Managing Your Vendor Relationships
Building and maintaining relationships with vendors is one of the most critical parts of a market manager’s job. Setting yourself up to be a successful market manager will mean establishing clear guidelines, screening vendors carefully, and offering meaningful assistance.
Advertising Your Market to Farmers
The number one customer in the farmers’ market is the farmer. The market must provide farmers a viable farm direct opportunity. A market needs to have a critical mass of farmers for a successful market. This number will vary depending on the community.
How To Locate Interested Farmers
Press releases to newspapers, agriculture publications and growers’ newsletters
Write an article for the Capital Press
Place signage in farm supply stores
Ask local farmers for leads
Join Oregon Farmers’ Markets Association
Attend farm direct marketing conferences
Research local farmstands in the market’s region
Contact:
Attracting Farmers To Your Market
Choose a farmer-friendly site with adequate off-loading space and parking
Determine market day and time based on other farmers’ markets schedules
Provide a map of the site to show surrounding businesses, neighborhoods, traffic patterns and public transportation routes.
Mail an invitation packet including letter of introduction and map; follow-up with personal phone call
Show samples of publicity and marketing materials
Introduce farmers to the core group of market organizers
Ask them for their opinions to encourage joint “ownership” of the market
Establishing Expectations
OFMA Webinar: Screening for Success
Screening vendors carefully and establishing clear expectations from the get-go makes communication easier and more streamlined between market managers and vendors. Catt Fields White of the Farmers Market Pros walks through recommendations for making screening and onboarding a breeze.
Writing up thorough market rules and creating a clear vendor handbook will ensure your vendors get off on the right foot. Here are some sample handbooks, farmers market rules, bylaws, and other basic administrative documents from established Oregon markets.
Expanding Vendor Services
Consignment Booths
Online/Pre-order Farmers Markets
In 2020, farmers markets in Oregon had to adapt to changing marketplace regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to a potential loss of customers, many Oregon farmers markets adopted online pre-order systems as a way to deliver vendor products to community members during the pandemic. OFMA received special funding from the Oregon Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program and the Oregon Coastal Visitors Association to provide technical assistance to farmers markets who were thinking of on-boarding online market applications. We have compiled resources for markets who are interested in implementing online markets in our Online Market Toolkit.
Consignment booths are one way farmers markets expand participation at the market for folks who may not produce enough consistently to always have their own market booth.
Offering a consignment booth can be a helpful tool in bringing on new vendors and supporting those who are interested in becoming regular vendors in the future. It can also be utilized as a fundraiser for your market.
Curious to see how other markets do it? Check out the Albany-Corvallis, Wallowa, and Hood River consignment booth guidelines.