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National Farmers Day was October 12th but we think farmers should be thanked and honored everyday for ensuring that American families are eating nutritiously. According to the USDA ERS, direct on-farm employment accounted for only 1.4% of the 10.3% of U.S employment in agriculture and its related industries. Yet food accounted for nearly 12% of the US household expenditures in the same year. That goes to show what a small but mighty team growers are!
This month’s events include a training for meat producers, several conferences and summits around the country, and a webinar on financial recovery after a natural disaster. If you’re based in California, check out the grant opportunity for California-based farms and ranches working on various projects. As always, thank you for reading our newsletter. If you’d like to share any job and/or grant opportunities and upcoming events in your area, please email us at news@marketlink.org.
| | | | A Brief Summary of the NAFMNP Conference | |
Recently, the MarketLink team convened in Indianapolis to attend the NAFMNP conference. More than half of the conference attendees consisted of NAFMNP members spread across 28 states. The MarketLink team was fortunate to connect with many state WIC, and S/FMNP coordinators for the first time in person. We hope to increase our outreach with farmers this winter as a result of the conference.
USDA Food and Nutrition Services Regional Administrators and leaders from the SNAP and WIC programs were also in the room. They provided essential information about the future of electronic benefits for WIC, S/FMNP, and SNAP on a national level and what that may look like for state implementation.
The second day ended with a field trip to the Flanner House and their urban farm to learn from their holistic program of serving the community through food justice, community asset development, child care, and youth services. Everyone who participated in the field trip would agree that it was very humbling to connect the discussions at the conference to witnessing a productive 2-acre urban farm serving their Northwestern Indianapolis neighborhood. The conference wrapped up on Friday with a discussion on how to ensure and promote diversity and inclusion at the market on the state level. The Conference also serves as the Annual Meeting during which new Board members are elected. Help us welcome the new Board, all of whom can be found here on the website.
We returned home inspired to increase the number of farmers and markets as SNAP authorized vendors. If you are working with farmers and think they would benefit from MarketLink’s services, send them our way. If you’re hanging out with your farmer friends this weekend, tell them about us. If you would like to facilitate a webinar together, send us an email at info@marketlink.org to lock down a date!
| | | | | | Farm Spotlight: Duke Farm | | | | | |
This month’s farm spotlight is on Duke Farm located in Cumberland City, TN. Duke Farm opened last April out of a love for fresh local foods and wanting to share that with their Cumberland City community.
Thank you Cristy for sharing with us the following testimonial:
“We are located in Cumberland City, TN with a population of about 250. We have been able to support local farmers and their families by having a place for them to sell their products and adding the SNAP program in our business just made sense. This year has been great for us at Duke Farm. More people are searching out farms to buy locally and being able to support small businesses which not only helps us but also our community. We have been able to offer canning vegetables and love the fact that we can offer SNAP beneficiaries a place to stock up on fresh local vegetables, meats, and milk.”
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If you want to share your story and testimonial, please send photos and stories to news@marketlink.org or send us an email to schedule an interview. To be featured, please send us the following:
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The Lowdown Series: Selling to Farmers Markets (Virtual) Thursday, October 13 @ 1pm (ET)
This is a great event for meat producers looking to strengthen their marketing, learn from one another, and connect with other meat producers! They are hour-long conversations between a guest producer, producer-facilitators, and a group of producers who join to ask questions and participate. Each session is focused on a marketing theme. This Lowdown will be about strategies for optimizing your farmers market efforts, whatever they may be. Guests will include Zach and Christina Menchini of Campfire Farms. Attendance is free but they do accept donations.
Click here to register.
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2022 National FIELD School (In-Person) October 24-26, 2022 - Seattle, Washington
The annual event brings together over 45-60 organizations from almost every state (and Canada) to participate in workshops, breakout and open space sessions, goal setting and networking opportunities. Peer-to-peer sharing informs beginning farmer trainers about how they run successful incubator and apprenticeship training programs. Folks gather ideas for their farms and programs, and spent time building relationships with people passionate about our collective work.
Click here to learn more.
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National Agricultural Marketing Summit (In-Person) October 23-25, 2022 - Pensacola Beach, Florida
The annual Ag Marketing Summit goal is to provide a unique networking opportunity for direct agricultural market practitioners to form new partnerships and learn new business strategies that can improve the performance of their farms and businesses. The 2022 conference theme is Growing Our Communities Together and will feature presentations related to Equity and Inclusive Food Markets; Marketing and Business innovation; Building Partnerships and Community Collaboration; Market Research, Trends and Impacts; and Successful approaches to managing marketing risk.
Amy Crone, MarketLink’s Project Manager, will be speaking at the summit. Sign up for Amy’s presentation if you are attending!
Click here to learn more about the Summit. | | | |
37th Sustainable Agriculture Conference (In-Person) November 5-7, 2022 - Durham, NC
“Since 1986, CFSA’s annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference has drawn farmers, foodies, researchers, educators, and activists for a weekend celebration of innovation in local sustainable agriculture. This year’s conference will feature inspiring talks, panel discussions, farmer roundtables, and demonstrations by land stewards, educators, and advocates of all experience levels and backgrounds.”
Amy Crone, MarketLink’s Project Manager, will be tabling at the conference. Come to Amy’s booth with your questions if you are attending!
Click here to learn more about the conference. | | | |
Alaska Farm Bureau Convention & Trade Show (In-Person) November 11-15, 2022 - Anchorage, Alaska
The annual convention is a chance for members to get together, network, learn about the latest programs available for farmers, and learn how to advocate and decide the issues facing Alaskan Farmers. If you are a current farmer or looking to get into farming, this three day event is the perfect chance to learn about farming in Alaska.
Marketlink will be represented at this convention by regional representative Lisa Roach. Come to Lisa at our exhibiting table with your questions if you are attending!
Click here to learn more about the conference.
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Save the Date: Financial Recovery after Disaster with Farm Campus (Virtual) Dec 14, 2022
Are you financially prepared for disaster? The threat of wide-sweeping catastrophic disasters -including wildfires, drought, extreme temperature swings, floods, and pandemics- has compounded in the last decade. The thought of preparation, on top of farming, can be overwhelming! Join Farmer Campus in December to go into detail about all the financial resources available to farmers such as crop/livestock insurance, FSA and NRCS aid, and other insurances. Email katie@farmercampus.com to be notified when registration opens for this event. | |
Do you have events you’d like us to share in our newsletter? Send event information to news@marketlink.org. | | | |
The Pinecone Foundation Micro Grant for small California-based farms, raches, fishing, and aquaculture operations.
The PCF micro-grant application is open to established small California-based farms, ranches, fishing, and aquaculture operations that are looking to accomplish a specific project within one year. They are accepting applications from October 12th to November 7th, 2022. Two grants from $2,000 to $3,500 will be distributed this year. The winners will be contacted by email in early December and the funds will be released in late December.
Click here to review the grant requirements. | | | |
Farm Manager at Farm and Wilderness Foundation (Plymouth, VT)
Farm and Wilderness in Plymouth, VT is hiring a full time, year round Farm Manager to help them run the farm. They are seeking an experienced farmer and team leader to support the management of all aspects of a small, diverse organic farm that uses its resources to deliver experiential education opportunities.
Click here to view the full job description.
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Farm Manager & Farm Educator at Red Gate Farm (Ashfield, MA)
Red Gate Farm Education Center is seeking to hire two positions in the new year: Farm Manager & Farm Educator. These are salaried positions with on-site housing available. Red Gate Farm is a small non-profit educational farm with a focus on making meaningful connections with youth through farming.
Click here to learn more about the positions.
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Food News Sources on food systems, food access, agriculture, policy, and farmers market that we've been reading, following, and captivated by this month. | | | | | | | | | | MarketLink is a program of the National Association of Farmers Markets Nutrition Programs (NAFMNP). ©2022 MarketLink
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