In honor of Going Local Week 2010, the Purdue Extension office in Cass County decided to hold a contest for area producers.
“We wanted to do something that would involve the whole community, but would be relatively easy to carry out,” said Tamara Ogle, Purdue Extension Cass County agriculture educator. “One of the hardships producers have is getting the word out to customers.”
The extension office wanted people to hear about local businesses and take advantage of Cass County products.
The Local Producers contest is sponsored by the Purdue Extension Cass County and radio station WSAL. The contest will take place during Going Local Week 2010, a statewide event scheduled for Sept. 5-12.
According to Ogle, Going Local is a partnership among Purdue Extension Service offices, several colleges and producers around Indiana.
“The idea is to promote local food or local food businesses,” she said. “How we do it in our own county is up to us. For Cass County, we decided to hold a local producer contest.”
Entrants must own or operate a Cass County farm that is engaged in agri-tourism or has agricultural products available for retail sale.
The businesses can offer food products or agriculture services. She said the agriculture services could include a landscaping business that grows plants and turns around to use the plants in landscaping.
Agri-tourism business would include any farms that offer tours or a winery with a tasting room.
Anyone interested in participating needs to fill out an application with a few questions about the business. The applications and rules are available online at www.extension.purdue.edu/cass.
The deadline to submit applications to the extension office is Aug. 27. Winners will be notified the following week. For more information, call the Purdue Extension Cass County office at 574-753-7750.
The winning farms will be featured separately on WSAL’s Talk of the Town from Sept. 8 through 10.
The winners will be chosen by a panel of judges, one each from the radio station, the extension office and the community.
Ogle believes Going Local Week 2010 will benefit everyone who enters.
“They will start thinking about the story they need to tell the consumer,” she said.
The consumers will also win by hearing the stories of unique businesses in the area.
Ogle said it’s important to promote local agriculture.
“I think it’s important to have pride in our county and realize some of the great things we have here,” she said. “We go to the grocery store and don’t realize where the food comes from. I think it’s interesting for people to see where their food comes from and support the local entrepreneurs in our area.”
Ogle also encourages residents to keep something else in mind.
“You can participate in Going Local Week every week by going to the farmer’s market,” she said. “We have a really huge farmer’s market for the size of town we have. To have a farmer’s market meet three times a week is extraordinary.”
• Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com
Local News
Related Photos
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MAKING HIS CHOICE: Logansport’s Joe Showley picks out some green tomatoes for Mike and Lily Pickens of Lucerne. Showley is one of several local farmers who sell produce at the farmer’s market. Angi Turnpaugh
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HOW MUCH: Lynn Fry of Logansport weighs small pumpkins for a customer at the farmer’s market.
Discussion
Going local contests promotes area farmers
Purdue extension office seeks farmers to participate
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