Farmer Outreach 2020

In the coming year, Farm Fresh Appalachia will offer more educational, promotional, and networking opportunities for farmers, producers, and growers than we ever have before. We hope to reach as many local growers and producers as we can! This page will serve as a database of all we will offer over the year to come, and where you can go to register for CSA Fairs, Farm Tours, and educational opportunities. Read on for a list of our planned offerings, and check back often as we will update this page often.

To be alerted to new things as soon as they are launched, please consider signing up for our monthly newsletter. We include all Farm Fresh Appalachia events and classes, as well as external local events and opportunities related to agriculture and conservation, and we only email you once per month so your inbox can let out a sigh of relief.
Sign up here.

Events

  • CSA Fair – February 29, 2020 at the Farmers Market Pavilion in Kingsport, TN. Thank you to the Kingsport Farmers Market for partnering on this event!
    Exciting updates: the 2020 CSA Fair will be one large event instead of several small events. By structuring a larger, more broad event for the entire region, we hope to increase traffic and customer commitment.
    Full details & registration here.
  • Farm Fresh Appalachia Farm Tours
    The 3rd year of FFA Farm Tours promises to be the best yet. We hope to add more farms, have more activities for folks to enjoy, and get more traffic out to each farm stop. Farm registration is open now for both tours. Tennessee farms must register by March 3rd, and Virginia by June 1st. Full details & registration here.
    • Tennessee – June 20, 2020
    • Virginia – September 26, 2020

Publications

Local Food Guide – The Local Food Guide is an annual publication that promotes farms, farmers markets, local-food-serving restaurants, and more in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Between 10,000 and 15,000 copies are printed each year, and it is distributed for free as well as accessible online at asdevelop.org. It is absolutely free to be listed in the guide if you produce, sell, or serve local food. (ASD does offer advertisement space for a fee, but the basic listing is free.)
Submit your information for inclusion in the 2020 Local Food Guide here.

ARCD Monthly Newsletter – Farms holding special events such as farm-to-table dinners or solo farm tours may request their event to be listed in ARCD’s monthly newsletter. Email Kayla at least one month prior to your event date. Newsletters are generally sent on the second Tuesday of the month, so plan ahead to be included in the newsletter that would be most beneficial for promoting your event.

Educational Opportunities

  • Offered by the Center for Profitable Agriculture:
    Vendor Boot Camp – March TBD, 2020
    This event will be free for market vendors to attend, will be taught by several Ag Extension agents and other experts, and will equip you with the business development and marketing tools you need in order to run a successful farmers market booth. Topics to be discussed include: merchandising your booth, using social media, data collection, product cost & pricing tools, and more.
    More details & registration will be available soon.
  • Offered by Farm Fresh Appalachia:
    Free Online Education Conferences
    • Food & Safety Regulations at Market (Tennessee)
    • Food & Safety Regulations at Market (Virginia)
    • Building a CSA Program
    • Social Media Series
      • Social Media 101: Facebook
      • Social Media 101: Instagram
      • Advanced Social Media: Third-Party Apps, Graphics, Ads, Optimizing

What’s missing? Are their resources you need that aren’t being provided, or education that you can’t easily access or find? If you have ideas for events or education that you believe would be beneficial to farmers in our area, please reach out. We’re always growing and learning!