Placer and Nevada Counties in California have a vibrant local food movement. With grant funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, the University of California Cooperative Extension is connecting consumers with local specialty crop farmers. This project will raise awareness of the health and community benefits of eating local produce and increase sales for local specialty crop farmers.  Upcoming events will include tastings of local produce, cooking demonstrations, and community dinners featuring local farmers and local produce!

A workshop on the grant and what will be happening will be featured at the PlacerGROWN Farm Conference.  The theme of the 2013 PlacerGROWN Farm Conference is Survive and Thrive. The conference will be held Saturday, January 26^th at Lincoln High School from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM. The conference is co-sponsored by UC Cooperative Extension and PlacerGROWN. Additional support is provided by USDA Risk Management Agency. 

This will be part of 10 workshops to be held on January 26th at Lincoln High School, located in Lincoln,CA. For more information, including registration, visit either http://placergrown.org/wp/ or http://ucanr.org/sites/PGFFC, or call PlacerGROWN at (530) 889-7398 or UC Cooperative Extension at (530) 889-7385.

To keep up date with all that is happening, like us on Facebook!  www.facebook.com/EatLocalPlacerAndNevada.

Scholarships Available for the 2013 PlacerGROWN Farm Conference

Scholarships are now available to apply for attending the 2013 PlacerGROWN Farm Conference. You can find the application form online at: http://ucanr.edu/sites/PGFFC/. If you have trouble finding the application, please contact Roger Ingram at 530-889-7385 or email at rsingram@ucanr.edu. The application is due by January 18^th.

The theme of the 2013 PlacerGROWN Farm Conference is Survive and Thrive. This conference will be held Saturday, January 26^th at Lincoln High School from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM. The conference is co-sponsored by UC Cooperative Extension and PlacerGROWN. The keynote part of the conference will feature a panel that will discuss trends over the next 5-10 years on the following topics: Land Use, Water, Regulations, Local Farms, Demographics, and Marketing of Local Food 

Participants will be provided an opportunity to respond to each panel member’s presentation. There will be discussion on implications and potential responses with the audience with the audience.

After the keynote will be two workshops sessions, one before and one after lunch. Workshops will run for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Workshops have a theme of selling strategies, consumer education, and improving profitability Workshops include:

• Consumer Outreach to Enhance awareness and Marketing of Specialty Crops in the Placer and Nevada Counties 
• Display Ideas and Interactions with Customers That Can Improve Your Sales
• Things to Consider in Becoming Effective at Direct Marketing
• Understanding Selling Wholesale and its Potential in Expanding Your Sales
• How to Project Profit and Cash Flow Before the Beginning of Your Production Year
• Production Planning Based on Economic and Cash Flow Projections
• Learning How Social Media Can Improve Sales
• Developing Your Niche Meat Business
• Determining Your Niche Meat Marketing Costs

The cost of the conference is $40 if you pre-register by January 18^th and $50 after that date. Your registration fee includes: Continental breakfast, Proceedings, Trade Show, Keynote Panel, Workshops, and Lunch. Details for admission and registration are available at the PlacerGROWN website at www.placergrown.org. More conference information is available at ucanr.org/sites/PGFFC/

Email Marketing andSocial Media Workshops Featured at the 2013 PlacerGROWN Farm Conference

The PlacerGROWN Farm Conference will feature two workshops on the use of social media as a marketing tool for farmers. Constant Contact (constantcontact.com) workshops at the PlacerGROWN Farm Conference scheduled for January 26th^th at Lincoln High School in Lincoln. The workshops will focus on integrating both email and social media as part of your marketing efforts. Many of you already may be using some of these tools in helping market your products and associated events while other are considering getting started. No matter where you are, this workshop will help you understand what this can add or enhance your current marketing efforts.

Constant Contract trainer Maureen Dudley will conduct the two workshops. She holds a degree in Communications from Brigham Young University. Maureen cut her teeth in the public relations office of the California Department of Education. She then went on to a varied career incommunications including journalism, community outreach, media relations, public speaking, and grassroots campaign leadership. Drawing on over 20 years of communications experience, she has taught hundreds about email marketing and social media best practices through her presentations.  Her company, Dudley & Nunez Communications, specializes in helping clients nationwide with Constant Contact email marketing. Her monthly small business newsletter, Maureen’s Marketing Moment, is read worldwide.

According to one farmers market in Belleville, Illinois, they have a 30% open rate on their email newsletters and 10% redemption rate on coupons. Their email newsletter list has 6,000 subscribers. They state this is far above their normal coupon redemption rate.

These social media workshops will be part of 10 workshops to be held on January 26th at Lincoln High School, located in Lincoln,CA. For more information, including registration, visit either http://placergrown.org/wp/ or http://ucanr.org/sites/PGFFC, or call PlacerGROWN at (530) 889-7398 or UC Cooperative Extension at (530) 889-7385.

2013 PlacerGROWN Farm Conference

Trends in Local Agriculture: Survive and Thrive Keynote Panel

Registration: http://ucanr.edu/sites/PGFFC/Registration_and_Map/

The theme of the 2013PlacerGROWN Farm Conference is Survive and Thrive. The keynote part of the conference will feature a panel that will discuss trends over the next 5-10 years on the following topics:

• Land Use
• Water
• Regulations
• Local Farms
• Demographics
• Marketing of Local Food

You will be provided an opportunity to respond to each panel member’s presentation by using clickers. On the screen will be slides on possible implications of what you just heard along with potential responses. You can use your clicker to vote on the implications and responses you think are most likely to happen. There will be discussion on the results with the audience.

After the keynote will be two workshops sessions, one before and one after lunch. Workshops will run for 1 hour and 15 minutes. We are lengthening the time of the workshops this year to give speakers the more time for their presentations and discussions afterward with workshop attendees.

Workshops include:

• Display Ideas and Interactions with Customers That Can Improve Your Sales
• Developing Effective Messages for Different Demographic Groups in your Area
• Things to Consider in Becoming Effective at Direct Marketing
• Understanding Selling Wholesale and its Potential in Expanding Your Sales
• How to Project Profit and Cash Flow Before the Beginning of Your Production Year
• Production Planning Based on Economic and Cash Flow Projections
• Learning How Social Media Can Improve Sales
• Determining Your Niche Meat Marketing Costs
• Developing Your Niche Meat Business

The cost of the conference is $40 if you pre-register by January 18^th and $50 after that date. Your registration feeincludes: Continental breakfast, Proceedings, Trade Show, Keynote Panel, Workshops, and Lunch. Support for this conference is also provided through USDA Risk Management Agency and CDFA Specialty Crops Grant Program.