Dear Friends and Colleagues Working in the Area of Local Markets, PLEASE READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
A couple of weeks ago we sent you an email asking you to complete and pass on to groups you work with a set of 12 questions designed to assess, from several perspectives (producer/processor, consumer/user, distributor) the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to local food markets in NYS. We've received nearly as many questions regarding the questions as we have responses. Knowing there are a lot more individuals out there with insights into this matter and concerned that our original cover letter was less than clear about the purpose of this effort, we are sending the questions again, attached herewith, with the request that you answer the questions and ask those in groups you work with or represent to do the same by forwarding this message to them. As you do so, please note that in asking these questions it IS NOT our intent to form a new group or duplicate the great efforts so many of you are pursuing in support of NYS producers and consumers; Rather, IT IS OUR GOAL to draw on your experiences, and through your answers to these questions to specifically identify, challenges to connecting NYS producers and consumers and opportunities for increasing these connections for the benefit of both, and NYS communities. While these issues are well known among those working in this arena, they have not to my knowledge been captured at a statewide level and articulated in a forum that can be used to inform and promote statewide change. It is not the task of this group to promote that change, it is our goal is to capture the information so that it can be used by others working in the arena to do so. The data, results and conclusions belong to the stakeholders; the team is simply facilitating this process.* The Team will be gathering information from this survey, summarizing it and using it as a starting point for identifying strategies for overcoming these challenges and capitalizing on identified opportunities at a State-wide Summit to be held next month. All of this information will be integrated in a report that will be broadly distributed. We will be sharing results with the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, the NYS Council on Food Policy, various legislative committees, economic development offices and others, and you. Please take just a few minutes to complete the attach survey and return to Martha Goodsell at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you for your participation, The Small Farm Work Group on Local Food Markets (A State-Wide Work Team) *This process has been initiated in response to feedback received during the 2006 Cornell Small Farms Summit, during which farmers and other participants identified local markets as critical to the long term viability of small farms in NYS. It is a statewide effort funded by the Cornell Small Farms Program, but it is NOT a "Cornell" project. The project is being led by a partnership of farmers, local food initiative facilitators, representatives of organizations that promote and support local food markets, and researchers, including the following: · Heidi Mouillesseaux-Kunzman, Community and Rural Development Institute, Cornell University · Andy Turner, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Greene County's Agroforestry Resource Center · Todd Schmit, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University · Mary Jeanne Packer, NY Farms! · Dianne Eggert, NYS Farmers' Market Federation, NYS Food Policy Council and Farmer · Duncan Hilchey, Community and Rural Development Institute, Cornell University · Monika Roth, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County · Challey Comer, Watershed Agricultural Council · Becca Brier-Rosenfield, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County · Martha Goodsell, Farmer _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
