Approximately 75 area producers attended the Grow Local! Production and Marketing Workshop at the Bond Learning Center on February 18th. Attendees of the conference had the opportunity to discover added value through direct marketing of their products and to hear experts speak on a variety of production topics.
     The morning session of this conference highlighted the opportunities and pitfalls of direct local marketing. Dr. Arbindra Rimal, from the Darr School of Agriculture shared highlights from his recent research on the potential market share for locally produced foods. Not surprisingly, there exists real opportunities within the Springfield area to capture added value by marketing local produce. However, the road from the farm gate to the store shelf is not always clear cut.
     Producers had the opportunity to hear from Curtis Millsap, of Millsap Farms located south of Springfield, talk about his experiences with both the opportunities and difficulties of producing and marketing local produce. Additionally, Stephen Sanders and Josh Pederson were on site representing HyVee, a local retail grocery store. The pair shared information on the process of placing locally produced food on HyVee shelves.
     The afternoon session focused on current farming techniques and covered a variety of topics. Producers were able to hear from the experts on an assortment of subjects from soil site selection, low stress animal handing, to basic green production. For more information about Grow Local! Production and Marketing Workshop including handouts, please visit http://mtngrv.missouristate.edu/commercial/GrowLocal.htm