Join Us

Get Listed!

Are you a local food business interested in joining Buy Fresh Buy Local Heart of Virginia? Our chapter covers the Heart of Virginia chapter includes the counties of Amelia, Appomattox, Brunswick, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, and Prince Edward counties. Membership is open to the following food businesses:

  • Farm & Producers
  • Farmers Markets
  • Retailer
  • Restaurants
  • Value-Added & Specialty Producers
  • Specialty Beverages

To learn more about our Member Agreement and Terms of Participation, visit here: 

Member Agreement

Registration

Registration is FREE to be listed on the Buy Fresh Buy Local Heart of Virginia website.

The Buy Fresh Buy Local Virginia directory is “powered by MarketMaker” meaning that it pulls relevant information from the BFBL Virginia MarketMaker profiles to showcase in our searchable, mappable directory. MarketMaker is a digital platform and database that coordinates local and regional food supply chains by matching farm products, capacity and capability with demand and need. Each business and farm in the database is represented as a profile that provides details on their respective product characteristics and practices. Profile updates are synchronized across all participating domains, such as farm, producer, or commodity organizations. Using the MarketMaker system provides a variety of benefits to BFBL participants and partners:

  • MarketMaker provides support for farmers and local food businesses to connect with business-to-business and wholesale opportunities, on top of the Buy Fresh Buy Local promotional support to reach more individual customers. Check out their Buy/Sell Forum and real-time product availability trade alerts.
  • By working together to build a single database rather than a variety of unique lists, we can collaboratively take on the administrative effort of building and maintaining a comprehensive and up-to-date directory.
  • Updating a single MarketMaker profile updates the information for organizations across the State. MarketMaker helps reduces the number of profiles managed by farmers and local food businesses.

Create Your MarketMaker Profile

Join the Buy Fresh Buy Local Heart of Virginia network by creating your MarketMaker Profile, and choosing “Buy Fresh Fresh Buy Local Heart of Virginia” when asked about your affiliations. Your MarketMaker profile includes details about your product offerings and services. The more detail you add to your MarketMaker profile, the more searches you’ll appear in, and the better Buy Fresh Buy Local Heart of Virginia can promote you! Here’s what to expect when creating your MarketMaker Profile:

1. Create an Account 

Submit your basic contact info at va.foodmarketmaker.com to create an account.

2. Build Your Public Business Profile

Select your primary type of business (Farmer, Farmers Market, Retail, etc.) and then follow the prompts to identify specifics, including:

  • Products you sell (including their form: fresh, frozen, etc.)
  • Methods of Sale (be sure to add Online Ordering, Local Delivery, etc. is available!)
  • Payment methods you accept (be sure to include EBT-SNAP, and Incentive programs, etc. if available!)

3. Select your Buy Fresh Buy Local Affiliation

When you reach the “Affiliations” page, check the box for Buy Fresh Buy Local Heart of Virginia Affiliation. Be sure to also select Buy Fresh Buy Local Virginia to be featured on the statewide map

4. Add Your Connections 

You’ll be redirected to your new profile, where you can identify the farms and businesses with whom you do business as “connections.”  These connections increase transparency within our network and help Buy Fresh Buy Local participants to promote each other. When editing your MarketMaker profile, click the blue “edit” button in the Connections section of the profile to add your connections. 

5. Update and Add to Your Profile As Needed

Login to your account anytime to update or add information on your business. The more up-to-date your profile is, the more searches you’ll appear in, and the more customers you’ll connect with. Add photos, a narrative “About Us” section. Updates may take 24 hours to appear in the Buy Fresh Buy Local Heart of Virginia directory.

Tip: The first 200 characters/40 words of your “About Us” section will appear in your search listing at Buylocalshenvalley.org. Make it count!

Tip: If you run multiple types of businesses, you can add multiple profiles to your account. For example, if you are a Farm that also offers Agritourism opportunities like farm tours or events, create your Farm profile first, and then add an “Agritourism” profile to your MarketMaker Account.

For more information contact:
Joanne Jones
ANR Agent, Charlotte County, Virginia Cooperative Extension
jojenki1@vt.edu
Phone: 434-542-5884

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