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  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Grower's Association?
  • Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2011 08:46:59 -0500 (EST)

We have several growers' associations out here, one of them with a lot of success, one with mixed, and one which I wish now I hadn't bought into (that money would have been better spent elsewhere).  Instead of going into names and details about those groups, I'll say that the quality of the group's work will largely be a reflection of the quality of the people in it.  If you can include top-notch folks, dedicated to whatever goals your group has, who also have good track records accomplishing their own goals in life (in ways you respect), then you've got a lot going for your group's collective success.  But put a bunch of people in a room together who haven't figured out the basics yet (for either farming or politics or interpersonal skills), and you'll get pretty much the same thing writ large when they try to work together.  I hope you have a group of the former rather than the latter. 
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html
 
In a message dated 3/9/2011 4:00:23 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, idyllwildfarm AT gmail.com writes:
Deep Root Growers Coop (based in VT, I think), PVGA (Pioneer Valley Growers Coop) (Whately, MA?) and I think that CISA in MA may have some other ideas or spins on growers coop type model (there are a group of growers in the pioneer valley in MA who combine product and sell in Boston area sort of like a CSA). 
IMHO, I would focus on the basics to begin with. It's going to be hard enough to get enough critical mass of crops, packed identically and with identical quality to build a reliable brand that you can sell for decent money. You'll need a collection point and someone to take the lead as a seller. But in the cases I mentioned above, when it works, you can do well.
Good Luck,
Mike

On Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 1:08 AM, Leslie Moyer <unschooler AT lrec.org> wrote:
Some growers in my area (including me) are interested in forming a grower's association and have scheduled a meeting to discuss this with other area growers.  In some areas, a farmers market might fulfill some of the roles we envision for such a grower's association, but not all of the roles.  In our area, the farmers market is ineffectual at best; counter-productive in some cases, and, at the moment, it doesn't look that that is going to change for a while.  We see this as encompassing more than any single farmers market anyway--at least in our rural area.

Some of the possibilities we have talked about for this grower's association include: a buyer's coop, a communication network (email list and/or website), educational workshops, farm tours, cooperative selling (including institutional sales), integrated growing strategies, increasing the number and variety of sales outlets (including extending the season of existing outlets), operation of retail outlet(s), sharing capital resources (such as land, equipment, processing facilities, etc.), buyer education, and more.  I know there are organizations out there in other places doing some of these things.  Can anyone point me toward other models we might look to as we go about structuring this group and figuring out its mission, purpose, and goals?  

--Leslie



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