1998 Annual Report for FNC98-233
Organic Livestock Marketing Coop
Summary
Market access is essential to effective marketing of organic production. Objectives of this project were to establish a statewide specialty and organic meat marketing group, as a separate division of the Heartland Organic Marketing Cooperative, to access new markets. The group planned to hire a consumer and market research consultant and pursue the most suitable markets. They were not able to use the Heartland Cooperative to market organic beef because they did not have enough producers with certified herds, thereby limiting the volume of organic beef. Some of the certified members created a business to market on a smaller scale while they re-examine a market that will best utilize current production. The project will be extended for one year.