1996 Annual Report for ENE96-025
Cooperating for Sustainability and Adding Value: A Training Program on Cooperatives and Value Added Marketing for USDA Staff in the Northeast
Summary
Summary
The Adding Value for Sustainability project was developed by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) to help Cooperative Extension agents and other agricultural professionals better assist small-scale, value-added processing enterprises.
Objectives
1. Introduce extension and other USDA personnel to concepts of value-added enterprises.
2. Increase the understanding of extension staff of both long and short-term benefits to farmers and communities from value-added enterprises.
3. Increase the knowledge base of extension staff regarding value-added business start-up and implementation strategies.
4. Help extension staff identify innovative producers and develop networking strategies among those that are well-suited to use these marketing strategies.
5. Facilitate dissemination of new and innovative marketing information to state and county clientele through newly developed publications and videos.
Methods and Results
The Adding Value for Sustainability project helped fill a need for more information on small-scale processing enterprises, a marketing alternative that the targeted audience sees enormous interest in from their clients. Evaluations, conversations, newly developed and existing projects indicate that the Adding Value for Sustainability project helped extension agents and other agricultural professionals better serve their clients.
PASA completed two professional development programs, and an 82-page guidebook, "Adding Value for Sustainability." As stated in the guidebook , value adding offers farmers the potential to recapture a larger share of the food dollar -- according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the farmer's share in 1913 was 46%, while in 1997 it was down to 24%. By processing their own raw, undifferentiated agricultural products into higher-value, consumer-ready products, farmers have the opportunity to retain income.
Small-scale processing offers farmers a financially viable alternative to competing with conventional, large-scale marketing channels. Keeping to a small and medium scale, sustainable farmers in business assure better protection of the environment and vital rural communities. The training programs and guidebook are encountering strong interest from producers across the Northeast. Frustrations with Cooperative Extension's lack of knowledge on sustainable agriculture and alternative marketing channels is echoed by many producers who appreciate the efforts aimed at providing more information.
As a result of this project, two professional development programs and a guidebook on small-scale processing enterprise development for extension agents and other agricultural professionals were designed and completed. Also as a result, extension agents and other agricultural professionals indicated they are much better equipped to assist clients due to their increased knowledge of the marketing, financing, food safety, and community support strategies available to small-scale processors.
The training programs and the guidebook have inspired the creation of new and the enhancement of existing programs that support small-scale processing enterprise development. Extension agents and other agricultural professionals indicate more confidence in their ability to conduct programming because of a fuller knowledge base to assist producers and others in problem-solving, experimentation, and development of small-scale processing enterprises.
The programs and guidebook introduced extension agents to several successful processors. Through their stories, extension agents and others have indicated more clarity in identifying prospective producers who have the management skills to benefit from the increased profitability that value-added products can bring to a farm operation.
Through PASA's partnership with Cornell University's Farming Alternatives Program, community-based strategies for supporting small-scale processors through networks, regional product identity projects, food processing incubators, new generation cooperatives, and educational programs were explained in detail. The Farming Alternatives Program provided an excellent resource for educating extension and others.
The guidebook includes suggestions on how to develop educational programs for producers in order to effectively disseminate this information and assist producers in planning and implementation.
PASA worked in collaboration with Cornell University in the development of the first program and the guidebook. An advisory committee of 22 Cooperative Extension agents, other agricultural professionals, and producers throughout the northeastern U.S. guided the project.
Reported December 1998. 1999 Northeast Region SARE/ACE Report.