Press release from Cornell Cooperative Extension in Batavia:
Fayetteville, NY – The Farmers Market Federation of NY, in partnership with SUNY Cobleskill and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County, is pleased to announce the first ever Farmers Market Managers Professional Certification Course to kickoff Nov. 10th to 12th on the SUNY Cobleskill Campus: FMM PRO.
This program will create New York State’s first Market Manager Certification designation and will be recognized through the SUNY system.
The FMM PRO course curriculum will include all aspects of maintaining and growing a successful farmers market given in 22 workshops covering three main topics:
1. Nuts and Bolts of Managing Markets
2. Reaching Out to the Market Community
3. Building Market Systems
Program participants who complete the full curriculum will be receive certificates signed by the three partnering agencies and will have earned the title of Certified Market Manager. As a SUNY FMM PRO Certified Market Manager, graduates of the program will:
· Be fully knowledgeable in today’s best practices for managing farmers markets;
· Learn tactics to expand and optimize their farmers market;
· Be equipped to build successful relationships with farmers and shoppers;
· Be able to use their certification to leverage funding and support for their market.
The cost of the SUNY Farmers Market Managers Professional Certification will be an affordable $200 for 12 months of access to the online curriculum. Participants will need to complete all 22 sessions within this time frame, including submitting a quiz and assignment from each section for review in order to receive certification. In addition, they will need to earn two continuing-education credits bi-annually by attending special sessions at the Federation’s annual Farmers Market Managers Conference and/or specified manager training webinars in order to keep their Certification active.
Nov. 10th to 12th a conference to be held at SUNY Cobleskill, will be used to launch the development of the course. This will replace the Farmers Market Federation’s Annual Conference that normally takes place in late winter, with the regular conference schedule resuming in early 2017. The schedule will include an intense three days of workshops, tours of the SUNY Cobleskill Ag Facilities, and an opportunity to network with market managers from around the state.
The workshops will be recorded and used to form the full online curriculum for the FMM PRO Certification Program and will be placed on Moodle.com, an online learning platform, under the sponsorship of Cornell University. SUNY Cobleskill students will have the unique opportunity to become New York State’s next generation of farmers market managers. As space is available, the three-day conference will be free to enrolled students who use their student meal.
Attendees of the Nov. 10th to 12th conference will have a jump start on their official Farmers Market Manager Certification as they will not need to view the sessions they participated in at the conference on Moodle. In addition, for each day they participated fully in the conference, each participant will receive a $25 voucher toward the cost of the online FMM Pro Certification Course.
Interested parties can register for the conference here: http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/fmmpropay/ by paying online or mailing in the registration form with a check made out to the Farmers Market Federation of NY. FMM Pro Certification registration will be made available at a later date.
All mail-in conference registrations must be received by Nov. 4th after which registrations can only be made on the website above and will be subject to a $10 per day walk-in fee.
For more information on the content of the sessions, agenda, hotel information and directions, visit: http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/fmmpro or contact deggert@nyfarmersmarket.com.
FMM PRO is funded by a grant from Governor Cuomo’s Fresh Connect Program, as part of the Governor’s initiative to build bridges between Upstate NY and Downstate NY, as well as build connections between consumers and NYS agriculture.
Brandie L. Schultz
Administrative Assistant
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County
420 E. Main St.
Batavia NY 14020
Phone: (585) 343-3040, ext. 101
Fax: (585) 343-1275
http://genesee.cce.cornell.edu/
