2022 baseline data
In 2022, the Partnership designed and conducted three surveys to collect baseline data from Minnesota producers, supply chain partners, and consumers to supplement what we know from the USDA’s Census of Agriculture.
The Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years by USDA, provides county-by-county data on land use and ownership for farms and ranches across the U.S. It gives voice to agricultural producers and influences policy decisions at the state and national level. But not all producers are equally represented by the Census of Agriculture — most often because of outreach barriers. The Census of Agriculture also does not capture any complementary market data from buyers and consumers about their purchases.
Webinar series: Introduction to the Statewide Cooperative Partnership's 2022 Surveys and Market Data.
| Survey | Producer | Supply chain | Consumer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target audience | Anyone in Minnesota who sells approximately $500 or more in agricultural products to local markets annually | Individuals, businesses, organizations, and institutions that make, distribute, or sell food for human consumption in Minnesota | Anyone who lives or works in Minnesota and buys food for personal consumption |
| Information collected | Crops grown for local and regional markets, market channels and challenges, access and barriers to resources, and participation in government programs and USDA Census of Agriculture | Purchasing factors, food sources, pricing, demand for Minnesota products, and barriers to local sourcing | Food expenditure patterns, food sources, preference for local and other product characteristics, familiarity, and affinity towards Minnesota Grown brand |
| Sample size | 497 | 37 | 820 |
Data sets, reports, and tables and figures from the three surveys are available at the Data Repository for U of M, including:
- Producer Survey Data Report – This report includes summaries of responses for each item in the producer survey.
- Supply Chain Survey Data Report – This report includes summaries of responses for each item in the supply chain survey.
- Consumer Survey Data – The consumer survey data file contains complete responses from the SCP consumer survey. The demographic information, including home zip code, age, gender, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment, is withheld in the collection but can be requested from the authors.
- Tables & Figures – Data from the three surveys are summarized into curated tables and figures for the state and seven regions. The tables and figures are provided in Word documents with alt text that can be copied and pasted by the user. Accompanying data files contain the values used to generate the tables and figures, which can be used to change the format by the user.
Partnership approach to data collection
Before developing the surveys, the Statewide Cooperative Partnership conducted a series of activities in 2021. These were designed to begin relationship-building and inform our data collection process based on what we already knew as a community:
Community Connectors
We also awarded seven Community Connector contracts (up to $3,000) to community-based groups to lead engagement in their communities.
These partners conducted surveys, focus groups, interviews, and informal discussions within their own networks. They learned what their communities thought about data collection, data needs, effective communication and engagement strategies, support needed for emerging farmers, and more. We used these insights to develop the three surveys and an outreach plan to collect responses.
In 2022, we awarded a second round of Community Connector contracts (up to $3,000) to support the promotion and solicitation of responses to the surveys. One key outcome of this model was that 38% of responses to the producer survey were directly linked to organizations that received one of these small contracts.
