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For several years, the people who prepare school lunches have been using more and more apples, carrots and other food grown by local producers.

But there is an even bigger market for local food in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and hospitals, a University of Minnesota extension study has concluded. Health institutions serve fewer people than schools but they serve them year round and they have demand for a broader set of products.

 by extension educator Ryan Pesch of health facilities and schools in a 15-county area of northwestern Minnesota.

In all, Pesch concluded, health and education institutions in that area could grow into a half-million-dollar annual market for food producers, based on what food officials told him of their potential appetite.

In the survey, those officials reported last year they bought a tiny fraction of that amount.

But at the same time, Pesch was involved in a study by North Dakota State University that found reluctance among northwestern Minnesota growers to embrace the wholesale approach needed to take advantage of such markets. Most prefer the farmers markets and other direct sales to consumers that they practice now, that research showed.

So what is needed, Pesch concluded, is greater education of producers about the potential market size and then assistance via aggregators or middlemen to help them get beyond direct marketing.

Minnesota News

Ground Level®: Amplifying Community Voices

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Dave Peters

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Two studies in northwestern Minnesota show the health care institutions can be a bigger market for local food than schools but that so far most producers of specialty crops prefer to stick with direct sales like farmers markets.

Health facilities could use more local food than schools

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