Grant-Funded Programming
In October 2021, WASCA received a Farmers Market Promotion Program grant award from the USDA Agriculture Marketing Service. WASCA’s Grant Committee had submitted an application for the grant in June 2021.
According to the USDA website:
The Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) funds projects that develop, coordinate and expand direct producer-to-consumer markets to help increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products by developing, coordinating, expanding, and providing outreach, training, and technical assistance to domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs, agritourism activities, online sales or other direct producer-to-consumer (including direct producer-to-retail, direct producer-to-restaurant and direct producer-to-institutional marketing) market opportunities.
In our application, we framed our project with the following executive summary:
Washington may not be “America’s Dairyland,” but it is a cheese state. There are 53 licensed cheesemakers in Washington. This number includes farmstead cheesemakers who are dairy farmers, artisan cheesemakers who purchase milk for value‐added cheesemaking, and industrial‐level creameries. Most Washington cheesemakers produce cheeses on small or medium scale, selling less than $250,000 annually. Many of their cheeses are not available in stores, as they sell exclusively from farm stands or farmer’s markets. The Washington State Cheesemakers Association (WASCA) was founded in 2015 to support cheesemakers through education, promotion, and collaboration. FMPP funds would assist WASCA in efforts to educate consumers about the variety and quality of cheeses made in Washington. Many consumers became conscious of the importance of their local food economy during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Our organization would like to build that momentum to help Washington cheesemakers expand their market reach and attract more customers.
This project will result in increased sales to cheesemakers and dairy farmers producing fluid cheese milk by way of: 1) Strengthening cheesemakers’ ability to draw long‐term sales by providing them educational trainings in food safety, regulations, and cheesemaking science; 2) Establishing a “Washington Cheese Month” celebrated with in‐person and virtual events to engage cheesemakers and farmers, consumers, and vendors; 3) Building a “Meet the Cheesemakers” campaign to connect consumers directly with cheesemakers via agritourism, festivals, educational seminars and tastings, and other communications; and 4) Developing a retail marketing campaign for Washington cheeses sold in grocery stores, including a cheesemonger education program and merchandise signage.
Our project had four objectives that needed to be completed by September 2024.
Objective 1:
Cheesemaker Education
In order to strengthen cheesemakers’ ability to draw repeat sales and sustain growth, provide educational training to increase cheesemaker food safety knowledge, regulatory understanding, cheesemaking skills, and business know‐how. These trainings will be held in‐person and virtually, and recorded sessions will be available online for subsequent viewing.
Objective 2:
Washington Cheese Month
In order to increase consumer knowledge of Washington cheeses, which still lags behind knowledge of domestic cheeses made in other regions, dedicate one month of every year to local cheese advocacy through Washington Cheese Month. This dedication will be supported by one large event, as well as retail and direct‐to‐consumer marketing promotions which will encourage consumers to try Washington cheeses and will celebrate the work of Washington cheesemakers and dairy farmers.
Objective 3:
Meet the Cheesemakers
In order to build relationships between cheesemakers and consumers, develop a series of smaller “Meet the Cheesemaker” events to take place over the course of three years in regions throughout the state that are home to a high density of licensed creameries (e.g., Whatcom, Skagit, Thurston, King, and Okanogan counties, etc.). Design these events so that consumers can chat with cheesemakers, sample their cheeses, and learn where to purchase those cheeses on a regular basis. Other local producers whose agricultural products (e.g., wine, beer, cider, preserves, etc.) pair well with cheese may also be included to help support the cheeses.
Aside from these official events, partner with regional organizations to execute the plan for Washington’s version of “The Hunt,” a state‐wide scavenger hunt styled after one developed in 2020 by the Vermont Cheese Council (VCC). The VCC has given WASCA the endorsement to create Washington’s own version of The Hunt. This event will be self‐guided and encourage participants to visit specific businesses, historical sites, and natural parks and attractions, and engage with communities in each region of the state. The Hunt will use WASCA’s “Find Washington Cheese” map as a base from which to guide consumers to visit creameries. This will also benefit agritourism, farm stands, and farmers markets, as well as smaller communities that are not usually host to larger festivals.
To ensure all cheesemakers are able to benefit from the additional promotion of the events in Objective 3 and Objective 4, a photographer will be retained to prepare photos and videos for those cheesemakers who do not currently have professional marketing materials. The photographer will travel to the creameries to photograph the cheeses, cheesemaking process, and farm or farm stand as applicable. The availability of photos and videos on the creameries’ websites, on WASCA’s website, and on supporting materials for events and promotions will provide an extra avenue for consumers to see who their local cheesemakers are and learn more about them.
Objective 4:
Retail Marketing Campaign
In order to encourage shoppers to choose local cheeses over domestic commodity or imported cheeses, facilitate a retail marketing campaign to connect grocery store shoppers with the local cheeses sold in larger stores’ retail cases. This campaign will place WASCA’s “Choose Washington Cheese” sticker on Washington‐made cheeses in those cases, with supporting messaging on table‐top signage, shelf talkers, and other merchandising.
This campaign to be supported by an education campaign for cheesemongers that will include trainings and educational seminars, as well as access to an archive of tasting notes and information about the local cheeses they carry. The educational seminars and the archive of tasting notes and cheese information are included in the development of this campaign.
We were required to provide a 25% match to the federal funds we requested in our grant application. That match could be in cash, or in-kind contributions. We would never have been able to provide the match without the generosity and commitment of the following organizations who partnered with us to make this grant project possible: