Home Grown Cow (http://www.homegrowncow.com?src=slideshare) is the first national web site focused on connecting meat, poultry and cheese producers with customers who care where their meat comes from. We welcome all farms and all farming practices as our goal is to offer as much choice as possible to our customers. We also empower many small farms to use the Internet to market and sell their products.

1. Home Grown Cow teams- up
with, NFU to provide farmers
with E-Commerce opportunities
By John Aikman concept of knowing where the food on
HomeGrown one's table comes from.
Cow CEO Consumers can browse farms by
product, farm practices, farm size, and
location, thus being afforded transpar-
At the summer ency and choice when it comes to the
the end of
ineat and cheese on their table. How-
last year, I met
with Wisconsin ever, despite the growing demand for
Farmers Union to farm-direct meat from family farms,
introduce a new virtual farmer's mar- many consumers are unsure of how to
find and purchase directly from them.
ket for meat, poultry and cheese called Farms on the,other hand are often too
Home Grown Cow. With the support
ofWFU, Home Grown Cow and NFU busy, on too about a budget or lacking
information
tight
how to attract these
have developed an alliance to alert
customers or engage in Internet Mar-
Farmers Union producers about a
keting.
great opportunity to participate in e- _ Home Grown Cow's features for
Commerce, and to share with Home'
farmers include marketing, credit card
Grown Cow producers the benefits of
processing, order conveyance and
Farmers Union membership.
shipping facilitation. Both "Farmer"
Homegrowncow.com is a Wiscon-
and "Eater" are protected by Home
sin-based web site that provides meat,
Grown Cow's payment "safety net"
poultry and cheese producers with a
full-service e-commerce.sales channel which keeps consumers' billing in-
formation safe and protects farmers
nationwide. It costs nothing for farm-
ers to participate,.is available to farm- by ensuring customer commi~ent.
Farmers can also list pre-order Items
ers without Internet access, and opens
well ahead of time to help manage in-
a national marketplace for farmers
ventory.
and consumers anywhere in the U.S.
to come together. Home Grown Cow is live and ac-
Home Grown Cow offers meat,
tively recruiting farms to support -
poultry and cheese l?roducers ~heop- hence the new relationship with Na-
portunity to list therr farms, .Illclu~e tional Farmers Union. The demand
a brief profile on their operatIOn, list
is there and we need as many farm-
their products, and set their own price
ers as possible looking to add to their
for direct purchase by consumers. It's
revenue stream and sell their products
free for farmers to sign-up and farmers
can choose how much of the modest through Hom~ Grown Cow, so ~e
service fee that is briilt into the retail can begin marketing to consumers III
'price is paid by the farmer and how earnest and successfully support the
whole group. Once we get going the
much is paid by the consumer.
number of farms and cheese produc-
With consumers paying as much as
ers that we welcome and support can
$28.00Ilb for beef in retail stores, and be limitless. -
a predicted $4.2 billion dollars to have
been spent on food, beverages and pet
food online in 20 I0* there is growing
demand from consumers everywhere
for food that comes directly from the Find Home Grown Cow at NFU's AL-
farm. Studies also show that more than
liances page (www.nfu.orglabout-nfu/al-
eight in ten consumers say they trust liances)
smaller scale farms to produce safe nu- *Globa1market review of online grocery
tritious food**., Home Grown Cow is retailing -forecasts to 2014: Chap-
here to help family farms prevent ~eir ter 4, Consumer dynamics, Jonathan
share of the retail dollar from shrink- Thomas. Just -Food. Bromsgrove
ing even more than it has over recent **Food and Farming 2004 Roper Public
decades and revive the once-common AffairslNOP World

2. Fresh from Farm to Table
By Amy Czerniak
Parmersmarkets are places
ers can purchase directly consum-
from the
producer with no middleman to com-
plicate matters. The two original goals
of farmers markets, to bring fresh
fruits and vegetables to consumers and
to support small family farms, still re- Wisconsin has a strong background
main the base behind current markets. in farmers markets. The Dane County
Recent years have shown an increase in Farmers Market is the. largest in the na-
the amount of people selling and shop- tion and has been rated as a top market
ping at Wisconsin's farmers markets. by both Good Housekeeping and Food
Why? and Wine. There is a waiting list of
On average, food travels 1500 miles nearly five years to become a vendor
from field to kitchen. Buying locally at the Dane County market, but that
reduces energy emissions that other- doesn't mean you can't get involved or
wise occur in the transportation of that begin your own local farmers market in
food. Some people think more consum- . your local area. Because the number of
ers have become aware of the benefits people wishing to sell goods is grow-
of purchasing locally grown food due ing, waiting lists are fairly common,
to the recent attention the media has but may make it easier to find vendors
been giving to local and organic pro- if you're interested in starting your own
duce. The idea of eating healthier is market. In the past ten years, the num-
certainly being promoted and markets ber of farmers markets in the U.S. has
make it easier to put that idea into prac- increased from 2,863 to 6,132.
tice. Farmers markets give consumers Increasing interest has been fueled
_ •.' - -to ee 0 know by echnology that makes it easier to
producers on a personal level, they also find, start, and promote farmers mar-
give assurance of food quality and pre- kets. Go to www.ams.usda.gov/FMPP
serve the local food heritage. to learn more about the .Farmers Mar-
Reducing the amount of processed ket Promotion Program, which was
food in the diet has been found to im- created to promote sales directly from
prove health. Food is more nutritious producers to consumers in agricultUral,
and tastes better when it is fresh. The markets. FMPP awarded over $4.5 mil-
existence of farmers markets means lion in grants in 2009. Additional sup-
the general public has better access to port and information can be found at.
healthful, quality foods. Markets also www.farmersmarketcoalition.org.
promote sustainability, which is de-
fined by Madison's Research, Educa- Other websites to check out:
.on. Action, and Policy on Food Group www.homegrowncow.com
(REAP) as the methods of growing and www.farmfreshatlas.org .
.- . ution "that protect the environ- www.localharvest.org
and support a high quality of life www.localdirt.org
e ommunities in which food is www.anythingwisconsin.com/farmers
-ed. processed, and distributed." markets.htm . .'
. goods at farmers markets www.wisconline.com/attractions/
::upplemental income for farmersmarkets.html
::e. ommercial farms have www.reapfoodgroup.org
c~,~ha£IoI.<'ii amily farms for years,
pnxhlce directly from ven- *Amy Czerniak is a Collegiate Farmers
Union member attending UW La Crosse with a
upports their liveli- major in communications. She grew up in the
-e found that money Taylor County Farmers Union Juniors, received
unity tends to stay the Farmers Union Torchbearer Award and was
timulating the local elected to both the WFU and National Farm-
es even estimate ers Union Youth Advisory Councils. A former
. 85 to 90 cents WFU camp staff member, Amy was selected as
one of two individuals nationwide to serve as a
remain in the 2011 summer intern with the National Farmers
Union office in Washington, DC.