Farmers who commit totally to sell locally can make a profit

Buy Fresh Buy Local is a nationally promoted trademark of the FoodRoutes Network, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) located in Millheim, PA. , please check http://www.pasafarming.org/ and http://foodroutes.org/ UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Farmers can make a profit selling their produce directly to local businesses, but they must not let possible new costs weaken their commitment to the new venture, according to an international team of researchers. "We found that the farmers who really made a conscious decision to sell local and who made more of a commitment tended to do better than those who are just testing the waters with local direct selling," said Amit Sharma, associate professor of hospitality management, Penn State. Sharma added that farmers who were only testing the idea of selling to local restaurants tend to either never try to reach the local market, or quickly opt out of local selling. The researchers, who report their findings recently in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development, said that farmers face a number of higher costs when they sell to local restaurants and shops, especially locally owned businesses that are not associated with national chains. The added costs include money for additional marketing and transportation and delivery costs.