Direct Markets

• Community Supported Agriculture
• Farmers' Markets

Photo courtesy of USDA NRCS.

• Direct Marketing, Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, National Agricultural Library, USDA.
• Direct Marketing, ATTRA, National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, NCAT, 1999.
• Direct Marketing for Producers of Fruits, Vegetables, and Other Specialty Products, University of Tennessee.
• Distribution and Sales, Business Basics for Alberta Food Processors.
• Facts on Direct-to-Consumer Food Marketing, Ag Marketing Service (AMS), USDA, 2009 - A fact sheet on direct marketing developments gathered from the 2007 Census of Agriculture.
• Filling the Gaps: Eight Things to Recognize About Farm-Direct Marketing, Choices magazine, 2010.
• Getting More Locally Produced Foods into Restaurants, Market to Market, Iowa Public Television, 2007 - This segment reports on a national farm-to-fork program that is helping restaurants purchase more locally grown food.
• Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues; Economic Research Service, USDA, 2010 - This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems.
• Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, NIFA, USDA - This online guide outlines examples of direct marketing enterprises.
• Marketing Your Products Directly, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service - This document has a chart comparing direct market strategies in terms of investments, costs and pricing.
• Selling Directly to Grocery Stores and Restaurants - Remarks made at the Washington State Small Farmers Conference, Yakima, Washington, by Ron Matsumura, Matsumura Farm and President, Yakima Farmers’ Market, 2002.
• Selling Strategies for Local Food Producers, University of Missouri Extension.
• U.S. Food Market Estimator, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University - This tool can be used for identifying approximate food product market size in nearby counties.
• Western Profiles of Innovative Agricultural Marketing, 2003 - Published by the Western Extension Marketing Committee to highlight and examine some of the key ingredients of how several operations in the West have migrated from a traditional commodity-focused business into a successful direct marketing enterprise.
• Links to Other Sites
  • North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association
  • Local Harvest - The self-proclaimed largest directory of direct marketing family farms in the nation.

Links checked November 2012.