Diversifying Your Market with Institutional Sales

NH Farm to School, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), and the NH Food Alliance are hosting an upcoming free webinar series for producers interested in learning more about selling to the institutional market including to schools, higher education, and hospitals. These webinars will cover information about the various types of institutions, what they purchase, purchasing requirements, and enterprise analysis to determine if what you grow makes financial sense for selling to institutions and how to sell through a food hub that markets to a variety of customers including institutions. Sign up for one, two, or all of them.

• Opportunities in the institutional Market in New England and New Hampshire. March 19th, 4:00-5:15 pm. Led by Stacey Purslow of NH Farm to School and Tammy Howard from NCAT. This session will feature details about how different institutions purchase food, about Federal meal programs including the National School Lunch Program, communicating with institutional food service directors, and a panel of institutional food buyers. We will also cover local food incentive and cooperative agreement programs that support schools buying local and regional foods.
   
• Is the Institutional Market Right for Your Business? March 26th, 4:00-5:15 pm. Jesse Wright, a UNH Extension Field Specialist in Agriculture Business Management, will be leading this session, featuring an enterprise analysis of some favorite institutional foods- carrots, potatoes, and lettuce. Learn how to use enterprise analysis to determine how to price your products for profit.
   
• Selling Through Food Hubs. April 2nd, 4:00-5:15 pm. Learn about food hubs in New Hampshire and the services they provide for the farms they work with. Also covered will be learning about the Strengthening Organic Enforcement Act (SOE)— what it means for producers and the implications it may have selling through a food hub in New Hampshire. This session is being led by Katelyn Porter, the value chain coordinator at the NH Food Alliance.  This webinar is in partnership with NOFA-NH and the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP).
  
  *If you'd like to see more of this kind of offering here in VT, let us know! Email [email protected]