Homegrown, From Our Farms to Your Table: Growing a Farmers' Cooperative in East Tennessee

Homegrown, From Our Farms to Your Table: Growing a Farmers' Cooperative in East Tennessee

Summary

In 2003 Jubilee Project and the Appalachian Spring Cooperative met or exceeded all but one of its goals for substantial progress in establishing the Cooperative and enabling it to begin serving its members. A variety of recruiting resulted in the growth of cooperative membership 76% from 26 to 45 members. Nine of these members made 45 different food or farm products (increased 55% from the 29 products produced last year), most of which Jubilee Project and the Cooperative helped with business and on-farm technical assistance; this included helping develop recipes and labels, and helping place their products in twice as many markets as th year before, including many retail stores and 610 gift baskets, a 22% increase from the 500 last year, to church contacts. A diverse Project Advisory Committee composed of farmers and agricultural professionals, local officials and representatives of local business, community and economic development groups, continued to meet.

Objectives/Performance Targets

1. Development of current member production of value-added products.
1a. Assist in production requirements for farmers already producing value-added items or in the development phase of production, including business plan development, recipe development, understanding and complying with legalities of production, obtaining product liability insurance and other requirements.
1b. Develop appropriate product presentation, from labeling to shelf-tags.
1c. Ensure adequate market placement of these products. .
1d. Development of additional market outlets and opportunities.
1e.Nurture and expand partnerships with agricultural professionals, Extension, farmers, entrepreneurs, businesses and community and religious organizations.
1f. Develop ASC outreach to include promotion of these products as show case examples.
2. Grow the Cooperative: Business Development and Membership Opportunity.
2a. Increase ASC membership through outreach to farmers and community.
2b. Direct farmer-to-farmer outreach, tours of the kitchen, brainstorming of value-added potentials with farmers and community members. Implementation of Kitchens and Cooperative business plans.
2c. Establish ASC as a formal network of producers marketing desirable value-added products.
3. Expand farmer and community use of the Jubilee Community Kitchen.
3a. Development of in-demand, value-added market products.
3b. Promotion of the Kitchen as valuable tool for use by the community, area churches, school
and others for bake sales, holiday gift ideas and more.
4. Development of the Jubilee Community Kitchen as a viable and sustainable opportunity for employment.
4a. The use of value-added production at the Kitchen as a means to provide employment for local residents and workforce development programs.
5. Promotion of ASC as an instrument for sustainable agriculture in East Tennessee, influencing local government policy, community development and family nutrition.
5a. Enhance relationship between JPI/Clinch Powell Community Kitchens and ASC, producers and local government, emphasizing the importance of sustainable agriculture and the role it can play in rural community development.
5b. Provide technical assistance to small farmers.
5c. Enhancement of “community food security” and nutritional awareness through promotion of homegrown farm products to help increase the intake of nutritional fruits and vegetables by at-risk families and the general population while supporting local farmers.
5d. Establish the long-term role of ASC and the Community Kitchen and the interdependence of farmers, the environment and the economy: linking ASC and the community through business incubation and growing self-sufficiency.
5e. Encouraging the development of farm plans to adopt new strategies to achieve farm viability through value-added production, farm diversification, niche marketing and sustainable practices.
6. Development of new value-added projects for ASC members and potential members: exploring the options that best fit the communities, sustainable agriculture and sustainable businesses.
6a. Some ideas: Frozen food entrées; Fruit-flavored honey; Food production for nursing homes, schools and other area institutions; value-added production for home use; gift-giving, holiday baskets and fund-raising items; private label food production for restaurants and chefs; production of high-value gourmet, natural and organic food products from vegetable and fruit over-production by area farmers.

Accomplishments/Milestones

-Current Cooperative member production of value-added food products increased from 29 different products sold through the Cooperative in 2002 , to 45 different products in 2003; an increase of 55%
-Cooperative member sales doubled in 2003 from 2002 levels
-Promotion of value-added food products of Cooperative members through gift basket sales to churches and local economic development officials, increased 22% from 500 in 2002 to 610 in 2003
-Promotion statewide occurred when the magazine of the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative Association, The Tennessee Cooperator, did a November 2003 cover article on the Cooperative and the Clinch Powell Community Kitchens
-Cooperative members benefited from a new program allowing them to save on food product liability costs by being included under the Cooperative insurance plan until their business grows large enough to warrant their own insurance policy
-Government agency policies were changed in two instances to reduce or eliminate fees for Cooperative members starting food businesses, since this was an economic development project
-Recruitment of new members to Appalachian Spring Cooperative raised membership 76% from 26 to 45 members
-The Clinch Powell Community Kitchens of Jubilee Project continued its close cooperation with Appalachian Spring Cooperative, including providing funding and management services, board training and leadership training for members, and free office space and other materials at the Kitchens location
-The one objective still not accomplished was the promotion of the processing area of Clinch Powell Community Kitchens for non-commercial uses by the surrounding community; this was because ever stricter food safety and Homeland Security regulations greatly restrict use of the processing area. However, meeting spaces, computer lab, and office spaces in the building were once again used extensively for tours and some workshops
-Technical assistance provided to 37 members in the Appalachian Spring Cooperative (product & recipe development, business planning, packaging & label development, assistance in finding sources of materials for production, assistance in finding financing, and/or on-farm technical assistance with beekeeping)
-Cooperative officially instituted 5% discount standard for Cooperative members to sell food products to each other, increasing access to nutritional foods
-Both Clinch Powell Community Kitchens and Appalachian Spring Cooperative further established their long-term roles in sustainable agriculture in east Tennessee, by making progress toward their goals for financial self-sustainability; the Cooperative also made progress toward building a self-sustaining organizational capacity
-Both Clinch Powell Community Kitchens and Appalachian Spring Cooperative encouraged plans for development of value-added food products aimed at niche markets, for sustainable practices including use of organic inputs, and compatible diversification of small farms (particularly the introduction of honeybees to 30 farms -- 10 moe than last year -- already growing fruits, vegetables, goats and other animals)

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

-9 different members of Appalachian Spring Cooperative making 45 different value-added food or farm products, a 55% increase over 29 products in 2002
-The Cooperative exceeded its goal by actually growing to 45 members by December 2003, a 76% increase over 26 members in 2002
-The Cooperative continued to place more different products of more members in several markets, doubling the markets since 2002 and sold 610 gift baskets containing 7 different products from 7 different members to United Methodist church members and economic developers in Tennessee, up 22% from the 500 sold in 2002
-The Appalachian Spring Cooperative further developed its website displaying many of these products (www.apspringcoop.com)
-Several new value-added projects were begun, including a Tele-Guild Project that establishes e-commerce on the Cooperative website, loans notebook computers to qualifying members completing a business plan, and provides training in a range of computer business applications; and an Agri-Tour Project including a glossy self-driving tour map advertising member farms and other collaborating food-related local businesses, with Spring and Fall Tour days featuring special events and when tourists can find all businesses open without prior contact
-Outreach which shared information on the Project as a model for other areas, was shared in workshops in 2003 at the Community Food Security Annual Conference in Boston, MA; and at the “Future of Rural” Conference sponsored by the Council on Governments held in Louisville, KY.