You would think that a market manager would be off in some sunny
area resting her weary bones from the summer’s hectic and fun schedule, but
like our vendors, I am busy plotting, planning, learning and improving myself
and the Downtown Elgin Harvest Market. As some of you know we already have an
ongoing survey determining the best times and days for this year’s market. I
have learned that cities and events are always changing and evolving to
accommodate the needs of its residents, attendees, and existing and potential
customers.
I recently took a trip to Springfield where I attended a
pre-workshop that led up to the 2012 Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism and
Organic conference called “Farmers Markets: Creating Resources and Partnerships
for a Healthy Community”. I learned quite a bit in the areas of the LINK
program (which we will be unveiling this year) as well as new state laws. I
also saw some really informative presentations about a variety of topics some
more broad and some more specific. I even shared and networked with other
market managers from all over the stat,e including Lisa Bralts from the Urbana
Market at the Square, Keith Johnson from the Woodstock Farmers Market, Roxanne
Junge with the Glenview Market, Lindsey Engelsman from DeKalb’s Farmers Market
and Dee Basile with the Aurora Farmers Markets which is celebrating their 100th
year!
I particularly wanted to give a heads up on four possible
resources for Illinois businesses, especially when it comes to agriculture and
food. Hopefully what I share will be
helpful:
This program from the
Illinois Department of Agriculture identifies Illinois products in various
retail establishments – from major grocery stores to local community farmers
markets. Currently over 500 food and
agribusinesses utilize this logo. The great thing is that any entity that
produces, processes, packages or manufactures a food or agribusiness product in
Illinois can be authorized to participate in the logo program – and it is FREE
of CHARGE.
2) Market Maker
This is another great
FREE marketing tool for anyone that does anything with food. It is a web-based resource that connects
farmers, fishermen, processors, distributors, food retailers, and consumers. The
thing I really liked about it, aside from being another way for potential
customers and vendors to find us, is that it contains demographics and business
data for you to identify markets by those characteristics; enables you to find
lists of potential marketing partners by location, and also notifies you when
someone pops up in your area.
Though several of our
vendors could be considered organic, most of them are too small to afford the
certification costs. This wonderful program exists to alleviate that burden on small
businesses who are producers and handlers.
If eligible this program will reimburse that business a portion of the costs
of organic certification, up to 75% of the costs up to a maximum of $750.
4)
Local Producer Loans/Grants – THEY DO EXIST
Loans range from $1,000 to $100,000 and can be
for things like purchasing more animals, investing in new equipment or
converting to organic production.
Grants are available by region and state. I was quite excited to read about all the
monies they gave out, and the wide range of recipients such as: research and
education, graduate student projects, professional development, to local
farmers and ranchers, and youth/educators.
Definitely worth looking at.
·
Though harder to get, it is worth mentioning
that the Illinois Department of Agriculture usually lists federal grants as well on their webpage.
This group offers quite the list of
lending tools to service farmers and agribusinesses with their pressing capital
needs. Since 2004, they have supported
561 businesses, approved $685 million dollars in financing, and have served over
80+ counties in Illinois.
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