Published September 2004

Branding program builds markets for farmers

REDMOND — On a recent sunny afternoon, a group of farmers and retailers met at the South 47 Farm to celebrate the local harvest and cultivate partnerships.

There, among the herb gardens and “u pick” produce, eight local grocery stores and restaurants were recognized as this harvest season’s Puget Sound Fresh Partners, an initiative of the 12-county Puget Sound Fresh marketing program.

As participating retailers, the grocers and restaurateurs are committed to buying, offering and promoting locally grown products to their customers and displaying, on site and in advertising, the Puget Sound Fresh logo.

For all involved, the program is a win-win situation.

For the retailers — Safeway, PCC Natural Markets, Larry’s Markets, Haggen/Top Foods, The Herbfarm, Metropolitan Market, Madison Market and Culinary Communion — it is an opportunity to offer fresh, quality farm products to their customers while being part of a Puget Sound Fresh advertising campaign.

For the farmers, it is an opportunity to get their products in grocery stores, on restaurant tables and at the fore of consumers’ consciousness, so that the Puget Sound Fresh label is one that consumers actively seek.

And not just in grocery stores, but also at farmers markets, roadside stands and “u pick” operations, because it is through a combination of market opportunities that agriculture will succeed.

According to “Agricultural Workforce in Washington State 2003,” a report recently released by the state Employment Security Department, the agricultural industry faces a number of challenges in coming years, including a consolidation of retailers, with the top five retailers controlling the majority of food purchases.

These retailers, the report states, are moving to one or two suppliers of most produce, often leaving the small farmer out of the market.

That’s where Puget Sound Fresh comes in.

First developed by the King County Agriculture Commission in 1998, Puget Sound Fresh has been working to build markets — of consumers, wholesalers, retailers and restaurants — to support local growers.

The program, now administered through the Cascade Harvest Coalition, does this by publishing an annual “Farm Guide” filled with recipes, farmers markets, “u pick” and other local farms, and participating retailers. It also directs funding for local marketing and outreach campaigns, including marketing dollars for the annual Snohomish Festival of Pumpkins as well as area farmers markets.

In Seattle, for instance, funding from Puget Sound Fresh aided outreach initiatives for the city’s five neighborhood farmers markets, which, according to organizer Chris Curtis, generated a combined $3.5 million in revenue last year for the farmers involved.

Now, with Puget Sound Fresh Partners, local growers have another venue to brand and sell their goods — and new partners with whom to build business relationships.

That is good news for local agriculture, the local economy and our quality of life.

— Kimberly Hilden, SCBJ Assistant Editor

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