Audience & Markets

Expanding Your Markets Webinar | Food Cooperatives

Webinar

Jake Callander, Zachary Paige, Ryan Pesch, Quinn Renfandt, Jen Skoog

A farmer panel from Manna Food Cooperative (Detroit Lakes, MN) and Red River Harvest Cooperative (Moorhead, MN) shares real-world lessons on why they sell through co-ops, how they plan (or don’t), wholesale vs. marketplace models, pros/cons, and advice for beginning farmers, followed by audience Q&A.

Local Food for Local Children | Farm to School Series | Webinar 1

Webinar

Felicity Merritt, Claire Lowstuter, Michelle Wagner, Jared Stoll, Mary Podoll, Deb Egeland, John Roswech, Janel Anderson

A North Dakota–focused farm to school training session for farmers, ranchers, and local food producers (and school/community partners) that explains how farm to school works and what it takes to start selling to schools, with practical guidance geared to first steps and readiness.

Local Food for Local Children | Farm to School Series | Webinar 2

Webinar

Felicity Merritt, Claire Lowstuter, Michelle Wagner, Jared Stoll, Mary Podoll, Deb Egeland, John Roswech, Janel Anderson

A continuation of the North Dakota farm to school series focused on moving from interest to action—how to approach school buyers, understand purchasing needs, and identify realistic next steps to begin selling into school nutrition programs.

Local Food for Local Children | Farm to School Series | Resource Document

Resource Guide

FARRMS

A companion resource document that consolidates key farm to school guides, worksheets, and North Dakota-specific tools referenced in the webinar series—intended as a take-home action guide for producers and school/community partners.

Selling to Restaurants: A Guide for Farms and Food Hubs

Guide

​

A guide to becoming “restaurant ready,” including how restaurants buy, relationship-building, pricing and margins, ordering/invoicing/delivery expectations, and common pitfalls.

Market Segment Worksheets

Worksheet

From Building a Sustainable Business

A set of worksheets to define and compare customer segments for each product, clarify what makes your product unique, and identify competing products/businesses (with prompts you can fill in as part of market strategy work).

Organic Marketing 101: A Guide for Getting Your Products to Market

Guide

​

A practical guide that walks organic producers through six marketing channels (farmers’ markets, CSA, restaurants, retail, wholesale, export) and how to choose channels that fit goals, values, and capacity.

Direct to Customer Workbook

Toolkit

Ryan Pesch

A hands-on workbook that introduces core direct-marketing strategy (identify your niche, define your brand, analyze marketing channels/costs, and set pricing) with guided activities to build your approach.

Market Assessment and Marketing Plan - Example

Template

Highland Valley Farm

An example marketing plan template (filled as a sample) that covers products/services, market and customer analysis, competition, pricing, distribution, promotions, and implementation. Intended as a model others can adapt for their own farm/food business planning.

Marketing & Markets

Slideshow

​

A short slide deck that walks through building a basic marketing plan (what you’re selling, target market, tools, and where you’ll sell), with quick overviews of common channels like farmers markets, CSA, farm stands, wholesale, online sales, and agritourism.