Ep 349: Summer Updates | Diversifying Our Offerings
Tent Talk
Almost 350 episodes in, we’re making some changes to Tent Talk. We’re still here, that big archive is still bingeable and new episodes are on the schedule. We’re also moving our newsletter to a more interactive platform, making it weekly and adding related offerings. Watch for upcoming webinars, live calls and later this year additional private podcast episodes just for members. Tune in to hear what we’re doing on our summer not-a-vacation. Pop over to farmersmarketforum.com to subscribe to the newsletter. Let’s keep growing community.
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Ep 348: Sagdrina Brown Jalal | Building A Bigger Tent: Rooted in Resilience
Tent Talk
We're talking this month about Building a Bigger Tent at our farmers markets. Let's remember that the more people and communities we welcome to markets, the deeper our variety of produce, products and personalities. Exclusion, whether purposeful or just thoughtless, means we miss out on all the richness that comes with diversity. Sagdrina Brown Jalal is back with us for this episode, just in time for Juneteenth. While that day of historic remembrance is coming up next week on June 19th, observances and events will start this weekend and extend into next. We're talking about how your...
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Ep 347: Everybody Eats | Build A Bigger Tent: Better Together
Tent Talk
This month we’re going to be talking about Building a Bigger Tent and keeping our commitment to making farmers markets a welcoming and opportunity filled place for everyone. We're also getting ready to launch some new ways to share information to make your farmers market more profitable and less stressful for farmers, producers and managers. Don't miss those upcoming announcements. Meanwhile, expect some shorter episodes this summer leading up to our next full season, and the occasional longer one. Dip into the archives anytime: there are currently almost 350 episodes there. Quick...
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Ep 346: Are Farmers Present? | Defining Farmers Markets: Keeping Our Word
Tent Talk
Wrapping up our series on defining farmers markets, we're chatting in this episode about what a farmers market is, and what it isn't. Whether inadvertently or intentionally, a lot of places and platforms and events are identified as farmers markets that don't meet the definition. Tents alone do not a farmers market make and the same goes for fresh produce. Are there farmers present? Does it happen regularly? We're intent on keeping our word. Speaking up for farmers markets means reminding people what a farmers market really is, and why that matters. ...
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Ep 345: Shop Outside the Box | Defining Farmers Markets: Delivering Net Growth
Tent Talk
In this episode of our series on defining farmers markets we consider online ordering and delivery services by looking back to a June, 2021 conversation with Christine Farren, Executive Director of San Francisco's Foodwise. Back then, the organization formerly known as Cuesa was redesigning the curated boxes developed on the fly during peak Covid into a delivery service managed with a logistics partner. Tune in as we discuss how online ordering and home delivery fits into the definition of farmers markets as a place where farmers and eaters form relationships. Listen to our...
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Ep 344: Recognizing Best Practices | Defining Farmers Markets: Certified Success
Tent Talk
Continuing our series on defining farmers markets we like to wonder: what if everyone in a region or in the country agreed on one set of best practices and one set of rules for farmers markets? In this episode we're talking with Dr. Kim Hutchison and Meredith Ledlie Johnson about how the Virginia Farmers Market Association has done just that. Bringing in multiple stakeholders helped create consistent standards. Education and certification of managers and farmers markets provides validation and a sense of pride. Leveraging that recognition to negotiate managers' compensation and...
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Ep 343: Farmer Jake Johannes | Defining Farmers Markets: Producers Take The Lead
Tent Talk
Defining farmers markets starts with one common thread: the presence of farmers, selling to shoppers. From there all bets are off and protocols and structure can vary widely. This week we're looking back to a conversation with farmer Jake Johannes from the Sacred Sun Cooperative. He shares how the Brookside Farmers Market in Kansas City, Missouri is organized as an almost all-volunteer market. Farmers and vendors serve on the board, actively assisting a paid manager to maintain standards centered on local food and "radically sustainable practices". Listen in as we...
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Ep 342: Erika Tebbens At InTents | Marketing Methods: E Is For Email
Tent Talk
We’re wrapping up this month’s Marketing Methods series with a reminder that social media is just one way to create loyal shoppers for your farmers market operation, and not necessarily the best one. Nowadays rules and algorithms and reach seem to change daily, at the whim of the platforms. Email newsletters let you control your list and your timing, and personalize your outreach to build connections. How do you maximize those results? In this episode, Erika Tebbens, the Director of Impact at woman-owned and woman-led local food marketing agency Taste the Local Difference, makes...
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Ep 341: Hit Refresh | Marketing Methods: Winning Websites
Tent Talk
Is anyone else going all in on the Spring cleaning vibes? It’s a great time to do a refresh, or even just a review of your market business website. We’ve been saying this a lot lately, but we’ll say it again: have you made it easy for your customers to find you? Is your location front and center? Your website is an opportunity for you to tell potential shoppers not only where you are, but who you are and why your business is unique. Whether you’ve got thousands of social media followers, or you’re just starting to grow your market business, your website is still often the first place...
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Ep 340: Maine Markets Harvest Sales | Marketing Methods: Cooperation Counts
Tent Talk
Marketing is just one of a market manager's or vendor's full time jobs. So a cooperative effort that benefits multiple markets is invaluable. Add in centralized sales of gift certificates redeemable region-wide and everyone will be harvesting a bumper crop of additional income. Maine Federation of Farmers Markets director Jimmy DeBiasi joined us last year to explain selling employers on using market dollars as part of their workplace wellness programs. He dug even deeper into the how-to at last month's InTents Farmers Market Conference. This week in our Marketing Methods series listen as we...
info_outline- Exploring local regulations for under age vendors
- Deciding whether friendship bracelets fit your farmers market
- Providing sales tips and training to kids
- Making sure your consistent vendors benefit too