A chat with Michael Schenk

My Q and A, in podcast form, can be found here. 

How the government is supporting local farming

The U.S. government has many initiatives in place to further the scope of many local farmers. One of these initiatives is the Agricultural Marketing Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that concentrates on the "efficient, fair marketing of U.S. agricultural products, including food, fiber, and specialty crops," according to its site. 

Among some of its duties, this branch of the USDA is responsible for organizing the transportation for agriculture, fair trading regulations and, especially relevant, wholesale and farmers markets. 

In that last respect, the Agricultural Marketing Service can be invaluable to anyone interested in local food and farmers markets. 

The site has educational resources that perform a multitude of helpful tasks. Marketing Channel Research and Development collects information that helps agricultural producers connect with commercial buyers, much like a site I've mentioned before. 

Marketing Information and Education helps farmers learn about how to market their products to outside parties. This is the type of information that allows local farming to grow and become a larger part of a community. 

Especially important is the grant resources available at the site. The Farmers Market Promotion Program helps establish, expand and promote local farmers markets and other direct-to-consumer economic models. 

The Federal State Marketing Improvement Program provides matching funds to state agricultural entities who are looking for new ways to market U.S. agricultural goods, and "to encourage research and innovation aimed at improving the efficiency and performance of the U.S. marketing system," according to the site.

The site also has design information on how to construct or re-design a local market. Issues discussed include market analysis, building cost study, location analysis, energy efficiency and post-harvest handling, among other considerations. Although these are things that are taken for granted every week as customers walk down the aisles of the Athens Farmers Market, someone has to organize the semantics of such a huge operation. Even relatively simple operations require a huge amount of work, and this site tries to make that work just a little more bearable for those trying to offer great, local food to consumers.