Farmers, ranchers, distributors, chefs and other stakeholders gave valuable input at the Local Markets Working Group meeting in December. Since then, RUCS consultants have been adding to the research.
The March 12 Local Markets Innovations workshop will be an opportunity to give feedback on the latest draft of the research paper. You can also review and comment on the paper on the RUCS Wiki at: www.sacog.org/rucs/wiki.
Suggestions from workshop participants about ways the local food system could be supported were combined into broader areas, such as local processing and distribution. Researchers conducted preliminary assessments of what is happening in the region already, discovering some exciting innovations such as the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers' Club, four ranchers working with UC Cooperative Extension to expand their consumer base, and California FarmLink, which is connecting business training opportunities with their existing land link program. The paper also explores new possibilities, profiling examples from outside the region where possible, such asa mobile meat processing unit in Washington and regional food advisory councils around the country.
Innovations in theory and in practice were shared among the stakeholders from across the region. An innovation of high interest is regional branding. Regional branding or marketing initiatives include labels such as PlacerGROWN and collaborative efforts like Capay Valley Grown.
To learn more, read the draft paper at: www.sacog.org/rucs/wiki.