The options for farmers to market their products locally are growing! Where do you start? What option will work best for you?

Marketing Local Food is a handbook designed to help Minnesota farmers explore the various options for marketing local food. It introduces the basics of different marketing systems, suggests resources and includes profiles of farmers who are selling farm products directly to consumers via farmers' markets, roadside stands, CSAs, on-farm stores; as well as information and profiles about selling indirectly via retail food establishments or food services.

Print copies of this publication are available from the MISA office. Note on printing

Complete Publication

(PDF - 1.8 MB)

Related Information

The Book In Sections:

Cover
(PDF, 224 kB)

Table of Contents, Introduction
(PDF, 354 kB)

Direct Marketing
(PDF, 2 MB)

Intermediate Marketing
(PDF, 177 kB)

More Information, Appendices
(PDF, 378 kB)

Please also visit the Farm & Food Resources: Local Food section of our website!

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Updated versions of some of the local food fact sheets in Appendix A have been released by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Department of Health. Here are the links:

Serving Locally Grown Produce in Food Facilities (PDF, 299 kb)

Approved Sources of Meat and Poultry for Food Facilities (PDF, 391 kb)

Sale of Home or Farm Raised Poultry (PDF, 491 kb)

Sale of Locally Raised Eggs to Food Facilities (PDF, 594 kb)
 

This project was coordinated by MISA and developed with contributions from a team of experienced farmers, personnel from Minnesota nonprofit organizations, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and University of Minnesota researchers and Extension educators.

Funding for this publication was provided by the Minnesota State Legislature, the USDA Risk Management Agency, and North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

Also see the first publication in this series, Local Food: Where to Find It, How to Buy It

Note on printing: You are welcome to download, print, and distribute any portion of this publication, giving credit to MISA. However, some people have had problems with printing large segments of the document. If you need copies of more than a few pages, consider requesting a free print version of the book from the MISA office.