Marketing Support

Explore business planning resources assembled by MDARD’s Economic and Community Development Program.

Bringing the Farm to School is a program designed to build producers' capacity to sell to schools. The toolkit includes information, activities and resources to help you prepare to sell local food products to schools in your area. If you have other questions about selling local foods to schools, you can contact the Michigan Department of Education’s (MDEs)

Farm to Program team at MDE-FarmToProgram@michigan.gov. Directories are searchable databases where you can create a profile, find new retail and wholesale buyers, and increase the visibility of your business.

• The Michigan Farm to Program Directory was developed by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and its partners to make it easier for food program operators to procure and serve Michigan fresh produce in schools, childcare centers, and community service agencies across the state, and to help Michigan farmers and food suppliers connect with Child Nutrition Program customers.
• The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) manages Local Food Directories for food hubs, farmers markets, CSAs and agritourism ventures. By listing their business information in the directories, farmers, producers and distributors of local foods are able to take advantage of opportunities in both direct-to-consumer and wholesale markets.
• The Michigan Food Hub Network brings food hubs together to create something larger than the sum of its parts: A network of regional food distributors across the state dedicated to supporting the growth and success of Michigan’s local food economy. Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems manages a directory of Food Hubs in Michigan.
• The Michigan Farmers Market Association maintains a directory of Michigan’s 300+ farmers markets statewide. A farmers market is a public and recurring assembly of farmers or their representatives selling direct-to-consumer food and products which they have produced themselves.
• Michigan Market Maker is a platform that helps build a stronger business and value chain providing food marketing information to food entrepreneurs (agricultural producers, buyers, processors, wholesalers, food retailers, restaurants and transporters) and their customers.

Consider various direct to consumer sales options through the lenses of skills, resources, and farm goals by watching this webinar from MSU Extension.