Enhancing Cooperative Extension capacity to support the advancement of adding value and direct marketing by farmers in the Northeast

Enhancing Cooperative Extension capacity to support the advancement of adding value and direct marketing by farmers in the Northeast

Summary

According to the 2010 USDA/ERS report, for each dollar that consumers spend on food, the farmer’s share is approximately 23%, with 77% covering production, processing, marketing, transportation and distribution costs – supporting “middlemen” between the farm and the table. To retain a higher percentage of the food dollar on the farm, Northeastern producers frequently consider direct marketing to the consumer — both agricultural commodities and value-added products. Because producing and selling value-added items requires different skills-sets than does traditional production agriculture, and introducing foods to the marketplace opens the seller to unique business liability, it is important that farmers receive training, education and support from Extension (and other agricultural professionals) to effectively set up and manage local food enterprises.  

However, because agricultural direct marketing is relatively new, Extension personnel and agricultural professionals may lack experience with direct-to-the-consumer venues to effectively assist farmers in making informed decisions about whether such ventures are feasible, or advisable. As 2015 comes to an end, this program has provided comprehensive training program to 34 trained instructors (27 in the target states of PA, MD, and WV, 3 in Tennessee, and 4 in Oregon), enabling these trainees to conduct workshops and provide one-to-one consultation for food business start-up and management. The training program included fifteen field trips to interview farmers who are successfully adding value and direct marketing, and two series of seven webinars to educate about topics covered in two Penn State Extension classes, Food for Profit (FFP) and “Managing Risk for Food Businesses” (MRFB). After completing this training program, eighteen of the thirty-four participating Extension and agricultural professionals expressed a desire to do more than simply share the information that they had learned with the occasional farmer who calls their office, so this group entered an active apprenticeship with seasoned Food for Profit instructors (the project leaders), planning and assisting in the delivery of six-hour workshops (either FFP or MRFB), in their counties or regions. Through these apprenticeships (from October 2013 to December 2015), 57 workshops were held. A total of 983 female, new/beginning, and next-generation farmers attended either an FFP or MRFB workshop, at which they learned the realities of food business start-up, management, and the unique risks associated. Of these workshops, 20 were held in 2015, with 310 participants.

In October 2015, 250 attendees of Food for Profit workshops that were held in 2014 were invited to participate in an Internet survey, to determine how they applied the concepts learned; 57 (23%) of the invitees participated in this evaluation. Only 7 or the respondents indicated that they had a food enterprise prior to attending the workshop (so the majority were attending a class, pre-venture). A year later (at the time of the survey) 21 of the participants reported having started a new business, or expanding/maintaining the food business they owned when participating in the class. Another 20 said that they were still researching the idea, and the remaining 16 had decided to start a non-food enterprise, had put the idea of starting a food business “on hold,” or decided not to start a business at all as a result of what they had learned. Twenty-three people responded to the question about gross revenues realized over the past year in their food business; 22 of them reported making $10,000; one reported between $10,000 and $25,000 (this data includes 7 people who had previously reported that they were “still researching” claiming gross revenues; it also accounts for 5 people who had reported having a food business, but who skipped the revenues question). Seventeen respondents reported adopting at least one of the risk management tools/strategies discussed in the workshop; another 3 reported that they were “already doing” one or more of these strategies at the time of the workshop, and had continued usage to mitigate risk. All impacts point to effective education delivered by the project trainees.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Seventeen of 23 Extension personnel and agricultural service professionals who receive training through this project will apprentice with a seasoned Food for Profit or Managing Risk for Food Businesses instructor to plan and deliver a six-hour workshop in their county/region, targeting female, new/beginning, and next-generation farmers.

At least 135 female, new/beginning, and next-generation farmers will attend an FFP or MRFB workshop, at which they will learn the realities of food business start-up, management, and the unique risks associated. As a result, 20 producers will start a food business (reporting first year revenues averaging $10,000); another 20 producers will research and adopt at least one risk management tool/strategy for their food venture. Thirty other participating producers will make an informed decision NOT to start a food business, and will instead turn to some other more individually appropriate agricultural venture.

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. One hundred and fifty Extension and agricultural professionals who participated in a 2010 training needs assessment, and additional potential participants identified by the project team, will learn about the food entrepreneurship education program and will be surveyed about their interest in participating. (September – October 2012)

As covered in previous annual reports, the team initially used a survey monkey on-line tool for potential participants to declare their interest/apply for training. This yielded 21 Extension personnel and one agricultural professional. In 2013, Extension personnel in Tennessee expressed interest, increasing the number of trainees to 25; in 2014, economic development/Extension personnel in Oregon expressed interest, and provided funding for time and travel costs through Neighbor Works Umpqua (increasing the group to 32); both Tennessee and Oregon personnel learned about this project from Internet sites about the work being done. In 2015, two additional West Virginia Extension educators were asked to facilitate a workshop in their locale, after which they expressed interest in receiving professional development training. Two additional food safety Extension educators were recruited in Pennsylvania for this project.

2. Fifty Extension and agricultural professionals (hereafter referred to as “trainees”) will return the survey; 23 will agree to participate in the educational program (November 2012)

As reported in previous years, original recruitment efforts led to 25 individuals receiving professional development training (2013); 22 Extension personnel and agricultural professionals in the target states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland (as well as to three additional agricultural professionals in Tennessee). By 2014, a total of 32 individuals (25 in the target states of PA, MD, and WV, 3 in Tennessee, and 4 in Oregon) had been recruited and trained. In 2015, two additional West Virginia Extension educators were recruited and trained, and in Pennsylvania two new Food Safety Educators were brought on-board, for a total of 36 participants. Maryland Extension would like an additional 6 people trained in early 2016.

3. Twenty-three trainees will attend an introductory webinar about value-added enterprise start-up and management, and the unique risks of direct marketing of food. (December 2012)

As reported in 2013, seven webinars, including the initial, “Welcome to Food for Profit” session and six on-line training modules, covering Food Safety, Niche Marketing, Business Planning, Packaging and Labeling, Laboratory Services and HACCP, and Financing and Pricing were provided between May and July. Trainees could attend the sessions “live,” or view the recording and then confirm their attendance through an on-line survey. Nineteen of the 22 tri-state trainees (and one Tennessee trainee) completed at least six of the seven modules. In 2014, webinars were updated for use of the 4 Oregon trainees, as well as new recruits from PA, MD and WV; a total of 31 people completed at least six sessions. In addition to webinars, the four project leaders (McGee, Grunden, Myers, and Sivanandan) and two trainees (Meagher and Dill) provided a one-hour workshop, “Food for Profit Program,” at the National Value-Added Agriculture Conference and What Works! Conference in Baltimore in May 2014. This breakout session had 24 participants.

In 2015, trainees who entered apprenticeship phase were observed using the information they had learned through the webinars as they taught segments of the Food for Profit class. The project coordinator (McGee) and one trainee (Kowalewski) provided a four-hour educational session for eight small business consultants at the University of Scranton Small Business Development Center. The project coordinator (McGee) also delivered a 30 minute presentation about food business start-up/management requirements at the Pennsylvania SBDC Annual Conference; 37 SBDC consultants from across Pennsylvania attended this session. A post-survey of participants indicated several additional SBDCs would like the four-hour educational session brought to their Center, or that this should be a pre-conference offering in 2016; in the month since this conference, McGee has had 12 email/phone contacts from SBDC personnel who are working with specific food clients (expanding the reach for professional education beyond the trainees/apprentices).

4. Twenty-three trainees will participate in five field trips to farmstead and share-kitchen-based dairy, meat, fruit/vegetable, and baked-goods product enterprises and direct-marketing venues including farm markets, CSAs, and farm-to-institution ventures. The trainees will participate in at least eight Food Business Basics webinars, covering entrepreneurial traits, regulations and inspections, farmstead-based versus commercial facility-based businesses, niche marketing strategies, packaging and labeling, pricing for break-even and profit, product liability and insurance, and proactive risk management. (January – July 2013)

In 2013/2014 a total of 15 field trips were conducted in Maryland, Tennessee and West Virginia; 8 trainees participated in one or more of these trips; each trainee completed an evaluation of what was learned by interacting with the food entrepreneur and how they would use this information in providing instruction and consults to farmers wanting to begin adding value; a report of the field trip impacts is provided in the 2014 Annual Report. To supplement training webinars and field trips, 8 trainees-in-good-standing (i.e., those who had participated in all 7 webinars and who had apprenticed in at least one Food for Profit) were provided travel support to attend the joint National Value-Added Agriculture Conference and What Works! Conference in Baltimore in May 2014. The four project leaders participated in this conference, providing the breakout training discussed under milestone 3.

Throughout 2015, apprentices were observed using the information that they gathered during the field trips as examples, enhancing their instruction of Food for Profit sessions.

5. Twenty-three trainees receive comprehensive teaching resources including a set of Food for Profit fact sheets, food business plan workbooks, food risk management workbooks, and sets of the handouts for FFP and MRFB workshops; they also request and receive telephone, e-mail or in-person educational support from the project team for one-to-one sessions with farmers.(August 2013 – July 2014)

In 2013, the Project Leader provided standardized Power Point presentations for all trainees to use in upcoming “apprenticeship” workshops, as well as sample press releases, workshop agendas, table tents, and completion certificates via a Drop-box Internet site. During 2014, trainees received thumb drives with state-specific sets of program materials so that they could print handouts and other resources locally.

In 2015, a number of changes were needed due to the progress of Food Safety Modernization Act enactment; educational materials were updated accordingly. New versions of Power Points and other handouts were distributed via Drop box for trainees to update their thumb drives. Five Penn State Extension Food for Profit Fact Sheets were updated and PDFs of these new resources were put on Drop box and/or made available to trainees as free printed copies to support the workshops.

6. Seventeen of the 23 trainees will agree to apprentice with a project team member to plan and assist in the presentation of a six-hour workshop in their county/region (either FFP or MRFP). (September 2013 – March 2014)

Eight Food for Profit workshops were held in 2013, five in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland and one in West Virginia, with trainees as facilitators and presenters; 151 participants attended. In 2014, another 29 Food for Profit workshops were held between January and November 2014: seventeen in Pennsylvania, as well as two in Maryland; six in Tennessee; two in West Virginia; and two in Oregon (reaching 522 farmers and food entrepreneurs). Twenty-two trainees had responsibility for facilitation, marketing and taught one or more segment of the program. Trainees demonstrated the capacity to use personal examples and developed hands-on activities to reinforce learning.

In 2015, eighteen Food for Profit and two Managing Risk For Food Businesses workshops were held between January and December 2015; twelve in Pennsylvania, five in Maryland, two in West Virginia and one in Tennessee (educating 310 participants). Twenty-six of the trainees provided substantial support to the workshops, planning, advertising, and delivering segments of the program. Two challenges prevented “graduation” of some trainees by October 2015.

• Since most West Virginia trainees are Family and Consumer Science educators, they are well-equipped to deliver food safety information but will need some additional support in early 2016, so that they gain comfort in the business aspects that are taught in the workshop.
• Maryland Extension experienced programmatic redirection during 2014/2015 and so a new set of educators (also FCS) have stepped forward to begin teaching, along side of three who were previously trained; the project team will apprentice them in early 2016 to ensure their confidence in delivering this program.

In Pennsylvania, one of the project team members (who taught much of the food safety material) retired in June, so two additional Extension educators were recruited and provided professional development education specifically to support the sanitation and risk management portions of Food for Profit workshops across the state (these two individuals are included in the 36 referenced above).

7. Twenty-three trainees respond to the verification survey and report on the impact of educational programs conducted, including value-added businesses started, risk management strategies adopted, intent to start a business in the future, and decisions not to start a business. (September 2014 – March 2015)

In 2015, a representative sample of individuals who attended the 2014 classes of Food for Profit (250 of 522) was invited to participate in an Internet survey, to determine how effectively they had been instructed (and how useful the information had been). The invitees were selected because they indicated on their end-of-class evaluation that they would be willing to provide additional feedback in the future. Fifty-seven of the invitees (23%) participated in this survey. A report of the aggregate data and some analysis is attached to this Annual Report, summarized as follows:

Although seven of the survey respondents were already food business owners at the time they attended the class, an additional 14 (21 in total) reported starting, expanding or continuing their food business in the survey. Twenty individuals reported that they were still researching the idea (and had not yet started a business), nine had put their business venture plans “on hold,” five had decided not to start a business and two had started a non-food business as a result of what they learned.

All Food for Profit sessions introduced the use of six specific strategies to reduce food business risk – Good Agricultural Practices/Good Handling Practices certification, adoption of Good Manufacturing Practices for the specific product(s), development of a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan, customer notification of allergens, adoption of a proactive recall plan, and contracting for appropriate, adequate insurance coverage. Seventeen of the 57 respondents to the on-line evaluation reported adopting one or more of the risk management tools/strategies discussed in the workshop; another 3 reported that they were “already doing” one or more of these strategies, and had continued usage since the workshop, to mitigate risk.

 Profitability is an important part of business sustainability; therefore, the survey included a question about gross income over the past year. Twenty-three of the respondents (16 who identified themselves as business owners and 7 who were “still researching”) reported some revenues from food enterprises — 22 of them reported making up to $10,000; and one reported grossing between $10,000 and $25,000.

Beyond this on-line survey of workshop participants, the project team intends to return to the trainees/apprentices to evaluate their impressions of success in learning and using food entrepreneurship information. This evaluation will be conducted by Internet between February and April 2016; the findings will be included in the Final Report for this project.

• Intermediate Impact of NE SARE PDP Project ENE 12-125

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Performance target was 17 of 23 trainees agreeing to apprentice with a seasoned Food for Profit or Managing Risk for Food Businesses instructor to plan and deliver a six-hour workshop in their county/region, targeting female, new/beginning, and next-generation farmers. As of the end of 2015, 26 of the 36 trainees have planned and co-delivered at least one Food for Profit workshop in their local area.

Producer impact target was at least 135 female, new/beginning, and next-generation farmers will attend an FFP or MRFB workshop. Workshops planned, facilitated and delivered by the project team and trainees between 2013 and 2015 educated 983 participants.

Target results of these workshops were that 20 producers would start a food business (reporting first year revenues averaging $10,000); another 20 producers will research and adopt at least one risk management tool/strategy for their food venture. Thirty other participating producers will make an informed decision NOT to start a food business, and will instead turn to some other more individually appropriate agricultural venture. An on-line survey of 57 participants of 2014 Food for Profit workshops demonstrated that 21 of them owned a food business (14 having started their enterprise since the workshop). 23 respondents indicated gross revenues up to (or above) $10,000. Seventeen of the respondents had adopted one or more risk management strategies and another 3 indicated that they had been using these strategies before the workshop.  Thirty-six respondents were still researching starting a food business, had put the idea “on hold,” or determined not to start a food business (two of these starting a non-food business).

• Cumulative Milestone Accomplishment Table, ENE-12-125

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