February 26, 2010
Contact: Team Leader Bernadette Logozar, 518-483-7403, also see list at
end of release
NNY Direct Marketing Team Encouraging Growth of Local Foods
Interest
“If every household in this region was to spend $40 four times a year on
locally made, grown and produced products this would be a $24.48 million
dollar influx in to the local agricultural economy!” says NNY Direct
Marketing Local Foods Team Leader Bernadette Logozar.
The NNY Direct Marketing Local Foods Team is a team of Cornell
Cooperative Extension educators from New York’s six northernmost
counties: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence.
Logozar, the NNY local foods specialist and a rural and agricultural
economic development specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension
Franklin County, says, “This team of educators is providing information
and outreach related to raising, buying, eating and enjoying local food
in Northern New York.”
Team members bring diverse backgrounds in nutrition, community food
security, livestock, business management, horticulture, ag economic
development, and direct marketing to the benefit of farmers and
consumers across the NNY region.
Logozar notes, “The number of farms in Northern New York selling direct
to consumers has increased since 1992 from 273 farms to 619 farms with a
corresponding increase in direct sales from $1.2 million to $4.16
million, and there is more room to grow that economic impact in the
region.”
Among the programming efforts the NNY Direct Marketing Local Foods Team
is planning for 2010 are:
• a consumer-focused conference titled “Eating Local Yet? Finding &
Using Local Food”
• educational workshops to help farmers know how to sell meats at
farmers markets
• updates on regulations farmers need to comply with
• a technology symposium to help farmers interested in selling via the
Internet,
• local foods and farmers markets calendars, and
• “Meet the Farmer” dinners.
Logozar says a regional needs assessment showed the need for resource
development for farmers, consumers and local foods educators.
“This Team effort is helping farmers in such areas as developing
products and websites and the mechanics of direct-to-consumer business
development. It is providing consumers with information to help them
find and make local food purchases, and it is providing resources and
professional development to educators to help them work with both
farmers and food buyers,” Logozar says.
NNY Direct Marketing Local Foods Team members have resources available
for growers and community leaders interested in making local products
available at local markets.
A new Fruits and Vegetables Farmer Discussion Group has begun in the
Plattsburgh area. Group leader Anne Lenox Barlow says, “The discussion
group setting provides growers with the opportunity to distribute
information, offer morale and technical support, and share resource
leads.”
Contact Lenox Barlow at Cornell Cooperation Extension Clinton County,
518-561-7450, for the date of the next Fruits and Vegetables Farmer
Discussion Group meeting.
Team members coordinate their efforts with local and regional foods
programs such as Adirondack Harvest (
www.adirondackharvest.com ) and the
small grants program of the Northern New York Agricultural Development
Program (www.nnyagdev.org).
For more information on the NNY Direct Marketing Local Foods Team,
contact the following Cornell Cooperative Extension educators:
• Clinton County: Amy Ivy, Anne Lenox Barlow, 518-561-7450
• Essex County: Anita Deming, Laurie Davis, 518-962-4810
• Franklin County: Bernadette Logozar, 518-483-7403
• Jefferson County: Rosalind Cook, 315-788-8450
• Lewis County: Dolores DeSalvo, 315-376-5270
• St. Lawrence County: Katherine Lang, Betsy Hodge, 315-379-9192.
Online resources include the Regional Foods section of the Northern New
York Agricultural Development Program website at
http://www.nnyagdev.org/ncrf-home.htm nd the NNY Regional
Local Foods Initiative Blog at
http://berdie.wordpress.com. #
