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
Friendship Centers Connect Seniors in Emmet County to Fresh, Local Food
A Building Healthy Communities grant has helped the Friendship Centers of Emmet County implement a thriving Farm to Senior project which strives to bring delicious, nutritional and environmentally friendly food to more people around the county.
Think Like a Chef, Cook like a Dietitian, Eat Like a Local Farmer
Doctors typically learn little about nutrition, much less cooking, in medical school. But combining those topics with medicine is a trend that’s garnering headlines for Harvard Medical School with a conference it holds in California wine country; and Tulane University in food-rich New Orleans. Now, a local food version of this idea is launching in Traverse City, starting with a Culinary Medicine conference in September that will be a pilot for future programs. The theme: Think Like a Chef, Cook Like a Dietitian, Eat Like a Local Farmer.
Building a Healthier Leelanau: Leelanau Christian Neighbors Receives BHC Grant
Leelanau Christian Neighbors provides food for children living below the federal poverty line to take home with them over the weekend, a critical time when they might not get all the nutrition they need. The Lake Leelanau-based nonprofit received a Building Healthy Communities grant to build two dozen raised beds to grow produce for those it serves.