Grow Your Green

A pilot for farmers entering the market. Grow Your Green: Access to Markets runs a six month curriculum, May to November, for growers of color, women, veterans, LGBTQ+, and immigrant farmers. Sina War directs it. We shot and cut the six training videos that carry the lessons.

1. 01.Market landscapeLocal food systems, trends, and what customers want.
2. 02.BrandingA farm identity customers remember.
3. 03.Public relationsCommunity, media, and reputation.
4. 04.SellingNew markets, sales strategy, and visual merchandising.

Tell your own story. Raji led a workshop for the cohort on marketing with technology: the tools a farmer can use to reach customers directly and sell more of what they grow.

November 7, 2025. The Emerging Farmers Conference turned twenty at the Heritage Center of Brooklyn Center. We built a set in the marketplace: a green backdrop, two chairs, and a basket of produce. Sina hosted. Journalists, market directors, designers, and farmers took the guest chair, one for each lesson, while the cohort watched from the floor. Raji took a turn in the chair on the market landscape. Every conversation became footage for the next cohort.

Every farmer in the cohort sat for a portrait. Then we opened the backdrop to every farmer at the conference. A professional photo for a market sign, a website, or a grant application, taken the same day.

Derek Ellis and Tammy Villegas finished the pilot. Graduates who hold a Minnesota Grown license qualify for the state’s digital marketing cost share, which covers website design and digital marketing. Both put it toward a brand story. We filmed them on one June weekend: the market, the farm, a sit down interview, and product photography. Each farm got a film, a photo library, and a website.