{"id":177926,"date":"2021-10-07T07:01:57","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T11:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=177926"},"modified":"2021-10-05T09:20:07","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T13:20:07","slug":"grown-connected-fosters-relationships-between-farmers-and-consumers-in-cts-quiet-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/10\/grown-connected-fosters-relationships-between-farmers-and-consumers-in-cts-quiet-corner\/","title":{"rendered":"Grown Connected Fosters Relationships Between Farmers and Consumers in CT\u2019s Quiet Corner"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new initiative through UConn\u2019s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources<\/a> is helping connect farmers and residents in northeastern Connecticut. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grown Connected<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is a new marketing and educational campaign to\u00a0help\u00a0showcase the robust agricultural industry in\u00a0Connecticut\u2019s\u00a0\u201cquiet corner,\u201d\u00a0a\u00a0designated national heritage corridor,\u00a0and help farmers promote their businesses.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe character of the region is so rich\u00a0in agriculture,\u00a0and it wasn\u2019t necessarily being shown to be as visible as it could be,\u201d\u00a0extension communications coordinator\u00a0Becca Toms\u00a0says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The project will support farmers who sell directly to consumers through farmers\u2019 markets, farm stands, or co-ops. This work is supported by funding through USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really built around this idea that we want to foster strong connections between residents who live in the area and farmers who want to sell directly to consumers,\u201d extension educator Jiff Martin says.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, more than 100 farms\u00a0in over 20 municipalities\u00a0are part of Grown Connected.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The slogan \u201cGrown Connected\u201d emphasizes that the project is about more than buying local produce; it\u2019s about fostering connections between farmers and consumers in this unique area.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
(Grown Connected logo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about your dollars,\u201d Martin says. \u201cIt\u2019s about your relationships with farmers.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This project was developed through close collaboration with farmers. Grown Connected has a 15-member farmer advisory team. These farmers provided the program coordinators with essential guidance and\u00a0expertise from their years of experience.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the most important folks in this work,\u201d Toms says. \u201cWe wanted their buy-in and approval.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ginger Jenne runs\u00a0<\/span>Coruscant Farm<\/span><\/a> in Ashford. Given her background in marketing, Jenne played a pivotal role in farmer focus groups developing the design and branding for Grown Connected.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jenne, whose farm grows vegetables, eggs, loofahs, and beef, says she hopes Grown Connected can help make\u00a0people\u00a0aware of the diversity\u00a0of the area\u2019s farms\u00a0which sell a dazzling array of products including fruits, vegetables,\u00a0flowers, nuts, herbs, dairy products, and more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re lucky in this part of Connecticut,\u201d Jenne says. \u201cYou can find everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jenne says this initiative comes at a particularly appropriate time as the pandemic has shown consumers everywhere that grocery stores\u2019 offerings\u00a0can be disrupted by\u00a0transportation issues, labor shortages, and other challenges.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to be entirely dependent on the grocery store,\u201d Jenne says.\u00a0\u201cWe really need to realize our community can be resilient and our farmers really do support the community.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grown Connected is hoping to teach\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and more importantly, show \u2013 people the value of buying fresh produce. Produce from farmers\u2019 markets and stands lasts longer and is more flavorful than produce shipped from thousands of miles away.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a world of difference,\u201d Toms says. \u201cThe quality of your food is going to be different.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The program will also host informational sessions to help farmers improve their marketing strategies. They will provide farmers with tools to build and utilize\u00a0websites and social media to reach consumers more effectively.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The program coordinators will be collecting sales data from farmers to assess the efficacy of their efforts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grown Connected will formally launch with a Facebook Live event at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13 from Woodstock Orchards. The event will include a raffle of local farms’ Community Supported Agriculture. Click here<\/a>\u00a0for more\u00a0information\u00a0and to register.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0<\/span><\/i>UConn CAHNR<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0on social media.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grown Connected will help connect farmers around the state with their communities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":177928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,1715,2304,2235,2195],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2277],"class_list":["post-177926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-community-impact","category-extension","category-today-homepage","category-windham-county"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 07:15:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177926"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177947,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177926\/revisions\/177947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/177928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177926"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=177926"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=177926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}