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
Taste the Local Difference to Produce Magazine with ‘Traverse’
New this year, MyNorth Media, publishers of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine, will produce Michigan Land Use Institute’s Taste the Local Difference as a magazine that combines the utility of the previous maps with fascinating stories and stunning photography of the Northern Michigan food scene.
Kids Are Cooking It Up in Northern Michigan
Two chefs enter the room, prepared to demonstrate the latest dish they’ve learned to perfect. The audience is at the edge of their seats, craning to catch a glimpse of every last ingredient and technique required to recreate the recipe at home. But this isn’t the latest stadium battle of Iron Chef or a scene from Chopped. The audience members are no more than 6 years old, and the chefs are only a few years older.
Agriculture Forum: A definition of food, almost
Everything we do revolves around food, yet it’s not so easy to define. Go ahead, give it a shot. Now take that definition and ask yourself: Do soft-drinks qualify? How about alcoholic beverages, or bottled water, or fast-food or a protein bar with mysterious ingredients that look a lot like that pharmaceutical ad? This is our challenge as we try to measure our work in the food system, and it’s just the beginning.