Our History
by Made Local Magazine cofounder Terry Garrett
Around 2012, the Sonoma County Food System Alliance (FSA), while working under a funding grant from Sonoma County Health, composed an incredibly comprehensive Food Action Plan following a thorough analysis of the county’s food system.
As a policy document, it was not intended as easy reading material for the general public. Having the public understand the important findings and ideas would be an important component to the action plan’s success.
How did we tie the convergence points together?
By recognizing a community good (our local food system) that needs communications support prioritized over corporate profits. We adopted the FSA’s action plan as our editorial and news guide for content, and thus the idea for Made Local Magazine was birthed.
The smartphone and online communications had so disrupted media by 2012 that no one dared start a print magazine that relied on local food advertising. We cut out the corporation and formed profit-sharing partnerships with the magazine team and subsidized lower prices for advertisers. It is primarily a print product (high-touch) and available where you buy your groceries (another high-touch experience).
GO LOCAL’s mission is simple: Shift market share to locally owned companies where possible. In the 10 years that Made Local Magazine has been telling the stories of the dedicated folks driving our local food system, hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed to local companies that otherwise might not have.
