One of the most important pressure points in developing a strong, local food economy is in recruiting and supporting beginning farmers to the trade. An equally important (but often overlooked) pressure point in the food system lies in addressing the needs of our established, small-to-mid-sized farmers who are seeking to take the next step and scale up their production to access bigger or different markets.

Most producers start small, especially those folks who come to the trade as a first generation farmers. Considering the immense time, resource, and energy investment, this can be a wise approach. But as farm businesses mature, many farmers pursue bigger markets, such as restaurant, retail or institutional sales as a way of increasing their revenue and/or diversifying their income stream. This puts them in the position of trying to scale up in terms of production, distribution, processing and infrastructure. As you may imagine, in a marketplace that favors industrial production, there are many challenges that these smaller-scale producers face - not the least of which is how to maintain the ethos of their small farm operation while accessing these markets.

But alas, all is not lost! We will hear from a panel who can discuss what kind of support is out there for producers who are interested in taking the next step and scale it up!