Direct-to-Consumer Marketing
The Census of Agriculture, conducted by USDA’s National Agricultural
Statistics Service every 5 years, currently provides the only measurable
indicator of the direct-to-consumer local food marketing channel. However,
“direct-to-consumer marketing” and “direct sales to consumers” as defi ned
by the most recent agricultural census (2007) are not equivalent concepts.5
For example, catalog or Internet sales are included in the agricultural
census’s direct sales to consumers, but customers are typically not local