Marketing Local Products to a California Community

San Luis Obispo Buy Fresh Buy Local label, developed in cooperation with CAFF, is central to the marketing & consumer awareness campaign launched by MaryAnn Vasconcellos and Jeff Rodriguez

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) staff and the Central Coast  Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) teamed up to help MaryAnn Vasconcellos, a small-scale farmer, who was feeling the pressure of growing urbanization. Located midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Vasconcellos watched as property values rose, development increased, and San Luis Obispo County’s small farmers found themselves facing stiff competition for prime agricultural land and scarce water resources. At the same time, they struggled against large-scale farming operations and inexpensive imports.

Vasconcellos channeled her frustration into a positive force for area farmers and her community, spearheading a “buy-local” campaign.

Vasconcellos approached the Central Coast RC&D Council with the idea to use a SARE producer grant to launch a campaign to inform consumers why and where to buy local. While conducting workshops for the non-profit California Alliance for Family Farmers (CAFF), Vasconcellos, who is also a member of the Central Coast RC&D, had spoken with many small farmers about the issues they all faced: increased regulations regarding air and water quality, low-priced imports, the high cost of land, and urban sprawl. She noticed that many of those growers were asking the same question: “How do we get our product out?”

To Vasconcellos it seemed like a natural progression to combine the growing trend of consumer awareness and interest in agriculture, with the constraints these growers were facing, with a “buy local” campaign. If consumers were willing to pay for open spaces by supporting local producers, why not help connect growers and consumers by branding their fiber, food and flowers as “local?”

at the Arroyo Grande Harvest Festival San Luis Obispo Buy Fresh Buy Local and the Central Coast AgriTourism Council shared a booth that targeted consumers, farmers & tourists

Vasconcellos teamed up with Jeff Rodriguez, project coordinator for the Central Coast RC&D, who acted as technical adviser for the SARE grant. “One of the major goals of our Council is to promote sustainable agriculture and one of the ways we realize that is to promote direct marketing of agricultural products,” said Rodriguez. The partnership with SARE was a good fit. “We were looking for funders that had similar goals to the RC&D and who would support local programs, and one of those funders was SARE,” added Rodriguez. “RC&Ds already work directly with farmers and other local representatives who are eligible for SARE grants, so a link for obtaining SARE funds was already established.”

With the $10,000 farmer/rancher grant from SARE, Vasconcellos and Rodriguez designed and launched a website, floated the “buy local” label and created a marketing structure that farmers could see working. The “Buy Fresh Buy Local” campaign was designed to reflect the wide array of products available through the member farmers. The assembled group worked together to make sure the label represented the diversity of their operations, which included u-pick operations, farm stands, markets and stores that produced such varied goods as alpaca fleeces, grass-fed beef and lamb, as well as fruit and vegetables.

The website, http://www.slobuyfreshbuylocal.org, initially a small component of the project, gained importance as the group’s means of outreach and marketing. The site assists consumers looking for local farms, explains why buying local is important and creates a structure that farmers can use efficiently. The site is also a multi-tiered directory that directs consumers, through various links, to find what they need or want from local producers. “SARE’s support was critical, because without it farmers would have had to pay to use the website and the label would not have circulated as widely,” said Vasconcellos.

by assembling a diverse group of member farmers, the San Luis Obispo Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign offers consumers a variety of products, such as jackets and scarves made from alpaca fleece

The project has also received recognition and support from Pacific Gas & Electric, which helped fund a brochure that featured the San Luis Obispo “Buy Fresh Buy Local” label, and supported trips to local farming events, including the popular Mid-State Fair and the Arroyo Grande Harvest Festival.

As the first phase of the project – building a wide, steady base of farmer members - nears completion, Vasconcellos and Rodriguez hope to begin using radio spots, newspaper ads and articles to increase consumer awareness. Eventually, Vasconcellos hopes that people can go in to stores and restaurants, see the label on certain products or on the menu, and know the proprietor is buying locally.