Market Research for Market Readiness: upcycling pork organ meat into pet treats and pork fat into salve

Commodities

• Animals: swine

Practices

• Farm Business Management: market study, new enterprise development, value added

Value-added farmers need to evaluate the products they are
developing for market. Professional testing can be cost
prohibitive for first generation family farm businesses.

The Market Research for Market Readiness Protocol is designed to
help entrepreneurial food makers and value-added farmers evaluate
the products they are developing for market.  Self-executed
consumer testing will cost substantially less than contracting
professional testing.  

Alluvial Farms wants to evaluate our current and target market
customer’s acceptance of the formulation, concept, packaging,
pricing, and market channel strategy for our existing Oinkment
and Pet Treat products. We will then evaluate and utilize the
results in product formulation, labeling, or market channel
positioning in order to realize a 685% increase in total gross
value-added revenue from 2023 to 2025.

Market Research for Market Readiness materials are created and
distributed by Catherine Durham at the Oregon State University
Food Innovation Center. The manual describes a set of procedures
to conduct and report on a consumer test. The workbook produces
all of the figures and tables that can be incorporated in a sales
pitch, business plan, or feasibility study.

The self-executed consumer testing protocol will enable Alluvial
Farms and other farmers to:

• evaluate the sensory qualities for our products;
• investigate how much consumers will pay;
• get new marketing ideas;
• demonstrate market readiness to retailers and investors.

We will document our use of these tools as a case study and hope
to increase interest amongst family scale farms of these free
tools by illustrating how market testing can increase revenue.

In year two of our project we will create a webinar featuring our
case study and the Market Research for Market Readiness Manual
tools. We will present the webinar to farmers in at least three
online channels, reaching a total of at least 200 small family
farms. 

Research Objectives - year one

Alluvial Farms will use the Market Research for
Market Readiness set of tools created by Catherine
Durham, professor of Applied Agricultural Economics at Oregon
State University, in order
to:                    

1. Conduct consumer testing to determine the acceptance and
   potential of two products made from upcycled by-products of our
   farrow to finish pork enterprise: pet treats made from pork organ
   meat and skin care made with lard.
2. Better understand consumer acceptance of:

• our two product lines overall,
• attributes within our product concepts,
• attributes of our packaging and product labels.

3. Examine the market potential for our two product lines by
   studying consumer purchase intent and price acceptance.
4. Evaluate and utilize our testing results in our product
   formulation, labeling, and market channel positioning in order to
   realize a 685% increase in total gross value-added revenue from
   2023 to 2025.

Annual gross revenue projections by enterprise:

Educational Objectives - year two (April 2025-April
2026)

1. Co-create a webinar featuring our case study and the Market
   Research for Market Readiness Manual, in partnership with the
   tool’s creator Catherine "Cathy" Durham, professor of Applied
   Economics at the Food Innovation Center at Oregon State
   University.
2. Present the webinar to farmers through at least three host
   agencies online channels, reaching a total of at least 200 small
   family farms.