Pride of the Prairie is working to increase the variety and amount of locally produced foods in restaurants, grocery stores and institutions in western Minnesota. This initiative is led by the Land Stewardship Project and farmers in the Upper Minnesota River Valley. The other partners in this collaborative effort are the West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, the University of Minnesota-Morris, West Central Research and Outreach Center and Prairie Renaissance.

Pride of the Prairie sponsors local food meals, researches the availability of local foods and publishes fact sheets. This initiative is also working to develop networks involving farmers, consumers, processors, retailers and institutional food service providers. One of Pride of the Prairie’s main tools for doing this is the annual publication of There’s No Taste Like Home: Local Foods Guide for the Upper Minnesota River Valley. This guide lists farms that produce food for direct marketing, as well as retailers that handle local food. In addition, this resource contains a sustainable food vocabulary guide, a seasonal food guide, a listing of farmers’ markets and information on serving local foods at an event.

For more information, contact LSP’s western Minnesota office at 320-269-2105 or go to www.prideoftheprairie.org. Resources mentioned above, including the Local Food Guide can be found directly in the Resources section of the Pride of the Prairie website.

 

For more information about marketing your own farm products check out the following resources.

Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) has a number of excellent resources on marketing and business. They can also be contacted by phone at 1-800-346-9140.

The Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) also has a number of excellent resources on marketing including a recent publication on Collaborative Marketing.

Direct Marketing farmers can set up their own on-line listing for free at www.localharvest.org.

 

Updates on the other Marketing efforts can also be found in the Land Stewardship Letter. See the following issues:

July/Aug/Sept 2003 - 'Soil to Table' explores jumping food hurdles; Pride receives 'Award of Distinction' (pdf)

April/May/June 2003 - Pride of the Prairie breaks down barriers; Food Network finds food in farm country (pdf)

April/May/June 2003 - Chewing the fat over farmer-chef relations (pdf)

Jan/Feb/Mar 2003 - A local meal checklist; Low mileage shopping list (pdf)

March/April 2002 - LSP to develop "Buy Local" food initiative

Jan/Feb 2002 - Pride of the Prairie blooms in western Minnesota

Nov/Dec 2001 - A sustainable shopping list: Western Minn. survey shows what farmers have and what consumers want

July/August 2001 - LSP looking for western MN direct-selling farmers; Local Foods on local plates; When the rubber chicken hits the road

July/August 2000 - What's cooking in southeast?

September/October 2000 - When the customer speaks