Author: Joanna Coles
Planning Unit: Warren County CES
Major Program: Local Food Systems
Plan of Work: Local Food Systems 2023
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
Increasing access to local food and improving farm profitability are essential goals for our community. In partnership with SOKY Marketplace, Warren County Local Government, Farmers, the Housing Authority, and the UK Cooperative Extension Service are working toward improving access and farm profitability. We found in a study that people didn’t attend the farmers' market because the hours were not convenient, or they didn’t have time to shop at the Farmers market. In conversation with the Housing Authority, the biggest limitation for their residents was transportation. In response, we received a grant in 2018 to create a Crop Shop to offer local products more times during the week yet would allow the farmer to continue to work on the farm while a retail specialist helped sell their products. The first-year sales were $2089.77 with 6 farmers participating, the second-year sales increased to $3659.58 with 8 farmers participating. Then COVID happened and the crop shop had to close, yet the retail specialist started taking phone orders and delivering the products each week. The delivery service worked well and was recognized to help with the transportation issue for some residents. Once things started opening back up, the Cooperative Extension Service helped with a marketing and recruitment campaign for the crop shop and its 22 farmers. Since January 2022 the Crop Shop sales have been $11,886.93 a 568% increase over 2019. The Crop Shop is benefiting community members by offering more access to local foods and it’s creating an additional market for farmers without the time commitment of selling at the farmers’ market.
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