Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
Practices
- Farm Business Management: business planning, marketing management, packaging and labeling
- Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems
Abstract:
As rapid changes for small farm producers have occurred in the
marketplace, support for adapting to the changes has become critical for
most small farmers. Market awareness and logistical support are often the
key missing links in the chain of moving products from the farm to the
markets. An entire new system is required for small farmers to adequately
compete with imported products and mass produced products. This new system
must provide for maximum returns directly to the famer in order to
maintain a sustainable income. Small farmers are often so committed to
field production, there are few resouorces remaining for critical
logistical tasks necessary to sell their products.
For the past 50 years or so, our food system changed from a wide variety
of crops produced on local “truck farms” transported by the farmers in
their own vehicles to markets in surrounding towns and cities to large
farms located often thousands of miles away that produced one single crop
transported in large quatnities to chain grocery stores via transpotation
companies and large food wholesale companies. As history often repeats,
today the evolving demand for fresh locally produced food is causing a
small but growing revival of an updated version of the “Truck Farm System”
serving tailgate markets, restaurants and new small local grocery stores
catering to the needs of more diverse suburban consumers.
Since small farmers do not have the resources necessary to services these
new evolving markets, they must innovate and network with each other.
Small partnerships between producers are being formed-perhaps to share a
piece of farm equipment, a delivery truck, to purchase containers, to work
on a value-added product in a community kitchen, to co-pack a CSA box, to
transport livesock to a local processing facility and return to pick up
and deliver the frozen product. Producer cooperatives and associations
become the next step, and open the door to larger markets as production
quantity, quality and reliability improves.
Cooperative Extension is the primary provider of information to farmers in
the area, but cannot provide the means necessary for implementing many of
the ideas and recommendations. Often, farmers are left in a position of
knowing what to do but not having the ability to implement the knowledge
in practice. This project provided the means to make the critical next
step, by providing professional marketing support, key pieces of
equipment, materials, and other support not normally provided by
Cooperative Extension.
This project provided information, training, marketing support, equipment
and packaging materials to more than 60 small agricultural producers in
four counties of Western North Carolina. Our target audience included
organic to conventional farmers, value-added products producers, new as
well as experienced farmers. The delivery format for this project included
workshops, demonstrations, field visits and consultations. Overarching
accomplishments included: the development of new crops and new value-added
products, creation of new markets, establishment of new transportation
systems for getting crops to markets, and the establishment of
communications and networking between the participants resulting in new
businesses opportunities and business relationships.
Project objectives:
Our overarching goal was to increase producers ability to succeed by
providing ideas and information, applied guidance, materials and
equipment, professional support and networking/partnering opportunities.
Project objectives included: increase and improve sales and income and
profit margins, improve and assure product quality, increase marketing
opportunities, stimulate new enterprises, use available and purchased
equipment, use existing support facilities, improve safe food handling and
production practices, and develop improved means of transporting product
to markets.
This project supported more than 60 farmers and value-added producers in
Madison, Mitchell, Yancy and Buncombe counties of western North Carolina
in the greater Asheville area. Buncombe county was added after the project
began due to an appreciable attendance from that county and also since the
primary market of Asheville is located there.
These goals and objectives were met and exceeded through a total of 8
workshops, the development of as many as 10 new value-added products, the
creation of at least 3 new producer partnerships/cooperatives, the
discovery of more than 50 new venues for product sales, the initiation of
at least 4 new field products, the formation of a new small farm marketing
services company, the purchase and active ongoing use of a delivery
vehicle and 6 pieces of processing and packaging equipment, and the
development and purchase of labels and packaging materials.