Agenda

November 1st | Day 1

8:00 – 9:00 am – Continental Breakfast & Networking

9:00 – 9:15 am – Welcome & Introductions

9:15 am – 9:30 am – Opening Remarks from Special Guests

9:30 am – 10:00 am
Keynote Speaker: Cullen Gilchrist of Union Kitchen DC

As CEO and Co-Founder of Union Kitchen, Cullen Gilchrist has partnered with food businesses of all sizes to grow and accelerate their success. Cullen and his team work with exceptional food businesses to connect entrepreneurs with the resources, capital, and networks that they need to establish sustainable success. Cullen oversees the operations and management of Union Kitchen’s accelerator program as well as Union Kitchen’s commercial kitchen, distribution company, and grocery stores.

10:00 am – 11:15 am
Cultivating a Collaborative Culture with Vendors

Creating or changing the culture of a farmers market starts at the top. During this break-out session we will tackle pertinent market issues, learn how to collaborate with managers, vendors, customers and volunteers in a way that is positive, inclusive and successful in supporting the mission of your market.

This workshop will involve working closely with others, discussing collective suggestions for addressing various issues. By developing a strategic plan of action, you will be ready to get your market on track for a successful market season, one happy vendor at a time!

Speakers:
Laura Reilly, Salem Farmers Market
Lisa Dearden, RVAgriculture
Stanley Jones III, Surry County Farmers Market

11:15 am – 11:30 am – Break

11:30 am- 12:45pm – Lunch & Member Meeting

12:45 pm- 1:45pm
Markets Feeding Communities (Innovative Food Access Resources: SNAP & Beyond)

Whether you are a market just starting to think about food access as part of your mission or an experienced market working with local partners to feed your community, there are many exciting programs operating in Virginia that you can learn from and participate in. Hear market leaders and state partners explain programs that link Virginia grown produce with hungry families. Plus, learn how to map your community to find alliances that will strengthen and grow your market base and local food community.

Moderator: Gayle Mitchell, Virginia Fresh Match

Panelists:
Elizabeth Borst, Virginia Community Food Connections and Virginia Fresh Match
Claudia Jackson, Virginia Department of Social Services
Meredith Ledlie Johnson, Family Nutrition Program, Virginia Cooperative Extension
Eddie Oliver, Federation of Virginia Food Banks
Kelly Wright, RDN, Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services

1:45 pm – 3:15 pm
Pop-Up Food, Farmers’ Meat, Safe Chef Demos, Let’s Eat! (Food Safety)

The “Pop-Up Food, Farmers’ Meat, Safe Chef Demos, Let’s Eat! (Food Safety)” session is designed as an interactive way for conference participants to learn about food safety at farmers markets. There will be four stations set up: a Pop-up Restaurant station, a Farmers station, a Chef Demo station, and a station set up WRONG that participants have to FIX.  Each station will have educational materials displayed and will have a working chef and supporting VDH or VDACS staff.  At the end, we’ll play an interactive game of Kahoot! to reinforce learning.

Participants:

Chef Taz, Die Kuche
Meredith Ledlie Johnson, Family Nutrition Program, Virginia Cooperative Extension
Raisa Wingen, Edible Education
Lisa Dearden, RVAgriculture
Elena Rosenblum, Union Kitchen DC
Nikeya Thomas, VDACS Food Safety Specialist, NOVA Food Safety Regional Manager
Lana Buckles, VDACS Field Supervisor
Jeanelle Roger, VDH Environmental Health Specialist Senior
Ryan Watkins, VDH Environmental Health Specialist

Volunteers:
Holli Elliott
Carolina Donahue
Grit & Glam Farm

3:15pm – 4:45pm – Influential Leaders Panel

Join us as we hear from local, city and state leaders of the Commonwealth on today’s trends as it relates to farmers markets, health equity and food access.

Moderator: Kim Hutchinson, VAFMA

Panelists:

Dr. Jewel Bronaugh, Commissioner of Agriculture
Goochland County Administrator, John Budesky
Chris Frelke, Director of City of Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities
Heidi Hertz, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture
Eddie Oliver, Federation of Virginia Food Banks

5:30pm-7:30pm – Reception

Hardywood West Creek
820 Sanctuary Trail Drive
Richmond, VA 23238

November 2nd, 2018 | Day 2

 8:00 am – 9:00 am
Continental Breakfast & Networking & Virginia Fresh Match Meeting

All Virginia Fresh Match markets are welcome to attend, and any markets interested in participating in the VFM FINI grant in Year 2. Learn more about VFM nutrition incentives and FINI, meet the VFM Regional Leads, and network with other SNAP and VFM markets!

9:00 am – 9:15 am – Welcome!

9:15 am – 10:00 am
Innovative Outreach – Using Technology to Increase Vendor Sales

Learn how two innovative companies – Lulus Local Food and Farmspread — are helping farmers markets increase vendor sales.

Lulus Local Food is an innovative, cloud based ecommerce solution designed to simplify online sales for farms, farmers markets, food hubs, and CSAs – a single solution program for online sales, easy inventory management, financial reporting, reaching new customers and markets, and so much more. We work with market managers to expand their market sales by opening up opportunities for them to sell year round, to allow them to expand geographically and to take pre-market orders from customers for high demand products.

Farmspread is a platform service focused on streamlining market management operations while providing a user portal to search for farmers market, vendors and products. We will educate attendees on how they can leverage technology to help with day to day market management and how metrics and messaging can help define and drive a more successful market.

Speakers:
Molly Harris, Lulus Local Food
Adam & Sarah Stokes, Farmspread

10:00 am – 11:00 am
Using Metrics to Reach Influencers

You’ve collected visitor counts, vendor info and possibly even sales totals — now what do you do with that data? Share it! Market data is a powerful aid for promoting, funding and running your market. Our speakers will talk about why and how to share your market data.

Speakers:
Darlene Wolnik, Farmers Market Coalition
Kim Hutchinson, Virginia Farmers Market Association
Mary Delicate, Virginia Farmers Market Association
Tracy Frey, Williamsburg Farmers Market

11:00 am – 11:15 am – Break

11:15 am – 12:45 pm
Engaging Influencers on a Shoestring

When a blogger, food writer or chef writes about your market it can have lasting impact. People are far more likely to trust and remember a post from their favorite influencer over an advertisement. But how do you build relationships with influencers when you are on a tight budget? Our panelists will discuss how to work with and approach influencers as well as how to best leverage social media generally.

Moderator: Elizabeth Stark of Brooklyn Supper

Panelists:
Brittany Mullins of Eating Bird Food
Christine Lucaciu, Huckle & Goose
Renee Catacalos, The Chesapeake Table
Barb Upchurch of The Apple Cart
Chef Sariann Lehrer of The Broken Tulip

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm – Lunch – Markets Talking to Markets

1:45 pm – 2:30 pm – Connecting with Customers

Constant Contact marketing expert Tim Bradshaw will discuss email marketing best practices.

2:30 pm – 3:15 pm
Cultivating Community through Programming and Events

Every day at your market is a community event. How do you choose the programming that will help more customers spend more money – by using metrics!

Speakers:
Tracy Frey, Williamsburg Farmers Market
Justin McKenzie, Charlottesville City Market

3:15 pm – 4:15 pm
Spurring Economic Development through Incubation

This engaging panel of emerging producers and food industry entrepreneurs focuses on how farmers markets and shared-use kitchen incubators have developed and expanded their business enterprises, as well as their local economies.

Speakers:
Austin Green, Hatch Kitchen RVA
Bruce Johnson & Christopher Stem, Ashland Meat Company
Meredyth Archer, MOTHER Shrub

4:15 pm – 4:30 pm – Wrap-Up