2003 Annual Report for ENC02-070
Training for New Food and Farming Ventures: Iowa Café Part II
Summary
Three major activities were proposed; toolbox development, workshop development and delivery, and network development. A toolbox (i.e., set of materials and decision making tools) focusing on the knowledge and background information needed to help clients make informed decisions was developed. A two-day workshop covering the toolbox topics of production, marketing, and business planning was conducted. In addition to these topics, discussion on how a participant could help a client go through the information was integrated into each session. Each workshop participant received a manual with all the workshop materials, as well as a CD with the same materials. Workshop materials are in the process of being placed on an active Iowa State University (ISU) website (www.agmrc.org). An email listserv has been developed to help begin networking activities. A follow-up one-day meeting is being planned for Spring 2004 to discuss and enhance networking opportunities.
Objectives/Performance Targets
1. Extension staff and other agricultural educators are knowledgeable about production, business planning, and marketing topics.
2. Extension staff and other agricultural educators are skilled about production, business planning, and marketing topics.
3. Network of agricultural educators is established.
The project has not yet progressed to the point of being able to measure intermediate or long-term outcomes. The work to date has been moving, however, toward achieving those outcomes.
Accomplishments/Milestones
A steering committee was formed consisting of two ISU Extension county directors, an ISU Extension campus representative, two Practical Farmers of Iowa representatives including Gary Huber and Craig Chase. The inclusion of county directors was important because they were identified as the project primary audience. The steering committee helped guide the formation of the workshop and development materials.
A pre-workshop survey was sent to Extension field employees (county directors and field specialists) asking them the type of questions they get, whether the information received is adequate, what type of support they would find useful in their efforts, and what type of training they felt they needed in order to help new food and farming ventures get started. For example when we asked what kind of support they would find most useful, one person replied they need “publications for them to take with them, information readily available on the web so that it can be easily accessed and printed, contact information of good people to help them with questions, and contact information of certifying agencies.” Another responded “if we can’t answer their questions, it would be great to have a list of individuals we could direct them to for help, something printed they can take with them when they leave our office (i.e., components of a marketing plan, setting up your own business).” The answers to those questions helped develop the materials in the manual and CD, as well as the workshop. In addition, the responses indicated the workshop and resources should focus on start-up and business planning, marketing, and production topics.
A two-day workshop was developed to go over in detail the resource manual that was developed. The manual was divided into the suggested three topics; start-up and business planning, marketing, and production. For each of these sections, resource people were found to help with the presentation and discussion. For example, farmers currently producing alternative crops presented in the production section, marketing experts in the marketing section, and new food ventures discussing how they went through the start-up and business planning phases in the business section. In addition, a tour was conducted visiting three food and farming ventures.
The workshop was attended by 22 Extension county directors, 10 Extension field and campus staff, three USDA staff, two economic developers, and two others (a student and vegetable producer/PFI board member). An after the meeting evaluation indicated the workshop adequately introduced the material in the manual and most were likely to very likely to use the materials in helping clients with new business ideas. When asked what type of additional support, training, resources, etc. would you like to receive, updates and continuing training was mentioned most. One participant stated we needed to get this information into the hands of economic developers and other non-Extension staff. The answers to the evaluation will be integrated into the follow-up workshop to be held Spring 2004.
The email listserv newfoodfarms@iastate.edu was developed to enhance information sharing and networking among participants and the CD contents will be uploaded to the www.agmrc.org website to allow broader access to the materials. A one-day economic developer workshop is being planned in Northeast Iowa in March using the manual as a resource guide. If the pilot goes well, we may conduct others around the state. Overall, the short-term outcomes are being met.