Missouri Alternatives Center's Bimonthly Electronic Newsletter 800-433-3704 "AG OPPORTUNITIES" March-April 2001 (Vol 11 No 6) * Small Farms * New Family Farms * Agricultural Alternatives North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability Farm-to-Fork Effort The North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability is a four-state, multi-institutional, farm-to-fork effort designed to improve the profitability and competitiveness of small and mid-size farms in Missouri and the Midwest. This initiative brings together a unique and powerful blend of farmers, food and social scientists, marketers, extension educators, economists, and others who are attempting to identify, adapt and apply practical, science-based, market-driven strategies that work. Partners include the University of Missouri, University of Nebraska's Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI) and Department of Food Science and Technology/Food Processing Center, Iowa State University, University of Wisconsin, the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in Wisconsin. The initiative is funded by a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The initiative is centered around five major activities. Farmer Clusters Key to the initiative will be farmer clusters working with researchers to put science-based, market-driven results into action in Nebraska communities. Initially, 20 producer clusters will be formed, including four in Missouri, to provide practicality and relevance to the initiative's objective of increasing farm profitability. The clusters will be made up of farmers and ranchers who exhibit leadership and a willingness to do the necessary planning and work to make their cluster successful. The clusters will be supported in each state by local resource providers such as extension educators, and will receive technical, marketing, economic and other support from the initiative partners. Cluster members will help apply knowledge learned from the initiative in their rural communities. Analysis of Successful Farms Ag economists and other researchers will use a combination of financial, production and socioeconomic data to analyze why some small and mid-size farms are successful. A formula combining efficiency, income and non-income factors will be used to identify successful farms. Characteristics of successful farms will then be categorized so they can be replicated on other farms. Case Studies of Strategies That Work More than 40 case studies will be developed in the four-state region, including 5 in Missouri, to examine strategies that have potential to improve the efficiency, profitability and competitiveness of small and mid-size farms. The case studies will focus on new generation cooperatives, networks for marketing high value crops and livestock, production and cooperative arrangements that increase the farmer's share of food system profits, community support of small and mid-size operations, successful capital transfer strategies that benefit both beginning and senior farmers, on-farm diversification, and successful use of the Internet by farmers and small rural businesses to market products. Research On High Value Markets Several of the initiative partners have a great deal of expertise in food processing and marketing. Science-based, market-driven research will help identify alternative products and the best way to deliver these products to consumers. The initial research will focus on pastured poultry, specialty cheeses and specialty barley. The farmer clusters will drive other areas of research. Dissemination and Education Results of the research, case studies, economic analysis and other activities of this project will be disseminated regionally and nationally through the farmer clusters and a ready network of cooperating groups. A unique feature of this project will be the creation of a web-based clearinghouse to provide farmers and others with information on successful production, processing and marketing strategies. For More Information Throughout the Midwest small and mid-size farms struggle to survive, hit hard by low prices for traditional commodities and the market domination of seed-to-shelf food conglomerates. The North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability seeks to improve the profitability and competitiveness of small and mid-size farms through research, outreach and education. For more info, contact Mary Hendrickson, 573-882-7463, hendricksonm@missouri.edu or Fred Martz, 573-882-6476, martzf@missouri.edu. The initiative is a program of MU Cooperative Extension and CAFNR. Third Annual Missouri Spring Horticulture Conference Saturday, March 31st - 9:00 am to 3:20 pm Southwest Research Center in Mt. Vernon, MO This very popular conference, which always sells out early, will feature presentations on Gardening with Native Plants, Growing Roses in the Ozarks, Water Gardening - Nuts and Bolts, Water Gardening with Native Plants, Introduction to Beekeeping, Home Greenhousing, Organic Greenhouse Production, Grape Growing, Growing Harvesting and Using Herbs, Container Gardening, Nut Crops for Missouri, Extended Vegetable Production, Advanced Tomato Gardening, and Grafting. Cost for the one-day conference is $10.00 per person, which includes a hearty home-cooked lunch. Attendance is strictly limited to 110 participants, so pre-registration is highly recommended. If the conference is full, unregistered folks who show up the day of the conference will regrettably be turned away. For more information, or for a brochure and registration form, please contact the Center at 417-466-2148 or at southwest_center@missouri.edu. For more information and to print the registration form at http://aes.missouri.edu/swcenter/register.stm and http://mtngrv.smsu.edu/calendar.htm AgriExpo 2001 - Guiding Entrepreneurs to Success March 20-21, 2001 - Capital Plaza Hotel - Jefferson City, MO This is your opportunity to learn from and interact with agripreneurs from all over the state. Discover new value-added possibilities and learn from business professionals and university and government specialists who have assisted with value-added ventures. Day One - Two sessions - choose one 11:00 am to 5:30 pm: Business Development - This session will cover the basic steps and considerations involved in starting a business. 11:00 am to 5:30 pm Coop Development - This session will cover the value-added coop model, basic structure, organizational documents, equity offering as well as critical elements that a business facilitator should be aware of in designing a successful value-added product. Day Two-- General session and four tracks 1. Catering to Consumer Wants - A Key to Success How to Advertise, Promote and Sell Yourself and Your Product Anaylysis of a Coop Business for Break-Evan Niman Ranch Network 2. The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Marketing Products onthe Internet Taking Stock of Your Resources The Value of a CPA as a Business Consultant Understanding Legal Issues when Partnering, Negotiating and Establishing Contracts 3. Making the Sale to Retail How to Develop Your Logo, Labels and Packaging for Value-Added Food Business Options Other than Bank Financing Finding Unlikely Partners/Cross Marketing Opportunities 4. Make Numbers Smart - How to Use Demographics in Marketing Group Processing for Cooperatives In-State Stock Offering Program The Role that Alliances Can Successfully Play Two day registration, $45.00, one day registration, $30.00. For more information, call toll-free, 1-877-VALUADD. Marketing Opportunities for Fruit & Vegetable Growers by Tim Baker, Horticulture Specialist, Dunklin County Several years ago I heard a paper presented by John Travlos at a conference exploring technology and Extension. John described a hay marketing database that he had put together on the World Wide Web. This database listed the person who had hay to sell, as well as the type and quantity of hay they had available. This database provided a valuable resource for getting buyer and seller together. When I heard John's talk, I realized that this had great potential for horticulture. Imagine a database that listed a grower and the types of fruits and vegetables he had to offer. Anyone in the world could look up the grower's information and contact him. Potential buyers of horticultural products do ask for that kind of information. In fact, I always get calls every summer from people wanting to buy specific kinds of produce. Many of the speakers at this conference were from other universities. But fortunately for Missouri fruit and vegetable growers, John Travlos works for University Outreach and Extension. After thinking about the project for a while, I approached John about working on a database like this for horticultural crops. He agreed that it sounded like a valuable tool, and agreed to meet with several of us. Some time later, John met with Debi Kelly, project leader for the Missouri Alternatives Center, Tammy Bruckerhoff, Horticulture Marketing Specialist with the Missouri Department of Agriculture, and myself to discuss the project. We all met later with a number of other Horticulture Specialists from around the state. After much computer programming, testing, and feedback from the Horticulture Specialists, John came up with an easy-to-use database and put it on the World Wide Web. You may view it at: http://agebb.missouri.edu/hortgrow/ Now that the database is ready for use, we are starting to promote it among Missouri fruit and vegetable growers. Several have already taken advantage of this marketing tool, which is offered at no cost to them. Not a bad deal for free advertising. If you are a Missouri fruit and vegetable grower and would like to be listed in this database, please give me a call. You can read more about this opportunity on my web page: http://outreach.missouri.edu/dunklin/hort/database/info.html Buying Local (From Community Alliance with Family Farmers newsletter, Fall 2000) Buying locally grown food is good for consumers because *They know where and how their food is grown and who grows it. *They have access to freshly harvested food, which hasn't lost its nutritional value during long-distance transport. *They can support local agriculture, protect local farmland and contribute to a healthy local economy. *They have become more aware of their own relationship to the land and the natural processes that make our food and our lives possible. Buying locally grown food is good for farmers because *They can grow food in harmony with nature and then sell that food to local consumers with fewer middlemen to cut into the farmer's profit. *They know where their food goes. They are recognized as being vital members of the local community. *They are relieved of the expanded marketing efforts required to sell on national or global markets and can focus on growing food. Buying locally benefits and strengthens the community *Through the preservation of open spaces that would otherwise be consumed by urban development. *By bringing together those who share healthy concerns about the future. *By boosting the local economy with food dollars rather than supporting out-of-state corporations. Green Hills Farm Project Tours The Green Hills Farm Project is a small group of farming families in Northern MO, who banded together to: *insure survival on the farm *maintain and improve the ecological viability of their land *enhance their overall quality of life The biggest part is being willing to share. Being willing to open up to others. Willing to learn, share, and help. This is what the group means to us. Please be prompt to the tours. All tours include a potluck meal. Bring a side dish. Host will provide the main dish and drink. March 15-Douglas & Kathleen Berry, Mendon, MO-organic watermelons, honeybees, draft horses, cattle and chickens. Call 660-272-3412. May 17-Jordan & Anne Bentley, Bucklin, MO-pastured poultry and turkey, pastured lamb and beef. Call 660-695-3482. June 21-Eric & Hope Bright, Bucklin, MO- rotational grazing system with dairy cattle, greenhouse vegetables, fruit trees, berries and vegetables. Call 660-965-3567. July 19-John & Nan Wood, Monticello, MO- cattle. Call 573-767-5397. Aug 16-Michael Sallee, Meadville, MO-cattle. Call 660-938-4400. Sept 20-David Schafer & Alice Dobbs, Jamesport, MO-homesteading, marketing meat, cattle and chickens. Call 660-359-6545. Oct 18-Stephen Helpingstine, Ethel, MO-cattle. Call 660-486-3305. Nov 15-Jim & Dawn Gerrish, Brookfield, MO-MIG cattle system. Call 660-895-5121. Herb Grower Days Frontier Natural Products Co-op will be presenting a number of workshops this growing season. All workshops will be held at their organic research farm in Norway, IA. For more information, call 800-729-5422 x 1373. April 5-Growing Herbs Organically: From Seed to Harvest April 6-From Seed to Soil: Organic Propagation of Herbs in the Field and Greenhouse Aug18-HerbFest Intensive: Cultivation and Ethnobotanical Use of Native Prairie Medicinals Sept 27-Grower to Grower: Large-scale Production Systems Sept 27-Herb Disease and Insect Problems Sept 28-Forming an Herb Cooperative *** In the News *** Wild Ginseng Harvest - New regulations specify parameters for the legal harvest of wild ginseng (Panax quinquefolium). Wild ginseng plants or roots harvested must possess three (3) or more true leaves (prongs) or flowering/fruiting stalks. The entire stalk, minus the mature fruits, shall be kept with the plants until they are taken to the harvester's home or place of business. When harvesting wild ginseng, harvesters shall plant all seeds from harvested plants within 100 feet of the parent plants. (Missouri Conservationist, Feb 2001) Sugar esters tested by ARS and university entomologists around the country could find use as environmentally friendly insecticides. The esters are lethal-almost immediately-to nearly all the mites and soft-bodied insects such as whiteflies, aphids, thrips, and pear psylla that they contact. Then they degrade into harmless sugars and fatty acids. These sugar esters do little harm to beneficial predatory insects and are nontoxic to animals and humans. Some are even approved as food-grade safe. And because of how the esters work, insect pests are not expected to develop resistance to them anytime soon. This is a control concept that originated about a decade ago. Now 4 years of testing have shown the sugar esters to be as good as-or better than-conventional insecticides against mites and aphids on apples; psylla on pears; whiteflies, thrips, and mites on vegetables; and whiteflies on cotton. Like insecticidal soaps, the esters kill insects by either dissolving their protective waxy coatings or suffocating them. Gary Puterka, USDA-ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station, Kearneysville, WV 304-725-3451 ext 361. Each year more farmers and landowners embrace organic agriculture and other innovative, environmentally friendly farming methods. The MN Dept of Ag's Energy and Sustainable Agriculture Program print an annual Greenbook describing the latest results from 46 on-farm research and demonstration grant projects. These projects focus on profitable and sustainable methods of raising a wide variety of crops and livestock. This year's Greenbook begins with a series of essays on innovative, producer-led marketing ventures. Six major topic areas include Alternative Crops and Markets, Cropping Systems and Soil Fertility, Fruits and Vegetables, Learning Systems, Livestock Systems and Whole Farm Systems. A sample of this year's projects includes research into reduced rate herbicide applications in corn and beans; controlled rotational grazing of dairy, beef, pigs and poultry for lower costs and better profitability; integrated alternative production and marketing systems; managing dairy manure nutrients with composting; and whole farm profitability compared to single enterprise management. Free by calling 651-296-7673 or writing to ESAP, MN Dept of Ag, 90 West Plato Blvd, St Paul MN 55107, prescott.bergh@state.mn.us. The book can also be viewed or ordered on the MDA Website at http://www.mda.state.mn.us. Learning the techniques and business skills necessary to run a small farm is "an increasingly popular recourse for a new generation whodid not grow up on farms," according to an article in The New York Times Business Section (Oct 14, 2000). "Part of the lure, as always, is the chance to live closer to nature, but these aspiring farmers also know they need to be well cersed in the buisness end of farming--and see a future that makes financial sense." Despite the decline in numbers of farmers and farmland during the past 20 years, new farmers--from recent college graduates to burnt-out executives--are "hoping that a renewed interest in organic foods and locally grown produce will make their dream of running a farm of their own reality." The USDA last month announced the creation of four Regional Pest Management Centers, which will "help focus research and extension efforts on developing and delivering alternative and safer pest management issues common to agricultural production within that region. In the North Central Region, Michigan State Univ and the Univ of Illinois will lead a multi-state coalition. (Alternative Agriculture News, Nov 2000) Free online newsletter -- Biological Control News. Written by entomologists Dan and Susan Mahr of the Univ of Wisconsin-Madison, the newsletter is the best single source for practical information about beneficial insects and nontoxic biological-pest-control techniques. The new electronic-only version has expanded from a Midwest focus to nationwide coverage. To check it out, go to www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/mbcn.html (Organic Gardening, March 2001) For information about beef and dairy products labeling program for farms that treat their farm animals in accordance with the American Humane Association standards, check out http://www.freefarmed.org *** In Print *** *Growing the Organic Market 2000 Conference Proceedings and Building a Sound Organic Marketing Strategy, 2000* Univ of Guelph. Covers practical cropping and marketing information for organic growers. Features list of organic marketers operating in central Canada and the Great Lakes states. Discusses soil fertility, mechanical weed control, fair trade, biodynamic orcharding, hemp production and more. Includes notes from presentation on building a sound organic marketing strategy. Contact Organic Conference, Box 116, Collingwood, ON, Canada, L9Y 3Z4, 705-444-0923, organix@georgian.net, http://www.gks.com/OrgConf/ *Organically Produced Foods: Nutritive Content* a bibliography, available from Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, National Agricultural Library, 10301 Baltimore Ave Rm 304, Beltsville, MD 20705-2351 or on the Internet at www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/ *Adding Value Through Environmental Marketing* proceedings of a 1999 conference, is available from IATP, or on the Internet at www.iatp.org/labels/envcommodities/ *Farming Without Chemicals in Ohio* available from Ohio Citizen Action and Innovative Farmers of Ohio, http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/pesticides/farming/farming.html *The Use and Performance of Management Intensive Rotational Grazing among Wisconsin Dairy Farms in the 1990s* from Program on Agricultural Technology Studies, Univ of WI, 608-265-2908, nlcarlis@facstaff.wisc.edu, on the web at http://www.wisc.edu/pats *A Food and Agricultural Policy for the 21st Century* is $20 from Organization for Competitive Markets, PO Box 6486, Lincoln, NE 68506, or free at http://www.competitivemarkets.com *Soil Biology Primer* is $6 plus $3.50 shipping from Soil and Water Conservation Society, 1-800-THESOIL, ext. 24; mikeh@swcs.org; on the Internet at http://www.swcs.org *** On the Calendar *** March 14-15-Sheep & Goat Shearing School, Jefferson City, MO. Call 573-681-5551. March 16-17-Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference-Organic Farming 2001: Food for Community, Hope for the Future, La Cross, WI. Call 715-772-6819, http://www.mosesorganic.org/umofc March 17-Mid-West Pastured Poultry Workshop, Herscher, IL. Call 815-937-3233 x 2. March 20-21-Agri-Expo 2001, Jefferson City, MO. Call 877-VALUADD. March 21-23-North Central Region Small Farm Workshop, Springfield, IL. Call 800-433-3704. March 24-Family Farm 2001: Diversity to Prosper, Silex, MO. Call 573-485-7261. April 5-6-American Black Walnut Nut Production Conference, Springfield, MO. Call 417-732-6485. April 7-Goat Day Conference. Call 660-852-3222. April 28-29-Farm-Fiber Festival and MO Spin-In, Arrow Rock, MO. Call 573-874-2233. May 4-6-Biointensive Sustainable Mini-Farming, Fairfield, IA. Call 707-459-5958. May 17-19-All Things Organic, Organic Trade Assn Conference and Trade Show, Austin, TX. Call Eurich Management, 517-327-9207, oatashow@ota.com May 19-Fiber Fair, Marshfield, MO. Call 417-859-2914. June 1-3-MO Natural Colored Wool Growers Meeting, Butler, MO. Call 816-697-2104. June 5-7-Grant Writing I Workshop, Springfield, MO. Call 417-732-6485. July 17-19-Grant Writing II Workshop, Springfield, MO. Call 417-732-6485. July 31-Aug 2-Grant Writing III Workshop, Springfield, MO. Call 417-732-6485. Aug 9-19-Missouri State Fair, Sedalia, MO. Aug 17-19-HerbFest 2001, Norway, IA. Call Frontier Natural Products Co-op, 319-227-7996 x 1286. University Outreach and Extension does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability or status as a Vietnam-era veteran in employment or programs.