O37 Factors Affecting Small Producer’s LocalFood SalesGarry Auld, PhD, RD, Department of Food Science andHuman Nutrition, Colorado State University, FortCollins, CO 80523, [email protected]; Katie Jones,[email protected]; Dawn Thilmany, PhD, Department ofAgricultural and Resource Economics,[email protected]
Objective: Identify crop and producer characteristics affect-ing food miles.Design, Setting and Participants: A convenience sample ofgrowers, drawn from the Colorado Agriculture DirectoryDatabase, was balanced across high weight/low value (po-tato), low weight/high value (spinach) and high weight/high value (fruit) producers.Outcome Measures and Analysis: Structured telephoneinterviews collected data on producer characteristics andperceptions about critical factors affecting where they soldtheir produce and what was needed to increase local foodsales. Thematic data analysis identified the importance ofeach factor in determining whether sales for the selectedcrop were primarily focused at in or out-of-state marketing(secondary focus on direct versus wholesale channels).Results: Fifteen growers completed the interviews andmost produced on 50 acres or less. More than half the saleswere direct to consumers and most producers used multiplechannels: farmers markets (73%), farm stand (53%), smallretail store or co-op (47%), and CSA or mail delivery (20%each). Highly ranked factors relative to local marketingincluded production capacity, product characteristics (per-ishable crops, quality), access to buyers/location, post-harvest considerations, and consumer perceptions. Respon-dents perceived that local sales could be increased bymaintaining quality standards, increasing education of andmarketing to consumers, promoting agro-tourism, and de-veloping local and state policies to support local sales.Conclusions and Implications: The most critical factorssupporting local sales were smaller volume, niche markets,and belief that local food is important while packaging andtransportation costs were not a major consideration forlocal sales. Smaller producer size and limited volume en-courages local, direct sales to maximize profits while limit-ing access to larger markets.
O38 Recipe for Success: Worksite Farmer’sMarket Effective at Increasing EmployeeIntake of Fruits and VegetablesSarah Morales, MS, RD, Poudre Valley Health System,[email protected]; Nathan Sassano, MS, Poudre ValleyHealth System, Ft. Collins, CO, [email protected];Virginia Englert, MS, RD, CanDo (Coalition for Activityand Nutrition to Defeat Obesity), Ft. Collins, CO,[email protected]
Objective: To develop, implement and evaluate a worksitefarmer’s market as a strategy to increase employee intake offruits and vegetables.Use of Theory or Research: Social Cognitive LearningTheory.Target Audience: Worksite/employees.Description: Worksite wellness programs provide a venueto positively impact employee health by creating an orga-nizational culture that supports healthy lifestyles. PoudreValley Health System (PVHS) is a locally owned andoperated nonprofit healthcare organization in NorthernColorado, committed to continuously improving the long-term health of patients, employees, and the community. In2007, PVHS spearheaded a project to implement an onsitefarmer’s market to increase employee intake of fruits andvegetables. The PVHS Garden Market was a collaborativeendeavor of the PVHS LiveWell Employee Wellness Pro-gram, Poudre Valley Hospital, Medical Center of the Rock-ies and Northern Colorado farmers and producers. With anemphasis on creating a worksite where “healthy choices areeasy choices”, the PVHS Garden Market provided employ-ees with the convenience of onsite, garden fresh, locallygrown vegetables, herbs, fruit and other specialty fooditems. Features of the market included: “harvest of theweek” recipes in the onsite cafeterias, cooking demonstra-tions, weekly market baskets and employee participationincentives.Evaluation: Process and Impact Evaluation.Conclusions and Implications: Employee surveys (n�433)indicated that the Garden Market was effective at increas-ing intake of fruits and vegetables: 47% of respondentsincreased consumption, and 46% increased variety of fruitsand vegetables. Additionally, 93.5% agreed that the Gar-den Market contributed to improving the culture at PVHS.The Garden Market provided an ideal opportunity to sup-port local agriculture while also improving health behaviorsof PVHS employees.
O39 Frosted Flakes are In, Apple Jacks areOut: Making Sense of Food Companies’Commitments to Reduce Junk-FoodMarketing to ChildrenMargo Wootan, DSc, Center for Science in the PublicInterest, 1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington,DC 20009, [email protected]; Ameena Batada, DrPH,Center for Science in the Public Interest,[email protected]
Objective: The objective was to investigate food compa-nies’ policies and nutrition standards for marketing to chil-dren.Design, Setting and Participants: In December 2007, re-searchers collected cross-sectional information about 22U.S. food companies’ policies and nutrition standards for
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S38 Oral Abstracts
