Episode 14 - Building Opportunity Through Value-Added Agriculture and Resilient Food Systems

 Value-added agriculture isn't just about creating a new product, it's about creating new possibilities. In this episode, Dr. Courtney Long shares how stronger markets, strategic partnerships, and resilient food systems can create opportunities for producers and communities alike. 

Listeners will also discover the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC), a national hub for market information, business planning resources, and research that supports informed decision-making across the agricultural sector.

Transcript

Ahlishia Shipley 0:00 

You're listening to the FARM Champion Podcast, where we champion farmer and rancher success. In each episode, we sit down with a FARM Champion, a trusted professional committed to helping producers navigate the business side of agriculture. If you're a farmer, rancher, or agriculture professional working to build a stronger, more resilient operation, you have found yourself in the right place. I'm Dr. Ahlishia Shipley, your host. I'm really excited about today's conversation because it really centers on a topic that comes up often in conversations about strengthening farm profitability and building resilient operations. And that topic is value-added agriculture. Joining me today to talk about this is Dr. Courtney Long, who's the director of the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center and the manager of the Food Systems Program at Iowa State University Extension Outreach. Dr. Long, welcome to the FARM Champion Podcast.

Courtney Long 1:05

Thanks. Great to be here. 

Ahlishia Shipley 1:10

Yes, it is wonderful to have you here. So, before we get into the vast world of value-added agriculture, what really excites you most about the work that you do to create value through food and agriculture? 

Courtney Long 1:22 

Yeah, great question. What excites me most is working with so many different people and businesses and places. We're really fortunate to work nationwide through AgMRC and have had the opportunity to support communities, whether it's from responding or preparing better for future disasters, thinking really specifically about value-added business creation and new products, innovative markets, and just really meeting people where they're at and innovation, creativity, or just how to continue doing the work we love. So that's what excites me most is getting to know people in this space. 

Ahlishia Shipley 1:59 

Thank you for sharing that. So, I'll go ahead and get into the foundation of today's conversation. And I would just love for you to tell us what does value-added agriculture actually mean? 

Courtney Long 2:11 

Yeah, it can be that very quick or simple process of changing that one product into something that's been maybe chemically altered, or we slice and dice a tomato, and then it's a different component. But I'm going to cheat and use the value-added definition from USDA to share with you. So, a few different options, right, to consider with value added. One is a change in the physical state or form of the product. So that can be something like milling wheat into flour or making strawberries into jam. Another version of that is the production of a product in a manner that enhances its value as demonstrated through a business plan. So, this could be organically produced products. So, something that is transitioning or shifting the actual value you might receive because of a different production practice or a different process that you're going through. And then last, it's the physical segregation of an agricultural commodity or product in a manner that results in the enhancement of the value of that commodity or product. So, this is such an identity preserved marketing system. So, think about different affiliations or statewide marketing organizations. So, for us in Iowa, like choose Iowa as a branding campaign that can kind of differentiate, but you might have other affiliations like Farmer Veteran Coalition or different nonprofit groups or value systems that also help differentiate your process that could include things like kosher or that type of ability to essentially acknowledge a different mechanism to reach a client or an audience because of a process you're going through. 

Ahlishia Shipley 3:51 

I love the fact that you brought in USDA's conversation. It gives a great foundation, and it shows how broad value-added agriculture is and the different pathways that you can have to add value to a product. So, with that, what's something that people often misunderstand in conversations about value-added? 

Courtney Long 4:11 

So, I might go down a different like rabbit hole with this, but I think or where I witness some like misunderstanding is how a term like value-added add can start meaning so many different things to folks. Just like how perhaps the term food systems now encompasses a very large swath of work or like food is medicine and food is health. We continue to see changes in what that term means. So, with value added, I think where we try to focus most with AgMRC is coming back to the definition of value-added agriculture and how value-added producer grants, how different research and mechanisms can really support the business of creating a value-added product. And so, the piece that I think is unique about USDA's value-added product and grant programming is one of the few that are really centered around supporting the business and the farmer rather than like a nonprofit or an organization getting into the space. So again, realize that's maybe a little nuanced to your question, but something that's often misunderstood about the value-added producer grant program is its intent to support that business and operator and their planning and, in their equipment, capital costs, like understanding that feasibility, if you will. 

Ahlishia Shipley 5:25 

You mentioned the value-added producer grant at USDA. Could you talk about that a little bit more? 

Courtney Long 5:31 

Yeah. So, the value-added producer grants are really focused on, again, supporting that producer or business. It is an annual grant cycle that has both planning grants that allows for things like feasibility studies or business plan marketing plans to be established within an organization. And then there's also working capital grants that allow for the purchasing of inventory of equipment, supplies, salaries, utilities to also get into whether it's new marketing aspects for that value-added product, branding and packaging materials, or even researching new practices for creating that value-added product. It's a unique grant through USDA Rural Development that also does require matching funds. So, it's really meant to have businesses support a one-to-one match of their purpose in the grant application. But it does allow for each of those components that we were talking about earlier about what is a value-added product. So, whether that's thinking about a new commodity processing opportunity, market differentiation, thinking about on-farm production of even things like renewable energy and how that adds value to your business, local food or organic practices that we were talking about just a little bit ago can be included in that. And considering mid-tier value chains. So, as we're seeing businesses scale up and needing to transition some of their practices or considering wholesale, we obviously need to figure out about our value chain, supply chain mechanisms that allow for those products to be developed in a larger scaled way. 

Ahlishia Shipley 7:05 

That is quite a wide range of things that the value-added producer grants support. So, I want to switch gears right now to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center or AgMRC. 

Courtney Long 7:20 

Yeah. So, the center is an online center. We are here to again support those farmers and food businesses, but also practitioners and researchers working in space. And so, the different areas of support we have are through technical assistance, kind of navigating the grant cycle that is robust as one gets into that space. So, we are in the process of creating a few videos and tutorials on just how to again navigate the application cycle, whether that be things like what Sam’s number is, why do I need all this different identification, different paperwork, all those pieces? We have some new training there. In addition to the technical assistance side, we also try to assess current trends and markets and research needs and opportunities for the future. So, on our website, what you'll also find are case studies of value-added producers over the extent of the VAPG program. So, you can see highlights of Apple producers, of jams that have been developed, of new meat processing, of kind of you name it, the gamut of grants that have been available. You can see best practices there through short videos. We also have in our commodities and products section the ability to at a glance see what the trends are for across different commodities. So that might include things like renewable energy. It could include in the fruit section, maybe you really want to understand the cherries market in your area or what's going on with watermelons or those types of things. We go through similar components with vegetables, specialty crops, livestock, dairy, poultry. And again, at a glance, you can look through different dashboards at how products are being processed, what the value-added potential there is, what the markets and trends are. We partner with a series of other institutions and universities, as well as researchers, to also build out dashboards to pull in USDA data and national data. So, we work with different institutions to really make that information and those reports most relevant. So, you can search by different categories. Lastly, in the commodity space, we partnered with Market Maker, which I believe was another FARM champion, to showcase where different products are grown, where different aspects of the supply chain are working effectively. And so, there's a food searcher tool through AgMRC that you can identify those products. The next piece that I think is critical here is our business and development section. So, this is really geared towards farmers and food businesses that are wanting some tools and templates for considering their business, whether that's feasibility study, considering points of entry, financial needs, product life cycles. We have what's called our business workbench that allows you to download different templates to kind of plug and play numbers, ideas. Is it worth essentially buying this new equipment for what I'm going to be able to sell my product for? Or how much product do I need to create to then break even at the end of the day? So, we have a few of those cash flow budgeting tools and a handful of other templates that we develop. The piece I want to mention here is we're able to work in partnership with USDA to determine what components should be developed on AgMRC. So, it's helpful for me to learn from folks who are listening to this webinar on what you would like to see for the future, because then we can kind of work collaboratively to try to develop those tools as well. So, the third piece that I would mention, then that's something we've been evolving over the last few years, is more of our food systems and market development aspect of our website. This is going to highlight once that value-added product is created, where are we selling those? How are we reaching new market potential? What's the community development aspect? So, this section is highlighting more of that research and implementation process that could occur would be more in the relation to like grocery store potentials for local food purchasing or food hubs, talking about consumption trends. We also have done a handful of work on the actual like processing and feasibility for maybe its fruit and vegetable processing or kitchen incubators. And then the final aspect of our website for where farm and food businesses can turn is we have a handful of different directories that folks can look for, consultants or service providers. So maybe you're looking for specific support on attorneys or some legal advice, or perhaps it's on grant writing. So, for you as a producer business, that is a directory that you can do a search for. But if you're also listening to this as a consultant or as a service provider, you can create a profile on this website as well. So, you are searchable. We tailor that as an open public resource. And so that's something that's available to folks. 

Ahlishia Shipley 12:22 

So, thank you very much for sharing and walking us through AgMRC. Just one quick question. What's your favorite thing on the website? Ooh, favorite thing on the website? 

Courtney Long 12:32 

I have a couple, but we did just have our videos from our resilient food systems program shared. It's live. So, you can hear about some of the impact from natural disasters, the resilient efforts that our colleagues, partners, farmers have made in three distinct areas. So, Alaska, Virgin Islands, and Iowa were a part of a pilot program five years ago or so, and we were able to go do some storytelling and listening with them. And the videos are just ready. So that's an exciting thing that's new. We have some amazing tools from colleagues around Sheridu's Kitchens that I think have been popular. But the food searcher tool is kind of the plug and play that's like just easy for folks to get in and learn about your community. So, if you really love a certain commodity and just want to understand like how it's grown, where to find it, I think that's another easy gateway in figuring out your community. 

Ahlishia Shipley 13:27 

So, I want to zoom out a little bit and just touch on what your approach to market development is. 

Courtney Long 13:36 

A couple of things come to mind. I think first, like, yes, we've been talking about AgMRC as a resource. We have a really great team for AgMRC and our food systems crew that use a public interest design and strategic doing process for working with communities on food systems development that I think is unique in pulling multiple thread systems thinking together. And there's so many different levels of expertise that are within the unit that depending on where folks navigate to in those conversations, there's different people we can point them to. So, I would say part of our process is really working with communities, understanding the place base, vision, values, and purpose that we need and want to see in our food system. So that is different everywhere. There are maybe some similarities, but what I've noticed is depending on the geography, the culture, the dynamics of which are going on, it shifts. And so that's one piece I think of our work is that it's people-based and place-based. And then as to your question about specific business or market development, we would pull in individuals or organizations to help create that next future. So it could be that it's one-on-one consulting for a specific business that's getting off the ground, and they really need food safety expertise or financial support. I can connect them to individuals that can better help in that experience. Then if we have a different group that's really wanting to start a more long-term community development structure, I'm thinking of public markets or new, like larger scale, kind of complex business structures, then we can get our designers and partners and think more strategically about a long-term plan for how you get that thing off the ground. So that's a little bit about our processes. We have folks that are really focused on like the 30,000-foot level, starting with that vision. And then as we focus and understand more what either the community or the farmer or the business needs, we can find the more detailed and specific approach to meet people where they're at. 

Ahlishia Shipley 15:40 

Thank you for sharing that. It's helpful in terms of success and resilience. I think our listeners now have a good sense of what AgMRC is. And I'd love to bring it to life through a brief success story. Can you share an example about how AgMRC has partnered with the community organization to create value and ultimately strengthen a local food system? 

Courtney Long 16:01 

I think I'll share about one of our resilient food systems communities that we worked with. Maybe I'll share two. So, the one that comes to mind first is now a good friend, Summer Sibley Brown. We started collaborating in 2018, outside of AgMRC, but as part of my then doctoral research on what are the impacts of COVID and natural disasters on community food systems. And as we were starting to talk and go through some potential partnerships is when Irma and Maria hit St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John. So, as well as many other islands in the Caribbean. So, it took months for us to finally be able to touch base due to all the power and impact that occurred in the territory. But the first thing we discussed was the importance of hearing farmer stories after the hurricanes and just what not only the devastation was, but like what are the needs of farmers? Because there was so much in that initial response on like the typical, like, we need food and sheltering, and there's a list of items, right, that we're ready to respond with. But we weren't necessarily thinking about the feed or fencing or ability to get back on farm or all these other aspects of the business. So, the first thing we were able to accomplish, I think, well, was just sitting and listening to farmers and being able to present with their stories about how they were impacted. We hosted a series of listening sessions with FEMA across the territory and with a handful of other organizations to really lift the voices of the producers. Through that, we were able to then partner on a handful of grants to do some risk management, some additional planning and development for new markets. So, we had worked on a virtual farmers market tool that could help identify market space potential but also locate where farms exist. So, in this case, there is a kind of lack of strong internet access, some technological issues. Good food did an amazing job of building resilience for the small and intermediate farmers of accessing these different technology systems for their territory. So, then a couple of years later, we were really learning about the need for markets, right? And we've talked about this throughout, but just like, what are the gaps? Why aren't farms able to scale? What are those potentials? So, we were able to do a study together on business feasibility for a cooperative, something similar to a food hub, but also maybe not distributing across the territory. So did some additional research there on those findings. And then, anyways, flash forward and there's some implementation of different programs that nonprofits have been stood up. And that is not just from AgMRC. So, I'm sharing this story as more of like a timeline of partnerships, not of AgMRC. We were there to like support in some of the research and share access or capacity as both our AgMRC team in Iowa State were an arm of, I would say, capacity support versus a funding arm. They did not receive value-added producer grant dollars. We've supported some discussions on VAPG, but I do think there's some nuance to that story of like highlighting just the place-based efforts. And people often are like, how did some folks from Iowa start working with the Virgin Islands? And the story is that we didn't get hit by that hurricane. Like we still had the ability to reach out and help and like had time and energy, and we weren't devastated the same way. So, any who, that's that story. 

Ahlishia Shipley 19:36 

That's a powerful example. And it just underscores the power of connection and how important one relationships are and how even more important listening is, because there is a lot to gain from just sitting down and listening to people, and in this case, actual producers and what they need in situations like this. 

Courtney Long 20:00 

Yeah. And I think if I were to ask that question in just like a tangible way, I think where you can see some of the impact is through the value-added producer grant stories that are online. There are lovely testimonies there to the process. And the one thing I didn't name that I should do is, we host the National Ag Summit every year. We'll be in Raleigh in October. But it's another like people-focused practitioner education event. But that networking you just brought up and named, I think is a really solid space for new and existing farmers and food businesses, practitioners, and folks to come together to just collaborate on market development, on utilizing data in this space and on thinking about like innovative and creative potentials for the future. So that's one of the like fun spots too in this work is coming together. 

Ahlishia Shipley 20:53 

Fantastic. So, I really enjoyed our conversation. I really appreciate the work that you do, and I appreciate our conversation today. So again, Courtney, thank you for introducing us to AgMRC and helping us better understand how it supports producers, agriculture professionals, and communities. And we will be sure to add all the links and resources that Dr. Long mentioned in the podcast information. And for our listeners, if you are thinking about new opportunities for your community or operation, I encourage you to visit AgMRC. It is really an incredible resource, as you've heard today, with a range of practical tools and market information, business planning resources, commodity profiles, and research to help you explore ideas and make informed decisions. Additionally, if you would like to know more about tools and resources that support form basics success, please visit agftap.org and learn how to connect with the farm champion in your area. And don't forget to follow and subscribe to the FARM Champion Podcast wherever you get your podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening.