Do you want to meet new buyers and grow your sales? This workshop is designed for farmers looking to develop or strengthen their wholesale produce business. You will learn how to develop cost effective, scale appropriate systems to support reliable, profitable wholesale markets. Topics covered include, buyer communication, food safety, post harvest quality, and effective record keeping.
A unique "meet the buyers" event will introduce you to Connecticut buyers — including institutional purchasers, retailers, and produce distributors — who are looking for farms to help them meet the growing demand for local foods.
The workshop is free for farmers. Lunch featuring Connecticut-grown ingredients will be provided at no cost. Participating farmers will receive a free copy of the Wholesale Success manual which covers up-to-date best practices on food safety, postharvest handling, packing, business management, marketing, and crop-specific profiles for over 100 crops.
Our trainer, Atina Diffley, is an organic farmer with decades of experience in vegetable production and marketing to provide operators of produce farms of any size with useful, practical, profit-making guidance on how to achieve the highest quality produce for sale!
This event is jointly sponsored by Farm to Institution New England and UCONN Extension. It is brought to you with support from Family Farmed and USDA. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.