| The "Ready for Market" training series that began last month, continues this month on Thursday, April 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Roane County High School Vo-Ag Department. Thursday's class will focus on visual merchandising and packaging to improve farmers success in direct marketing of farm products.
The keynote speaker for the "Visual Merchandising and Packaging" training is the West Virginia University Extension Agent serving in Gilmer and Calhoun Counties, Daisy Bailey.
Bailey will discuss the marketing impacts that visually appealing displays and packaging can have on direct marketing sales. She will provide many examples of effective displays that captures consumers' attention and creates perceived value to potential customers of direct-marketed local farm products. Packaging and branding examples will also be discussed to improve sales impacts for local foods directly to consumers. Other speakers will briefly address the local demand for produce, meats and other farm products in the region.
"This training is needed for our regional farmers who are great at producing their livestock, fruits, vegetables, and / or value-added products, but desire to learn how to better market their high quality farm products to local consumers, restaurants, or stores," says local WVU Extension Agent, Brandy Brabham. "I hope producers take advantage of this training to increase their profitability and provide their quality products to our local communities." These workshops are provided by Mid-Ohio Valley Edibles (MOVE), a regional growers association, WVU Extension Service, and sponsored by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE).
All training is free and open to the public regardless of any affiliation with the MOVE growers association. Participants may choose to attend one or all of the planned training sessions. Pre-registration for each training date is requested. Binders or flash drives with all training materials will be provided to participants. To pre-register for next Thursday's training, please call the WVU-Roane County Extension Office at 304-927-0975 or email coordinatormove@gmail.com by Wednesday, April 9. Pre-registration is not required for admission, but it helps provide for hand-outs and adequate seating arrangements.
Participants who attended the "Ready for Market" training series in 2013 are asked to bring their binders or flash drives from last year to the upcoming training and new training materials and hand-outs will be added to their existing binders or drives.
If you are interested in learning more about MOVE membership or cooperative marketing opportunities, please contact the MOVE coordinator or Extension Agent, Brandy Brabham at the WVU-Roane County Extension office at 304-927-0975 or email coordinatormove@gmail.com
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