Education and Technical Assistance to Increase Value-Added Processing Capacity in the Garden State

Commodities

Practices

• Crop Production: food processing facilities/community kitchens, food product quality/safety
• Education and Training: technical assistance, workshop
• Farm Business Management: value added

Project Focus:

This project will primarily engage small-scale and beginning farmers throughout New Jersey that employ organic and regenerative management practices, though project activities will serve and benefit all interested producers regardless of location, size, or farm management practices. The majority of small and beginning farmers in NJ engage in direct marketing sales channels (including community farmers markets, CSA programs, on-farm markets, and agri-tourism activities), within which value-added processed goods bring tremendous value by increasing product offerings, reducing food waste, increasing year-round sales and improving crop profitability. Anecdotal feedback from NJ producers along with both IRB-approved surveys and informal farmer surveys consistently highlight the demand for education, technical support, and infrastructure access to support value-added processing activities in the Garden State.

Solution and Approach:

This project will employ a straightforward and comprehensive approach to increasing farm producers' value-added processing capacity in New Jersey. First, educational engagements will be hosted in-person and digitally to provide a holistic overview of value-added processing and to train producers on food safety, both on the farm and in the kitchen. Technical experts (processors, consultants, educators and service providers) will develop fact sheets, technical resources and guidance documents to complement the educational engagements offered to establish a clearinghouse of information for ongoing reference and sharing at farmersprocess.org (a domain owned and managed by NOFA NJ). This website will also include a regional map and listing of co-packers, food processing authorities, commercial kitchen rentals, food processing suppliers and NJ value-added producers located in NJ and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Next, service providers will provide 1:1 and/or small-group technical assistance (TA) to conceptualize and develop value-added products with participating farmers. This specialized technical assistance will include recipe development, economic modeling, development of food safety plans, product label design, and other processing tasks as needed. TA requests and frequently asked questions will be captured to inform the ongoing creation of technical resources made available at farmersprocess.org.

Upon the development of their value-added product concept(s), participating farmers will choose one of three pathways to create their value-added product(s), working through a NJ cottage food permit, a commercial kitchen, or working with a co-packer/food processor. Participating farmers will continue to receive TA from service providers as their products are brought from concept to creation. Case studies will be developed for each product created with the support of this project, providing an overview of the total cost of production and processing methodologies utilized. These case studies will be included as resources within farmersprocess.org and will help inform ongoing producer considerations when considering and/or engaging in value-added processing.

The goal of this project, which is identical to the goal of Farmers Process, is to provide wrap-around support and technical assistance to increase value-added processing capacity in New Jersey, in turn increasing the sales of local food products, improving participating farms' food safety practices, improving farm profitability, and identifying areas of opportunity for cooperative investment to support processing activities.

Small and beginning organic and regenerative producers throughout New Jersey will be engaged via in-person and digital workshops, will be provided with 1:1 expert technical assistance, and will be provided with relevant technical guidance resources and digital infrastructure to increase the overall capacity to produce value-added processed products. These activities are expected to engage, educate, inform and support over 100 farmers and bring about more than 25 new value-added products into the local marketplace.

This project will have lasting benefits and will serve farmers in New Jersey and throughout the Northeast by establishing a clearinghouse of technical guidance and information pertaining to value-added processing, as well as identifying key stakeholders, infrastructure, and service providers needed to successfully implement value-added processing activities on and off the farm.