Financial performance implications of differential marketing strategies: exploring farms that pursue local markets as a core competitive advantage, The

Includes bibliographical references (pages 502-504).This study explores how participation in direct and intermediated marketing channels and key operational factors influence agricultural producers’ financial performance. Accordingly, we divide the sample of local and regional food marketers into quartiles segmented by profitability performance as an initial exploration of how strong and weak performance may vary across scale, location, and choice of direct and intermediated channels. Moreover, other financial metrics that vary across types of producers and performance-based quartiles are analyzed. This paper provides initial evidence that participation in direct and intermediated markets may allow farms of any scale of sales volume to be financially viable

Community-supported agriculture marketing performance: results from pilot market channel assessments in Colorado

Includes bibliographical references (pages 13-14).Due in large part to rising consumer interest, the number of farmers and ranchers selling through local food markets is growing. Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a unique local food channel adopted by producers that was initially established as a strategy for producers to directly benefit from the season-long investments of buyers who align with their community-focused mission. Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has long collected data to improve farm performance, information on specific marketing channels is missing, and in response, this research provides some of the first evidence of the heterogeneity of performance among CSAs. In a pilot approach to understanding the economics of CSAs relative to other direct marketing channels, we conducted an assessment process, incorporating 42 farms in Colorado between June 2016 and October 2017. Results showed that farms that incorporated CSA sales in their direct market portfolios tended to be smaller in scale and utilize more diverse markets. Although these CSA farms have lower average weekly sales, they have the highest average marketing profit margins compared to other direct market channels

Community-supported agriculture marketing performance: results from pilot market channel assessments in Colorado

Includes bibliographical references (pages 13-14).Due in large part to rising consumer interest, the number of farmers and ranchers selling through local food markets is growing. Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a unique local food channel adopted by producers that was initially established as a strategy for producers to directly benefit from the season-long investments of buyers who align with their community-focused mission. Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has long collected data to improve farm performance, information on specific marketing channels is missing, and in response, this research provides some of the first evidence of the heterogeneity of performance among CSAs. In a pilot approach to understanding the economics of CSAs relative to other direct marketing channels, we conducted an assessment process, incorporating 42 farms in Colorado between June 2016 and October 2017. Results showed that farms that incorporated CSA sales in their direct market portfolios tended to be smaller in scale and utilize more diverse markets. Although these CSA farms have lower average weekly sales, they have the highest average marketing profit margins compared to other direct market channels

Food value chain development in Central New York: CNY bounty

Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-141).In the past 10 years, demand for locally grown food has increased dramatically. Concomitantly, small, commercial farms have declined disproportionately to small and large farms. The decline may be due to the lack of appropriately scaled marketing and distribution resulting from changing markets. This article presents a case study of a component of a food value chain started in 2007, Central New York (CNY) Bounty. CNY Bounty markets and distributes products produced by 119 small, commercial farms and processors to individual households, restaurants, natural food stores, and universities. In the past four years, CNY Bounty has experienced mixed success in terms of its economic viability, which can offer some important lessons for practitioners and contributions for food value chain research

Determinants of effective beginning farmer programming and implications for future programs

Includes bibliographical references (pages 6-8).This research explores the determinants of effective beginning farmer programming and implications for emerging and established programs. We use responses from 100 interviews with participants in the Building Farmers in the West Program, one of the longest-standing beginning farmer training programs in the United States, to understand how key course principles predict improved farm profitability. Results show that specific production changes after taking the course—including the number of cultivated varieties (negative), number of farm enterprises (positive), and length of production season (positive)—are correlated with improved farm profitability. We make recommendations for future beginning farmer programming based on these results

One place doesn't fit all: improving the effectiveness of sustainability standards by accounting for place

Includes bibliographical references (pages 8-10).The growing interest in incentivizing sustainable agricultural practices is supported by a large network of voluntary production standards, which aim to offer farmers and ranchers increased value for their product in support of reduced environmental impact. To be effective with producers and consumers alike, these standards must be both credible and broadly recognizable, and thus are typically highly generalizable. However, the environmental impact of agriculture is strongly place-based and varies considerably due to complex biophysical, socio-cultural, and management-based factors, even within a given sector in a particular region. We suggest that this contradiction between the placeless generality of standards and the placed-ness of agriculture renders many sustainability standards ineffective. In this policy and practice review, we examine this contradiction through the lens of beef production, with a focus on an ongoing regional food purchasing effort in Denver, Colorado, USA. We review the idea of place in the context of agricultural sustainability, drawing on life cycle analysis and diverse literature to find that recognition of place-specific circumstances is essential to understanding environmental impact and improving outcomes. We then examine the case of the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP), a broad set of food-purchasing standards currently being implemented for institutional purchasing in Denver. The GFPP was created through a lengthy stakeholder-inclusive process for use in Los Angeles, California, USA, and has since been applied to many cities across the country. The difference between Los Angeles' process and that of applying the result of Los Angeles' process to Denver is instructive, and emblematic of the flaws of generalizable sustainability standards themselves. We then describe the essential elements of a place-based approach to agricultural sustainability standards, pointing toward a democratic, process-based, and outcome-oriented strategy that results in standards that enable rather than hinder the creativity of both producers and consumers. Though prescription is anathema to our approach, we close by offering a starting point for the development of standards for beef production in Colorado that respect the work of people in place

Considering tradeoffs in “local” food policies: examples from school feeding programmes

City, national, and multinational governments are increasingly leveraging nutrition programme spending, specifically pursuing policies that require or incentive “local” procurement, to meet a myriad of goals. However, these policies involve tradeoffs that are often not fully considered by government officials, planners, and advocates. This perspective article provides some examples of those tradeoffs from the peer-reviewed literature, which, we argue, are useful to consider in setting school feeding programme policies to achieve sustainability goals

Farm to school activities and student outcomes: a systematic review

Includes bibliographical references (pages 373-374).Farm to school programs (F2SPs) operate in 42% of school districts and are supported in part through federal and state policies as well as philanthropic funding. Although research evaluating the effects of farm to school-related activities on student outcomes is growing, a systematic review of the results and thus a synthesis of implications for future programming have not occurred. The primary objective of this systematic literature review is to summarize and evaluate studies on student outcomes associated with farm to school-related activities up to 1 September, 2017. Four databases spanning 4 research disciplines were used to identify full-text, English-language studies. Twenty-one studies were reviewed: 7 explicitly investigated F2SPs, and 14 evaluated the impact of school-based interventions that were relevant to activities reported in the 2013 and/or 2015 Farm to School Census. All of the F2SP studies (n = 7) and 85.7% of farm to school-related activity studies (n = 12) were multicomponent, and there was a wide variety of implemented intervention components across the reviewed studies. Results from F2SP and farm to school-related activity studies consistently show positive impacts on food and nutrition-related knowledge; most studies also suggest a positive relation between farm to school-related activities and healthy food selection during school meals, nutrition self-efficacy, and willingness to try fruits and vegetables. The impact of farm to school activities on fruit and vegetable consumption and preferences is unclear. The most common F2SP study limitations were study designs that preclude causal inference, outcome measurement with no reported or limited psychometric testing, lack of long-term outcome evaluation, and challenges related to quantifying intervention implementation. These findings underscore the need for more conclusive evidence on the relation between farm to school-related activities and changes in fruit and vegetable consumption

Connecting urban food plans to the countryside: leveraging Denver's food vision to explore meaningful rural-urban linkages

Includes bibliographical references (pages 14-18).Cities are increasingly turning to food policy plans to support goals related to food access, food security, the environment, and economic development. This paper investigates ways that rural farmers, communities, and economies can both support and be supported by metropolitan food-focused initiatives. Specifically, our research question asked what opportunities and barriers exist to developing food policies that support urban food goals, particularly related to local procurement, as well as rural economic development. To address this question, we described and analyzed a meeting of urban stakeholders and larger-scale rural producers related to Colorado’s Denver Food Vision and Plan. We documented and explored “findings” gleaned from a supply chain diagraming and data compilation process that were then used to inform an event that brought together diverse supply chain partners. Three findings stand out. First, facilitating dialog between urban food policymakers and rural producers to understand potential tensions, mitigate such tensions, and capitalize on opportunities is essential. Second, perceptions and expectations surrounding “good food” are nuanced—a timely finding given the number of preferred procurement programs emerging across the county. Third, critical evaluation is needed across a diverse set of value chain strategies (e.g., conventional and alternative distribution) if food policy intends to support heterogeneous producers, their communities, and urban food policy goals