arkansas grown spring 2015 enewsletter

ARKANSAS GROWNSPRING 2015 NEWSLETTER

Each week P. Allen Smith hosts a giveaway through social media featuring a goodie bag of Arkansas Grown products. If you’d like to get the word out about your product, contact Zach Taylor at Zachary.Taylor@add.ar.gov about sending samples to be included in the weekly social media giveaway. It’s a great way to gain product exposure.

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P. A llen S m ith's R a d i o S h o w

Listen to an Arkansas Grown segm ent ofLocal Conversations an d Buyi ng Localwith Kent Walker of Artisan Ch eese

Click the radio image on the left to listen.

Spring is just a few short weeks away and the buzz is steady growing over the Local Conversations gathering with the Arkansas Agriculture Department and Farm Credit at South on Main restaurant in Downtown Little Rock this past month. The Arkansas Grown program brought together local farmers, farmers’ market managers, chefs, restauranteurs, and grocery managers from across the state to exchange ideas on how to improve the quality of food reaching consumers. Here’s what some of those who attended were saying:

LocaL conversations

Let’s grow! encourage others to join at www.arkansasgrown.org.

facebook.com/arkansasgrown

@Arkansas_Grown™

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Diana Long, Little Rock

Farmers’ Market – “We are always looking to add more local, more Arkansas Grown and more Arkan-sas Made.”

Ally Mrachek, Nutrition Fayetteville Public Schools – “We love to tell the story of our [local] farmers. There are signs in our cafeteria with growers’ pictures and farm names.”

Andrea Leding, Vice-President, Farm Credit –

“When you’re in the grocery store and you’re shopping and you see the Arkansas Grown, it makes you have a warm feeling to know where your food is coming from. It can make a big impact on your choices [local] supermarkets and restaurants.”

Matt Bell, Chef/Owner, South of Main – “You see a movement of

reconnecting in what is old and what is great about the South and buying farm fresh is the next step.”

Jeffery Hall, Owner Hall Family Farms – “It takes events like this to bring us, farmers and restaurant owners, all together.”