PORTLAND, Ore. — Just in time for the New Year, the expanded, revised and visually stunning 2007-2008 Guide to Local and Seasonal Products is here to motivate the region’s chefs and food buyers to make a resolution to support local farmers and food producers. This annual buyer’s guide, published by Ecotrust’s Food and Farms program, Chefs Collaborative and the Washington State Department of Agriculture, connects farmers, ranchers, and fishermen with chefs, retailers, institutions, caterers, and other food buyers who look to purchase locally grown food products. For the first time, the new Guide includes Oregon Public School Food Service Directors, aiding farmers and local food processors in their efforts to contact these important institutional buyers directly.

“The Guide has swelled from 400 to more than 500 listings in the past year and has become an indispensable part of doing business for producers and buyers alike,” said Deborah Kane, vice president of Ecotrust’s Food and Farms program. “The Guide has evolved to meet the needs of the burgeoning local food movement in the Northwest and the latest edition is a goldmine of useful information for buyers and sellers of every scale.”

Copies of the new Guide to Local and Seasonal Products are available for $20 from Ecotrust by ordering online at: www.ecotrust.org/foodfarms/foodguide.html.

Now in its seventh edition, Guide entries are listed alphabetically, so producers and buyers can easily cross reference each other by name. As an added feature, producers are now indexed by location and product type, and buyers by location. An eye-catching redesign and a more intuitive layout, makes the latest edition of the Guide a smart companion for producers and buyers, alike.

In addition to basic contact information, Guide users will find agricultural practices, farm/restaurant/retail descriptions, minimum order requirements, email, website, specialty products, best times to contact, and delivery and receiving schedules.

A companion website makes the Guide fully available and searchable online at www.farmerchefconnection.org. Now with a more user-friendly interface, the companion website is searchable by name, keyword or location. The online version can be easily updated throughout the year by producers and buyers.

About Ecotrust’s Food and Farms Program www.ecotrust.org/foodfarms
Since 2001, Ecotrust’s Food and Farms program has been investing in building direct market connections between farmers, ranchers, and fishermen and restaurant chefs, grocery retail buyers, institutions and distributors. One of five major program areas of the Portland, Ore.-based conservation organization Ecotrust, the Food and Farms program is building a vision and constituency for a sustainable, regional food system.

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Editor’s note: High resolution images of the Guide to Local and Seasonal Products are available upon request.