Collaborative Marketing for Small Farms

Collaborative marketing is a realistic solution for small- to mid-size farms that are seeking access to larger markets, but are unable to individually serve such accounts. In collaborative marketing, several like-minded producers join together formally to market and distribute farm products, but not necessarily under the governance or control of a cooperative.
The range of farm products that can be sold through a collaborative group is as diverse as the farms themselves: meats, vegetables, forest products, fruits, grains, flowers, nursery & greenhouse products, cheeses and other dairy products, and livestock.
Collaborative marketing may influence many areas of your farm. By choosing to market jointly with other farms, you will adjust your planting intentions, harvesting and storage techniques, crop schedule, certifications, buyer relationships and many other farm office decisions. It is not a decision to be taken lightly. In fact, establishing some type of business collaboration may be one of the more complicated decisions you will make for your farm.
The financial bottom line for family farms is profitability. Collaborative marketing could reduce your marketing expenses, but it might not make your farm profitable overall. Fortunately, there are ways for you to collaborate with other farms for trial periods to assess the economic strengths or weaknesses. The opportunities opened up through multi-farm marketing need to be tempered with good agreements and procedures.
Generally, small farms should consider temporary, limited-scale collaborative projects before developing substantial business agreements. Such arrangements can be a simple as consignment sales, or as complex as a corporation dedicated to marketing and distribution.
The PDF below contains information on creating a collaborative marketing strategy: considering the different types of collaborative marketing business structures, seeking attorney assistance to develop a collaborative marketing agreement, managing commmon problems, and a handy worksheet to help you organize the basic aspects of a collaborative marketing agreement.
Collaborative Marketing for Small Farms: Selling & Working Together (pdf; 447KB)


Upcoming Events
2025 New York State Potato School

February 11 - February 12, 2025
Waterloo, NY
This year's program will feature speakers covering critically important topics like disease management, updates in storage techniques, new varieties, and other production management practices. New for this year will be the Processor Panel where guests will have the chance to interact with some of the major chip processors in the northeast. Your participation will also earn you DEC and CCA points.
Remote Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Training
February 12, 2025
Join Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange and Oneida Counties, the Cornell Vegetable Program, Harvest NY, and the Eastern NY Horticulture Team on Feb. 12 for a remote Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) training. Good Agricultural Practices is a voluntary food safety audit program requiring minimum standards for the production, handling, packing, and storing of fresh fruits and vegetables, and is required by some buyers. Trainers will cover food safety best management practices related to worker training, preharvest assessments and wildlife management, water testing, postharvest handling, hygienic equipment design and efficient wash-pack setups, how to write a farm food safety plan, and more. The training will follow the USDA GAPs audit checklist so that farms will be prepared for an audit. A NYSDAM GAPs auditor will join us to discuss audit logistics and answer questions from participants. Following the course, we will offer a series of virtual office hours to follow up with course participants to assist them with writing their farm food safety plan, which is mandatory for the GAPs audit. Participants will receive a certificate of course completion after the training.
Food Safety Lunch and Learn Webinar Series
February 11, 2025 : Part One: What's Going on with Food Safety?
NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets FSMA inspectors are expected to step up farm visits this season. Why are they showing up on the farm asking about FSMA? Aren't we exempt? This noontime hour we will discuss the purpose of the farm visits and what produce farmers need to know.
February 18, 2025 : Part Two: What Counts as Food Processing?
In this session, we will discuss what counts as processing and what doesn't. Stories of inspectors coming to farmers markets and auctions telling some growers certain products can't be sold usually without much explanation. We will try to make some sense of things and clear up some misunderstandings so hopefully the upcoming season goes smoothly.
February 25, 2025 : Part Three: Traceability - Benefits for Food Safety and Beyond
Can having a traceback process for your produce (and other farm products) make good business sense regardless of FSMA regulations? We will (try to) make the case for farms to have some sort of traceability mechanism in place.