We might not all be farmers, but we’re all eaters! Friends of Family Farmers’ Eater Program helps consumers understand the difficulties that Oregon family farmers face in trying to remain financially viable while farming in a socially and environmentally responsible way.
Oregon Pasture Network Product Guide
The Oregon Pasture Network (OPN) Product Guide is designed to connect eaters with family-scale pasture based livestock and poultry producers across Oregon. The livestock producers in our Oregon Pasture Network are located throughout the state and offer high-quality products from animals that have been raised outdoors, on pasture, in a humane and ecologically responsible and sustainable manner.
This OPN Product Guide is a tool to help you find pasture raised products in your region. It profiles producers and identifies where their products can be found, including grocery stores, on restaurant menus, at farmers markets and farms stands, or through “Herd-Shares.”
InFARMation
In an effort to educate and mobilize eaters to support socially and ecologically responsible food producers, we created InFARMation, a regular educational event held around the state since January 2009. These events bring eaters and farmers together (sometimes over beer) to talk about the most pressing issues facing Oregon’s family farms and sustainable local food systems.
Over the years, InFARMation events have taken place in Salem, Central Oregon, Corvallis, Eugene and Portland. Find out about upcoming events at our main InFARMation page. Beginning in 2020, due to COVID-19, we now hold these as virtual events so tune in from all corners of the state!
Fill Your Pantry
Since 2015, FoFF has hosted Fill Your Pantry Community Bulk Buying events in Portland. Fill Your Pantry is an event organized by various groups around the state, and has become an excellent opportunity to purchase bulk quantities of staple and storage crops directly from farmers. We encourage participants to support farmers in a big way by using Fill Your Pantry to stock up with bulk quantities of locally grown dried beans, grains, flours, nuts, honey, root veggies, garlic, onions, winter squash, pasture-raised meats and more. Fill Your Pantry is a great way to support local farmers, foster urban and rural connections and help strengthen our farm-direct local food system. Learn more about our past Fill Your Pantry events here.
Outreach to Oregon Eaters & Consumers
Consumers have the potential to wield a lot of power when it comes to policy and legislation that impacts food systems and sustainable agriculture. So it’s important that ‘eaters’ know where their food comes from, how it is produced, and how we can all work together to support sustainable local food systems and family farms. Our community outreach efforts include tabling at Farmers Markets, conferences, movie showings, and other events – and we need volunteers to help! If this sounds fun to you, please sign up to volunteer.