Successes on the South Coast

In February OEC held the most recent event in its Agriculture and the Environment Series titled “New Market Opportunities for South Coast Agriculture.”  The conference was a success, with 75 attendees. Co-sponsored by the South Coast Watershed Council, the all-day conference held at the Sixes Grange featured:

• Overview of Trends in Regional, Sustainably Grown Food Markets. Allison Hensey, Program Director for Healthy Food and Farms with the Oregon Environmental Council, discussed current trends, opportunities, and challenges in values-driven food markets.
• Stories from the Cape. Local cranberry growers and sheep and cattle ranchers discussed their view of sustaining agriculture on the South Coast for future generations.
• Success Stories. Farmers and food businesses who sell to values-driven markets, such as Kathy Panner from Umpqua Valley Lamb and Country Natural Beef, shared successes and challenges.
• Third-Party Certification. Representatives from the Food Alliance, Oregon Tilth, and Salmon Safe shared information about the benefits and challenges of third-party certification systems.
• Marketing and Business Considerations. Adam Zimmerman from Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia discussed organizational and financial issues for businesses selling to new markets, and Matt Schuld from the University of Portland Business School discussed marketing your product.
• Needs Specific to the South Coast. Time was dedicated to break-out sessions to discuss needs specific to the South Coast such as local processing capacity and branding.

Several work groups formed at the conference to address specific issues that would enable local growers and food businesses to sell their products more locally, and market to values-driven consumers.  These groups are continuing to discuss issues such as creating local meat processing capacity, and a local foods brand.

For more information about the conference or the work groups, please contact Allison Hensey, program director for Healthy Food and Farms.