SACRAMENTO, CA - Buying local and supporting the community are powerful influences in consumers’ shopping habits, especially as of late. To help capitalize on these influences, CA GROWN provides a multifaceted outreach and promotion program for California growers. I spoke with Chris Zanobini, Interim Executive Director, to get an inside scoop on how California's growers can get a boost in retail promotions with CA GROWN’s latest campaign.

“Farmers have stories to tell and want consumers to really understand where their food comes from—and how important California’s growers are to the process,” Chris stated. “CA GROWN is focused on connecting Californians with the people who grow and produce their food. We have promotional dollars available for customized retail promotions of California-grown products, and the relationships and tools to connect products and retailers in a meaningful way.”

One of the tools that will be implemented this season is CA GROWN’s latest campaign, 7 Reasons to Promote This Spring + Summer. The digital advertising platform targets consumers’ purchasing behaviors to bring more value to Californian-grown products, such as food, flowers, and wine. With over 400 different crops grown within California alone, the connection between the growers and consumers is key to increase presence at retail.

“Last month, we redirected our marketing efforts to an unprecedented California consumer campaign that includes robust print, digital, and retail activations,” Chris continued. “These focuses were intended to leverage our voice, create more sales for opportunities for all of California agriculture, and to generate renewed consumer focus on California-grown crops.”

CA GROWN was founded more than 18 years ago to build a platform that allowed California agriculture to collaborate like never before. Currently, the membership includes 29 commodity commission members plus more than 100 individual farmer/company member licensees. CA GROWN’s dedication to its members is especially important during challenging times, such as COVID-19, where the agricultural industry is still feeling the impact.

“It’s this strength-in-numbers and strong backing from our Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross that has allowed us to quickly pivot in response to the COVID-19 challenges facing the agriculture industry today,” Chris explained.

For more information on CA GROWN’s campaign, click here.

While the world keeps turning, ANUK will keep reporting on the latest from our fresh produce industry frontlines.

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