2014 Small Farm Summit

Shannon Mason of Cowbella will speak about transitioning to Lucky Dog Food Hub

Shannon Mason of Cowbella spoke about transitioning to Lucky Dog Food Hub, Groceries & Other Wholesale Markets

About the 2014 NY Small Farms Summit

On March 24th,  the Cornell Small Farms Program hosted the 4th NY Small Farms Summit.  The full day program, Beyond Direct Marketing: Exploring New Ways to Sell, featured small farmers’ perspectives on the pros and cons of selling wholesale.

Morning presentations included vegetable farmer Darren Maum of Salvere Farm, in Marietta, NY.  Darren described his success with Farmshed, a Central NY company that has enabled him to sell a larger volume of product by handling transportation and relationship building efforts with customers, saving  valuable time and resources.  Shannon Mason of Cowbella in Jefferson, NY, described how a shift to wholesaling through Lucky Dog Local Food Hub enabled her to invest in new production and processing strategies for her value added dairy products.  Stephen Winkler of Lucki7 Livestock Co. in Rodman, NY reflected on how a transition to Wegmans, Whole Foods and a White Tablecloth Distributor has transformed his product mix and marketing strategy.

The afternoon portion of the meeting provided an opportunity for farmers spread out at 7  locations across NY to swap ideas about specific wholesale marketing opportunities ion their region, discuss benefits and challenges to adding a wholesale market(s), and develop an action plan for steps needed to enable easier access to wholesale markets.  


Choose from 7 meeting locations across NYS

Farmers met in 7 meeting locations across NYS

Beyond Direct Marketing: Agenda, Farmer Profiles & Resources

Summit Agenda
Profiles of featured farmer speakers who shared their personal knowledge and experiences with wholesale  marketing:

Cornell Small Farms Program Marketing Resources – view The Guide to Marketing Channel Assessment, download market selection workbooks, connect to online distributor sites, and much more!
Additional Marketing Resources – additional information for assessing your market channels as well as information and funding for food hubs.


Where do YOU sell?  Nation-wide Survey helps better understand Small Farm Marketing trends

Prior to Summit, we conducted a survey of NY farmers to understand their current and future possible market channels. We asked each to tell us about their farm size, years of experience, income and primary enterprises as well as their levels of satisfaction with different channels. Click the link below to view the summary of responses from across the state.
2014 NY Small Farm Statewide Survey Results


Video Clips

Welcome & Introductions (17 min) – Anu Rangarajan, Director Cornell Small Farms Program
Farmer Presentations (1 hr, 24 min) – Darren Maum and Shannon Mason share their farm stories and personal experiences with wholesale marketing.
Farmer Presentations Continued & Discussion (1 hr, 13 min)  – Stephen Winkler presents and Summit participants engage the presenters in a discussion about wholesale marketing.

Kacey Deamer

Kacey is the Communications Manager for the Cornell Small Farms Program. In this role, she manages all storytelling and outreach across the program’s website, social media, e-newsletter, magazine and more. Kacey has worked in communications and journalism for more than a decade, with a primary focus on science and sustainability.

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