community support our farmers market? • What are the potential gains to the community?”

12. How to get started! • Collect data on your market: (EIS 2013) • find out how many visitors come to the market, publicize those numbers • how many acres of farmland are represented by the producers at this market? Say so. • does your market donate produce to a local food bank? If so, weigh or measure that produce and write a press release. • did vendors leave the market because their business got too big? Congratulations—your market just incubated a new business, and is a driving factor in the local economy.

13. How to get started! • Don't assume that the public knows the benefits your market provides to the community. • Document these facts, publicize them, and thereby prove the market's value to the community. • A short fact-sheet with this kind of data can be a powerful publicity tool for your market (your 2013 EIS quick glance sheet). • Regularly communicate your market’s community impact through press releases to local papers, a report on your website, presentations at town meetings, and on your market’s printed promotional materials.

14. Why does the market's mission statement matter? • A mission statement is a brief statement that outlines your market's purpose. • It helps the market board and manager make decisions, because they know what the market's purpose is—and isn't. • Having a clearly stated mission helps the market identify partners whose mission aligns with the market. • Potential community partners are quickly and easily able to understand how the partnership will benefit the market's mission

15. Community - Board & Mission

16. Community the Board & Mission • It is the board's responsibility to develop the mission, revisit it regularly, and make decisions that reflect and further the mission. • Traditionally, farmers market boards have been comprised primarily or entirely of vendors. • New market board models are frequently organized by more diverse boards that include community members who are interested in bringing the benefits of a farmers market to their community.

17. Community the Board & Mission • At these markets vendors are among the board members, but are not the only board members. • A diversity of stakeholders on the board can bring fresh ideas and new ways of thinking about the market. • Community members can support the mission by serving on the board, or by supporting the market via one-time or ongoing assistance.

18. Community the Board & Mission • Everybody knows somebody and word of mouth is a market’s best promotion strategy. • Find out who among your board members, manager, vendors, and regular customers has skills that can support the market. • Then, ASK for help!

19. Community - Business & Merchants

20. Community Businesses • Getting support from local business will look different depending on your location. • The support of local businesses can help your market—and a lack of support may hurt it. • Engage with these groups to find out: • What are the group's goals? • How does the group view the farmers market? (Sometimes local merchants view farmers markets as good neighbours, and sometimes local merchants view farmers markets as competition.) • Time spent building goodwill and understanding will build a strong foundation for ongoing partnership • Find opportunities to cross market the business partners (i.e.: discount booklet local business sold at market, local business table day)

21. Businesses – Support at a Glance

22. Community - Government

23. Community Government • A positive relationship with a select board or city council can go a long way towards ensuring the success of your market. • Many market vendors and even the manager may not be residents of the town, but the government representatives are. • Ask your municipality/town what its needs are and how the market can work in partnership to help meet those needs. • It might be as simple as planning for parking or as complex as helping to meet the town’s healthy eating goals for all of its residents.

24. Community Government • Each season set up a pre-market meeting with your town manager or community development officer to check in for the upcoming season. • Listen to concerns and work with them to problem solve any potential issues. • If you are using town land/space work to get a Terms of Use contract to ensure agreement around length of time, costs, use and any other arrangements that can be documented to prevent conflict. • Let your town representative know of your market’s future plans so that they could assist in potential grants, community infrastructure planning and resources that could be available to the market.

25. Community Government • Municipalities are interested in strengthening the community! Think about how your market can contribute to these efforts: • By expanding access to the market by low-income residents? • By reaching out to youth and including young people in more market operations and activities? • Consider the market from Community Leadership perspective and what gain does the community gain from the market, and what gain could the community experience from the market in building a long relationship?

26. Government – Support at a Glance

27. Community - Schools & Educational Institutions

28. Community - Schools & Educational Institutions • Parent will follow their children almost anywhere, so finding reasons for young people at the market can open up a new customer base. • As more schools are involved in food programs and community gardens there is room for cross over between markets and schools. • Teaching kids about food at schools will drive demand for more farmers’ markets. • If your school or district has a school garden, consider asking the teacher in charge to serve on the market board; if the school food service has a goal of increasing the amount of local food served, then consider asking the food service director to serve on the board – this can be a boon to connecting with all those to the schools!

29. Community - Schools & Educational Institutions • Partner with local high school technical & arts programs for projects that meet the needs of their curriculum and the market gets the benefit of new picnic tables, art, posters, etc. • Create contests in schools to generate interest and excitement among the students and their families and will be a draw for the market. • Some markets are sponsoring “kid days” • Establish a “Community not for profit” table to showcase school gardens, school food initiatives, etc.

30. Schools & Educational Institutions – Support at a Glance

31. Community - Non-Profit, Fraternal and Faith Based Organizations

32. Community - Non-Profit, Fraternal and Faith Based Organizations • Non-profit and mission-based organizations are the “glue” of a community. • They can bring new faces to your market. • The missions of environmental and sustainability organizations blend with farmers market’s mission. • Your market might consider allowing one free space/table for rotating non-profit organizations to promote their mission, recruit members, etc. • The organization benefit from the exposure and the market benefits from new faces!

33. Non-Profit, Fraternal and Faith Based Organizations– Support at a Glance

34. Community – Health & Social Service Organizations

35. Community – Health & Social Service Organizations • Health and Social Services can be good supporters of farmers markets because they focus on healthy lifestyles and healthy eating. • Great allies for markets as they focus on food ingredients. • Many of these organizations deal with low-income clients. Markets can work with organizations to demonstrate pricing is comparable to grocery store pricing and the benefits of eating local food.

36. Community – Health & Social Service Organizations • Could provide opportunity to promote market during hospital and health organizations sponsoring “community health” days to expand customer base.

37. Health & Social Service Organizations– Support at a Glance

38. Community – Customers!

39. Community - Customers • Customers are the reason farmers markets exist! • Remember to engage this dedicated group of support – the customer who love the market and return week after week, year after year! • Some may be content just to shop and support the market and others may be thrilled to volunteer their time, energy, and talent!

40. Customers - Support at a Glance

41. What we can do now! • Do you have a market mission statement? • Do you have a future roadmap for your market? • Who are your community partners? • What type of community partners do you need and what role would they fill? • How can FMNS help you achieve one of your goals with building partnerships in the next 6 months?