CCFB News» December 2022

Networking, teaching, and bringing home marketing tools were key takeaways from Illinois attendees of the National Agricultural Marketing Summit.

The summit, in which Illinois Farm Bureau was a sponsor and partner, was held Oct. 23-25 in Pensacola Beach, Florida.

The agenda covered equitable and inclusive food markets, marketing and business innovations, building partnerships and community collaboration, market research, trends and impact, and successful approaches to managing marketing risk.

Raghela Scavuzzo, IFB associate director of food systems development, along with other experts and resources from the public and private sector, gave presentations.

Illinois Farm Bureau sponsored four members, who shared their experiences with FarmWeek.

Ruth Zeldenrust is a farmer in southern Cook County who grows vegetables, corn, tomatoes, and peppers, and raises bees. She also has greenhouses where she raises bedding plants and vegetable starts.

“The summit intrigued me because we spend a lot of time trying to figure out new markets and trying to figure out what to do with the excess that we produce.

“You see a lot of the younger generations and there’s so much urban farming that I don’t know about; maybe we could collaborate.

“It’s been very eye-opening. I’m finding that people want to know what my past experiences have been and what doesn’t work and what do I think will work. I have met at least a dozen people that I have to follow up with. We’re sharing ideas and sharing the future.”

Originally printed in FarmWeek on October 31, 2022. Article by Tammie Sloup.