We hosted a monthly series of workshops along with Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County, aimed at helping interested local growers gain the information and skills necessary to transition from direct market sales to wholesale. The series included four separate workshops between November 2016 and March 2018.

Topics that were covered throughout the series included : Assessing readiness to enter wholesale market channels, labeling, grading, and packaging, writing a farm food safety plan, how to develop a brand for your product, building relationships with buyers, writing a business plan, preparing for an audit, and updates to the Food Safety Modernization Act.

Of most interest was the Growers Training workshop taught through the Produce Safety Alliance. This workshop had 27 producers complete the course with 24 applying for the certificate of completion, a FSMA requirement.

We are planning to hold an equivalent class series in the fall.