Know Your Farmer, Know Your LocaleSM
* Locale - noun [loh-kal] A place or locality, including the events, people, food & wine associated with it.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


What Is The Difference Between The Produce And Locale Areas?

You May Profile the Following Types of Businesses on Top10Fresh.com
  • Local Farms (includes Ranches)
  • Farmer's Markets showcasing Local Farms
  • Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) from Local Farms
  • Agricultural Support Businesses that Support Local Farms
  • Grocery stores & Restaurants that purchase from Local Farms
Since this site was designed to allow Independent Farmers or Ranchers and their Produce to be reviewed, all businesses are often referred to simply as "Locales" on the site just to keep things simple. Therefore, all businesses are referred under the collective label of "Locale" and can be found in the Locale area of the site.

In contrast, in the Produce area of the site, which lists the different produce items grown by the Independent Growers, Farmers or Ranchers, reviews from "regular folk" can be submitted, and these are presented as standard "customer reviews". Editorial reviews from experts can also appear on the Produce pages.

All Produce items have a Locale link which connects them with the associated "Locale" in the Locale area of the site. So when produce items are added to the site (and you can submit produce items yourself if you wish to - see the discuss for how to do this low in the page) one of the requirements is that the associated Locale ID is specified for that produce item. When you submit a produce item it must be associated with the actual grower, and not a Farmer's Market or other non-grower business. More on the Locale ID in the next section.

In addition to having a "locale detail page" in the Locale area, where reviews are placed for the locale in question, each grower also has a "locale profile page" which may contain more information about the locale, including a business image or logo, contact information, and so on. Growers are themselves expected to maintain the details of their Locale profile page. They can do this after they have registered as a member and claimed their locale profile. Information on how to do this is presented lower in this page.


What Is A Locale ID?

Each Independent Farmer or Rancher (Locale) on our site is assigned a unique ID that we use to identify them. Non-grower businesses are also assigned a unique ID in the same way.

The Locale ID is a string consisting of the 2-character identifier for the state in which they are located, followed by a 4-digit integer ID. So for example, MA1234 would be a valid Locale ID. Another example would be CA0123 (note the use of leading zeros to pad the numeric portion of the identifier to 4 digits).

Locale IDs are issued by us. They are issued automatically when you add your own locale (business) profile to the site - something you should only do if you are sure that a profile has not already been created for you by us. You can search for a given locale profile by visiting the Locale area of the site and searching by name or zipcode, say. If you perform a zipcode search you will uncover the business even if the name is slightly different from what you expect it might be. So a zipcode search will prove more reliable in turning up a given business.


I Am A Grower - How Do I Claim An Existing Locale Profile Or Add One To The Site?

If you are an Independent Grower, Farmer or Rancher and you have received an invitation from us by mail to claim your "Locale Profile" you can do so by visiting the special member registration URL that was mentioned in the letter you received. In the letter you will also find information about how to claim your locale profile by supplying specific information that "verifies" that you are the grower for that profile.

The page you will reach by following the special registration URL for growers is a registration page that contains extra fields for growers. If you are unable to find that page please CONTACT US and we will point you in the right direction. Be sure to mention the Locale ID that you are interested in, e.g. CA0123.

Note that you do NOT want to register as a regular member if your intent is to claim an existing locale profile. But if you do register as a regular member by accident you can always contact us to have an existing locale profile assigned to you.

Others who wish to register as regular members so that they can either submit new produce items, or else review existing produce items, can find the registration form by clicking on the link in the navigation bar that says "Profile | Register". Again, if you are a grower and you wish to claim an existing locale profile you need to either visit the special URL that we have mailed to you, OR if you have searched the site and you are certain that your business is not represented on the site in the Locale area, you can elect to add your locale profile yourself. On most pages in the Locale area of the site you will find a link in the upper left of the page to add a locale profile. Once you have submitted the profile it will automatically be assigned a special Locale ID that identifies your business profile on the site.

Certain non-grower businesses can also be added using the same business submission process. Farmer's Markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), Agricultural Support Businesses, and also food stores and restaurants that purchase produces from the growers listed on the site.

If you have added a locale profile to the site yourself, you will own it and you can edit it. If you find that a profile has already be created but you have not yet claimed it, you can do so by contacting us. We will need to know your member ID (integer value mentioned in your member profile) before we can assign the locale profile to you. Once you have claimed a profile, you will then be able to edit it. You will need to be logged in to do so.

To edit a particular profile, locate the profile page in question and look for an "Edit Profile" link near the top of the page. If you are not logged in you will be asked to do so, if you are logged in and you have previously claimed the locale profile you will be presented with a page of editable fields that you can modify. Make your changes to your business profile and then save them. Your changes will be published on the NEXT site revision, which should take place within a day You will be able to see your changes if you revisit the edit form, so you will be able to verify that they have been saved, even if they are not yet publicly visible on the site.


How Do I Review The Produce Items?

If you simply wish to review produce items that you find on our site you can do so after you have registered as a regular member. In order to register, first click on the link in the navigation bar that says "Profile | Register". This will take you to a page that offers a link to the registration page, and also displays the login fields to use if you are already registered and are ready to login.

Once you have filled in the registration form and hit the submit button you will be emailed an account activation link, so be sure to use a valid email address when you register!


How Do I ADD Produce Items?

We DO accept the submission of produce items so that they may be reviewed. Items that are acceptable for submission are fresh produce, fresh meats, and fresh dairy. Every submitted item must be associated with a particular farm on our site (farms, or growers, are found in the Locale area of the site). To associate a produce item with a farm you will need to located the "Locale ID" which is listed on all of the locale pages on the site. See the discussion higher in this page about Locale IDs. The numeric portion of the Locale ID will always be less than 6000. Numbers higher than this are reserved for the non-grower businesses that are also present in the Locale area of the site, such as Farmer's Markets and Agriculture Support Businesses.

If you wish to add a product item so that it can be reviewed, go to the Produce area of the site. At the top of Produce pages, on the left hand side you will see a link that says something like "Click Here to Add A Produce Item". Click on the link and follow directions.

Note: If you do not know the corresponding Locale ID to associate with the produce item you wish to submit, or if the farmer, grower, or rancher is not yet present on the site you will not be able to add the produce item - all produce needs to be associated with the correct farmer, grower, or rancher.


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NOTE: We are updating profiles as quickly as we can - but if you would like to request that we update a grower's locale profile immediately, CLICK HERE and put in the Locale ID (i.e. CA5005) and we will update the requested profile immediately.

We also provide a printable PDF of the instructions for How To Add A Business and How To Add A Produce Item to the site.


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