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Meeting the Business Needs of Local Food Producers

Garth Ruff, Emily Marrison, Peggy Hall, and Nicole Arnold

Summary

Value-added endeavors have long been a diversification strategy for agricultural producers to increase resilience. In some cases, small or beginning farmers seek food processing opportunities for their crops or livestock. Entrepreneurs may utilize local agricultural products to make and sell value-added foods. These food businesses have educational needs that differ from traditional agricultural businesses.

Ohio ranks second in the United States for number of farms (7,752) that sell food directly to consumers. Ohio State University Extension faculty set out to identify resources and educational strategies to meet the unique needs of food entrepreneurs. The team implemented a three-phase educational approach that included law bulletins, webinars, and an asynchronous online course.
The team published law bulletins on licensing, labeling, and selling food products in Ohio on the OSU Extension Farm Office website.

The second approach was to design a “Starting a Food Business” webinar series for home-based and farm-raised food entrepreneurs. Over 350 participants participated in the four-part series on establishing a business, food regulations, and food safety and marketing aspects unique to food businesses. By the final webinar, 89% said they were more knowledgeable about starting a food business and 81% were likely to take action on something they learned.

Lastly, the team developed an asynchronous, online course called “Food Business Central.” Throughout the course, 118 participants have taken steps to build a “My Food Business Action Plan” with considerations to explore and actions to take

Details

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