Marketing Tools

Marketing Michigan Products, Step-By-Step. MSU's Center for Regional Food Systems Marketing Michigan Products Guide provides agricultural producers tools to market their products to Michigan schools.

Resources from Center for Regional Food Systems. Guides already exist to help with your farm business: scaling production, funding, and more.

Taste the Local Difference Resources for Farmers.Taste the Local Difference provides Business Resources, Marketing/Promotion, Education/Networking, Funding, Production Resources, Food Safety, and Post Harvest Resources.

Support Educational Efforts

Refer your customers to our Tools for Schools & Early Care and Education page for a number of vetted educational resources that will keep students coming back for more of your local bounty on the lunch line.

Encourage schools to use Harvest of the Month resources from TBAISD/Northwest Education Services. Harvest of the Month features a seasonal, local vegetable, fruit, or legume each month. Groundwork Center also has Harvest of the Month resources including videos for the featured fruits, vegetables, and legumes that were filmed here in Michigan. 

Education is Marketing: Try-It Tuesdays. The Public Schools of Petoskey implemented Try-It Tuesdays, where parents and community volunteers go into the classrooms once a month to feature a seasonal produce item & the farmer who grew it. Volunteers lead a sampling of the Harvest of the Month recipe, provided by the food service staff. The voting process is a great way to engage the students, and they can influence the menu!

How can learning activities in schools grow your business?

Introducing The 3 C's: Cafeteria, Classroom, Community. When children are exposed to healthy food multiple times in different settings they are more likely to later select these foods in the cafeteria. Carrying out activities like cooking, gardening, nutrition education, and cafeteria taste tests leads to increased enthusiasm and consumption of healthy options.

Sampling New Food Is Effective. Food Service Director Dave Ruszel is trying things with kids he never imagined he’d try before having the 10 Cents funding, which makes a difference in what and how much he can buy. The secret is in the sampling they do.

Farm Field Trips Encourage Kids to Try New Things. Students in Detroit Public Schools are getting out on the farm.

Pop-Up Farmers Markets link Students and Families to Area Farmers. School districts across Michigan are hosting farmers markets at school, where students shop for their families and sample seasonal produce from their community.