Southwest Iowa Entrepreneurial Center: An achievable product to market business model for small/niche ag producers
Two rounds of seminars were held introducing small producers and value-added processors to the concept of developing businesses to use their products. The seminars were well attended and the response positive in that there were many questions asked and valuable input was given on the development of the concept. A follow-up mail survey sought input on how attendees wanted to be involved in the next steps. Conversations with the producers were put on hold once the production season came. During the summer/early fall months, we were able to address some of the questions and barriers raised at the forums. These included limitations from the food safety regulations, profitability pricing of product, delivery of product to user, direct sales versus sales to a distributor, and communication between producers and potential business users. We received the report of survey work performed by ISU students (Marketing Experiential Learning ISU class 491X, also supported by the Leopold Center) and considered the results of their work. Drawing from the outcomes of the forums and of the ISU student report, it has been determined that a test market of the home-meal replacement business needed to be conducted to address issues that cannot be resolved by research. Finding dollars for the test market is ongoing, but is a challenge because this funding cannot be pursued as typical investment dollars. Lynn Adams Roxanna Sieber |