Motivating Teams for Enterprise Facilitation

View the project final report

• 1998 annual report

Commodities

• Agronomic: sorghum (milo)

Practices

• Farm Business Management: whole farm planning

Sustainable agriculture requires farmer-owned processing and marketing. By facilitating creation of the teams of skills needed for such efforts, agents helped farmers in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee start dozens of businesses in such areas as fresh vegetables, organic soybean export, fresh water shrimp, sucrose epoxy, hybrid rice, sweet potatoes, etc. Workshops, case studies, a handbook, the first Entrepreneurial Agriculture website, an annual multi-state conference, and a network of technical assistance providers were created to assist these efforts. These elements have been emulated by other agencies, adopted in states outside the South, and led to international recognition of the Delta Enterprise Network.

1. Create a social infrastructure for development of sustainable agricultural enterprises.

2. Develop agents' skills in enterprise facilitation.

3. Develop a mechanism for self-sustaining multiplication of enterprise facilitation skills.