Project Overview
Growing demand for local products requires increased producer capacity to successfully compete in locally accessible, higher-value markets. This project provided holistic curricula, training, planning tools and supplemental resources for 11 Agricultural Service Providers (ASPs) and 71 producers throughout West Virginia, to help them better understand how to manage marketing and legal risks associated with local foods direct markets. The project team: 1) Created two publications (WV Market Ready Toolkit of presentation materials; and the WV Guide to Legal Issues in Direct Marketing); 2) Conducted two state-wide face-to-face short-courses, each comprising one market-ready module and one legal risk mitigation module; 3) Used training modules in one online short-course; 4) Used 'Dropbox' file as a clearinghouse of project resources for sharing project information. Four months post-training, 11 ASPs incorporated project curriculum into farmer trainings, and 71 producers implemented five 'market-ready' recommendations and three legal risk-mitigation strategies aimed at increasing sales and/or market access.
Number of Participants: 92
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
There are no promotional materials available for this project.
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
There are no educational materials available for this project.
REPORTS & EVALUATIONS
There are no reports or evaluations available for this project.