Blog entries by Tom Roberts

About Tom Roberts

When I started attending the Brewer Farmers’ Market back in August of 1983, my sole concern was being able to sell the produce my farm was growing at a good price. After attending market for a year or two, I began to realize that how the market was organized had a great impact on my sales. And how the market was organized also influenced how it made decisions about dues, new members, what could be sold at market, and how it promoted itself—and this, too, had an impact on my sales. So I got involved in the market’s steering committee and began to understand how various market members thought the market should operate. Some wanted a market czar, some wanted everyone to be allowed to do their own thing. But everyone seemed to agree that if the market as a whole did well, then so did they.

Promotional ideas for farmers’ markets

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This list is a compilation of promotional ideas for Farmers’ Markets that have been tried in Vermont and Maine from 1985 to 2000. We include some obvious ones such as “take out an ad in the paper or radio” but also list the more creative and customer-involving ideas we have heard of. If you or […]

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Farmers’ market ads we’d like to see

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Sample Ad #1: Take a break. Get Outdoors. Go Shopping Outdoors. See what’s in season for dinner this week. Avoid eating industrial commodity foods from far away sold under fluorescent lights. Gather the goodness created by the local earth, the local rain, the local sunshine and the local people. Take a stand against the winter […]

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Email newsletters

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Many markets have begun to use e-mail newsletters to communicate with their customers. The age of buying stamps and paper and printing a newsletter is coming to a close. E-mail newsletters can be very inexpensive to use, can be sent whenever there is market news or reminders you want to let your customers know about, […]

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Farmers’ markets and food cupboards

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Suggestions and examples of how farmers’ markets and food cupboards can work together for each others’ benefit. Food Cupboards, also called Food Pantries, are always on the lookout for food to distribute to their clients. Farmers’ Markets are gatherings of local small scale food producers offering an abundance of foods. Yet for various reasons, food […]

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