Using contracts to expand produce market opportunities

The project is a needs assessment to investigate how contracts or marketing agreements can help producers manage the risk of increasing production while assuring foodservice operators of adequate supplies of quality produce. Focus groups with eastern and central Iowa produce growers identified marketing agreements as positive options when producers were planning to expand or wanted to get into larger markets, as long as adequate provisions were made for extenuating circumstances.

Foodservice operators from various sources, including institutional, retail (grocery store) and independent restaurants, were similar to producers in response to the concept of formal agreements. When a large and consistent quantity of product was needed, foodservice operators were either already using or open to using agreements. Additional work is needed to profile the Iowa produce industry and its producers in regard to the purpose of produce income (primary, secondary, etc.), intentions to expand, and willingness to self-market products. Preliminary results indicate that operation size is not a primary factor to producers' consideration of risk management tools.

Jason Ellis
Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Management Department - Iowa State University
Phone: 515.294.7549
Email: jdellis@iastate.edu