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
Glen Lake Community School hosts Apple Crunch and Farm to School celebration
Thousands of children and adults statewide will crunch into fresh Michigan apples on Wednesday, Oct. 25, in the fifth annual Michigan Apple Crunch, sponsored by Cherry Capital Foods. A celebration of the region’s farm to school success will follow the Apple Crunch event.
Changing School Food Choices Through Policy Reform
Healthy Kids, Healthy Michigan (HKHM), a coalition of public and private sector health advocates united to fight childhood obesity, has emerged as an important advocate for the 10 Cents a Meal program. HKHM’s Healthy Food Access Team provides important policy support to inform legislators about how 10 Cents is strengthening Michigan, bolstering both students’ health and farmers’ bottom lines.
Local Food Alliance, Food & Farming Network Benefit from Seed Grants
Thanks to a seed grant from the Michigan Local Food Council Network, the Petoskey-based Local Food Alliance of Northern Michigan will hold its fifth annual “Around the Table” conference on Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 4-8 p.m. with the theme of “Healthy Food for All.” The Food Alliance also plans to hire a part-time coordinator and facilitator to direct and expand its presence within the “Northern Farms Foodshed”.