Farmer Support
taste the local difference
Taste the Local Difference is Michigan’s local food marketing agency, founded on the mission "to educate consumers about the value of local food, and support food and farming entrepreneurs in building successful, well-connected, and thoughtful businesses."
The roots of Taste the Local Difference go back to 2002, when Groundwork (Michigan Land Use Institute at the time) published a report titled The New Entrepreneurial Agriculture: A Key Piece of the Farmland Protection Puzzle. The premise was that farmers, farmland, and the rural landscape we love were at risk of disappearing because developers could pay farmers more for their land than farmers could earn through the limited market options available at the time – largely bulk, global commodity markets that provided untenably low prices to farms. We used our communications expertise to elevate a trend emerging across the country: small farmers were pursuing an entrepreneurial way of doing business that also provided health, quality of life, and economic benefits to communities.
The Groundwork team saw that marketing services for local food producers would be essential. Groundwork created a marketing agency and named it Taste the Local Difference (TLD). The first project, launched in 2004, was a directory of farmers that showed what they grew and where they were located.
Over the years, TLD services expanded to include both hardcopy and online directories of farmers and producers, marketing consultation, market tests, surveys, brand development, brand awareness, and directly connecting producers to markets. Many people within the Northern Michigan food and farming scene credit TLD for being central to creating one of the strongest, most vibrant local food economies in the nation, despite the area’s small year-round population.
In late 2018 the company was sold and converted to a for-profit model with the purpose of expanding throughout the state and beyond.
For more information about Taste the Local Difference, please contact Paula Martin, Community Nutrition Specialist at paula@groundworkcenter.org.
Take Action!
- Order a copy or read online the Taste the Local Difference guide to local food.
- If you are in the food business, tap into the TLD marketing services to build your business.
- Shop local foods whenever and wherever you can!
GET INVOLVED!
Resources
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?
Taste the Local Difference News
In Memoriam: Helen Milliken
Helen Milliken joined the Michigan Land Use Institute board in 1998, but her work inspired the core values of the Institute when it was founded in 1995. Helen and Gov. William Milliken were among the first to highlight the connection between a clean environment and a strong economy-a philosophy that continues to guide our efforts today.
FoodCorps Diaries: Students’ first hoop house harvest
Late last month, students at Platte River Elementary harvested their first produce from their new school hoop house for a quick science lesson and delicious treat.
Interlochen Elementary School Starts Library Hydro-Farm
With the flick of a switch, we heard the steady whir of an electric motor and a whoosh of water circulating through three large hydroponic “grow systems.” These were the sounds of life: A winter indoor school garden. By noon on Tuesday, November 27th, Jill Hibbard’s 2nd grade and Rhonda Busch’s 3rd grade classes at Interlochen Elementary School transplanted and seeded a variety of herbs, leafy greens, lettuce, and peas in their very own library window hydro-farm.