The MoCo Made initiative was first launched in Fall 2017 in partnership with the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation to highlight our County’s vibrant local food and beverage sector. The MoCo Made initiative is intended to offer resources and support to local farms and food and beverage producers, and to increase the visibility and awareness of the diverse products made and grown here in Montgomery County. In a recent survey (Fall 2019), 69% of MoCo Made businesses indicated that their businesses have benefited from their participation in MoCo Made, with 47% citing an increase in brand recognition and 42% citing an increase in new individual customers in just the first year of the program.
Since launching MoCo Made, we have partnered with local retailers who carry products featured in the Guide to promote MoCo Made and identify the store as a place to buy MoCo Made products, as well as by providing copies of the Guide for any visitor to the store to browse or to keep. More than 20 local retailers, farmers markets, and breweries are now displaying MoCo Made branded window decals, shelf signage, and stickers to make it easier for consumers and buyers to identify Montgomery County products, and to support the farmers and artisans producing foods and beverages here in our County. Check out our searchable Food and Beverage Guide to learn more about the businesses in our MoCo Made community!
When your business registers for the MoCo Made Program, you will receive:
Interested in becoming a MoCo Made retail partner? Please contact [email protected]
Overview and Impact of the MoCo Made Program
MCFC’s MoCo Made Program aims to increase food producers’ access to customers, infrastructure, and financing in Montgomery County. MoCo Made connects food producers to wholesale and retail markets, increases the visibility of locally produced food, provides educational resources for food producers, supports local procurement expansion, and convenes farmers and packaged food producers. The MoCo Made Program makes use of marketing, product labels, signage, social media communications, and other promotions, allowing consumers to identify and purchase locally-produced food.
The MoCo Made Program builds upon the successes of Food and Beverage Guide, which was designed in collaboration with MCEDC. The 2023 Guide features 83 local food producers that, through the MoCo Made Program, were promoted to 77 local retail and wholesale buyers of local food products. In addition, the MoCo Made Program leverages strategies to further increase the production capacity of small food producers, to better understand their infrastructure needs and barriers, and to facilitate farmers’ access to cooperative farm-to-table aggregation and distribution opportunities. In total, the MoCo Made Program increases opportunities for 558 Montgomery County farms, while also increasing the consumption of, and access to, locally produced food in Montgomery County. In 2023, the MoCo Made Program reached over 13,500 beneficiaries in Montgomery County, including residents, local farmers, food producers, and retailers. This work involves actively working to support local farms and food and beverage entrepreneurs navigating the complex post-pandemic marketplace, in everything from accessing new community and institutional customers, to sustaining operations despite projected supply chain disruptions and vacillating inflation, and with ongoing labor shortages and resource limitations.