Newsletter Issue 2 | February 2024 |
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A Message from the Center: USDA Regional Food Business Centers Take Shape |
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Center leadership pose in front of Wheat Ridge Poultry & Meats during their first retreat in September 2023. |
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In 2023, the USDA Ag Marketing Service (AMS) expanded funding for Regional Food Business Centers (RFBCs) with the goal to coordinate, deliver and provide investments to farm, ranch and food enterprises throughout the U.S., with a focus on underinvested stakeholders. These Centers are one key piece of a broader Food System Transformation framework introduced by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack that included several food policy developments related to improving the resilience, functionality, and sustainability of agricultural supply chains. Vilsack shared this framework with Center leadership at a November 2023 meeting in Denver, Colorado. |
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Tom Vilsack sharing the Food System Transformation framework with Center leadership in Denver, Colorado in November 2023. |
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In cooperation with USDA AMS, Colorado State University and Oregon State University are leading the Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center alongside dozens of partners and collaborators for the 2023-2028 period. We are excited to get to work for our region and be a part of this new network of RFBCs! |
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After officially beginning our agreement in July 2023, we had our first orientation retreat in September 2023 to strategize how to coordinate and elevate the ongoing activities in our geographic and theme areas. For more information on these areas, please visit our website. |
The structure of the Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center. |
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We also got the chance to meet many of our colleagues running Centers across the country at a November 2023 Summit in Washington D.C., and look forward to leaning into that network as our programs develop. As a network of Centers, the USDA asked us to carry out three primary functions, each of which we have well underway in the region. Our first function is serving as regional hubs that coordinate across geographic areas with USDA, and federal, state, and tribal agencies to engage stakeholders in developing and implementing plans to serve the region. We have already connected with over 1,300 stakeholders, including almost 300 of you who have signed up to receive our newsletter. Our second function is providing direct technical assistance to small- and mid-sized food and farm businesses. When deciding on how best to address the technical assistance needs of our region, we realized that, while geographically vast, the farm, ranch and food economies of this region share similar ecological, economic, and socio-political dynamics. These similarities helped shape our theme teams: - Building Meat Supply Chain Capacity: Our region derives 50% of agricultural receipts from animal products, making consolidated and vertically integrated meat sectors a key focus area.
- Creating Diverse Markets for Climate Resilient Ag: Water is increasingly scarce and expensive in our region, resulting in evolving policy and market responses to land development and support for agriculture. These include climate-smart agricultural partnerships, conservation easements and emerging models for land and water cooperatives that would require new, stronger and innovative climate-smart markets.
- Connecting and Scaling Food Entrepreneurs: There is substantial growth in organic, natural, local and regional food markets, including a higher-than-average share of consumer buying dollars in these areas. While this is a promising trend, supply chain and sustainable resource challenges increase the demand to help scale food entrepreneurs appropriately.
- Supporting Right-Size Investing and Infrastructure: Our region has relatively long transportation distances between production zones and consumer markets, with relatively less access to rail-based transport options, making distribution more dependent on trucking. The region is also an innovator in using innovative capital strategies and public-private partnerships to spur new enterprises, but ag and food are often absent from those discussions. Focus on right-size investments and infrastructure will be key in helping to solve challenges to regional capital and logistical barriers.
Each of these great theme teams have community-based discussions underway and are looking for ways to expand proven technical assistance programs to a wider set of states and audiences. Additionally, teams are brainstorming new ways to elevate and invest in new businesses, markets, collaborations, and value chains. A few examples from our theme teams: - The Meat Supply Chain team will launch the Western Meat School Business Accelerator in March 2024 with new scholarships and investments to recruit and support broader participation from those previously underserved.
- The Right Size Investment group is creating a Capital 101 Resource guide, and actively identifying and vetting technical assistance service providers already working on the ground with priority communities as identified by USDA, with the bigger goal to launch an “Accessing Capital Technical Assistance Network.”
- The Climate Smart Markets team had their kickoff event at the Farm and Food Symposium in Spokane from November 15-16, 2023 and more broadly, is conducting a 6-state landscape assessment to identify priorities for their team’s work.
- The Scaling Food Entrepreneurs team had opportunities to immediately respond to stakeholder needs by offering food entrepreneurs nominated by each state the opportunity to take a Get your Recipe to Market Course through scholarships. The team is updating the Shared Kitchen Toolkit in Winter 2024 and took 12 emerging food companies to the Specialty Food Association’s Fancy Food Show in January 2024. In addition to the connections made between potential buyers and those businesses the Center sponsored, our team also made dozens of new food industry contacts to help support the Center’s mission.
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The Scaling Food Entrepreneurs Team poses for a photo at the Specialty Food Association’s Fancy Food Show in January 2024. |
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The third function the USDA has asked us to carry out as a Center is supporting projects focused on regional needs and businesses working toward expansion. Our Center’s Business Builder Grant Program will be released later this spring (more information to come). Although not directly affiliated with our Center, we are excited to see the roll out of new Resilient Food System Infrastructure Grant Programs in each of our six states, as they may be the largest investment targeted at regional markets in recent history. We are doing our best to make sure the programs complement each other in addressing any potential opportunities or gaps for capitalizing regional markets. Speaking to broadening and addressing the barriers faced previously by some of our constituents, we are also trying to diversify and create a welcoming community context, as states in the region share an acute history of disenfranchisement and displacement, particularly with respect to indigenous nations and pre-colonial Hispanic communities. Moreover, migrant farmworkers (and their descendants) represent another population with great interest in exploring farm and food enterprises as they evolve from hired workers to entrepreneurs of their own. Given USDA’s focus and the relatively high populations of other underserved groups in this region, we are also focused on serving veterans, beginning farmers, small and midsize farms and hope to collaborate with those using USDA NIFA’s AgrAbility programs. We are incredibly excited for the growth of the Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center in cooperation with USDA AMS, and our continued work with our committed partners and collaborators. We look forward to supporting our region’s farm, ranch, and food business entrepreneurs, as well as broader food supply chain enterprises, for years to come. From the CSU and OSU Center Leadership Team Dawn Thilmany, Lauren Gwin, and Martha Sullins |
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Key Focus Areas and Programs |
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The Center’s leadership team, our six state teams of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, our multi-state partners, high-priority theme areas, and a cohort of food sector leaders from underserved audiences help to frame and engage a diverse set of farm and food businesses throughout our region. See what's new from our theme teams below. |
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New Western Meat School Business Accelerator launches in March 2024 The Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network (NMPAN) is launching a new business accelerator for growing meat businesses and brands, kicking off in March 2024. This is a small group peer learning experience where you will not only learn deeply from your peers and experts in the field, but also be paired with both business and marketing coaches to help you scale into wholesale markets and get a least 1 product to market. This experience can't be found anywhere else and we will be with you for the long haul. This is a competitive program, only 20 producers will be selected for the accelerator. The program last 7 months and the coaching is available for the whole year. If you are poised and ready to grow your business, get your financial house in order, and create a strategic plan to move you towards meat sales goals over $1 million, then this is the program for you. The deadline has been moved to Feb. 16th to apply. |
| But don't just take our word for it. A participant in our processor Mastermind had this to say: "I am in the final two months of the year long Meat Processors Academy Mastermind program through NMPAN and Oregon State University. It has been a TOTAL GAME CHANGER for us here at Mitchell's Meat Processing. We have been through the gamut of topics from finance to management to SOPs to marketing to business planning and beyond. The 20 of us in the program from across the US have also been paired with a financial consultant for 10 hours of consulting (that was included in the price of the academy). I have made great connections to other processors and even found a new accountant that is familiar with our business that has helped tremendously as well!! I SERIOUSLY recommend this program if you want to build your business!!!" For more information, and how to apply, click here. |
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The Climate Smart Markets team had their kickoff event at the Farm and Food Symposium in Spokane from November 15-16, 2023, and more broadly, is conducting a 6-state landscape assessment to identify priorities for their team’s work. |
| The Diverse Markets team will perform a regional landscape analysis to identify key partners, market opportunities, infrastructure gaps and priorities across the region. Identifying and communicating climate resilient production practices will be a key component of market development. Technical assistance for supply chain partners will increase reach of capacity building grants that can be used to conduct market research, expand processing infrastructure, develop new products, engage in supply chain contracts and implement effective marketing campaigns. |
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Team Members Highlighted at Winter Fancy Food Show RFBC team members Ashley Colpaart, CEO of The Food Corridor, and Sarah Masoni, director of development at Food Innovation Center, were highlighted in Food & Beverage Insider for their standout session at Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas, held January 21-23, 2024. Colpaart and Masoni discussed the latest trends in product development, specifically shared-use kitchens and food incubators. For the full story and other takeaways, read the article here. |
| Winter Fancy Food Show: See How the Fancy Food Show Engages RFBC Clients The NW and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center, a proud participant in the USDA Regional Food Business Center grant program, made a significant impact at the Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas. As part of their commitment to fostering regional food entrepreneurship, the Connecting and Scaling Food Entrepreneurs theme team brought twelve innovative food businesses to showcase their products and talents on a national stage. Read the full article here. |
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The Right Size Investment team is creating a Capital 101 Resource guide, and actively identifying and vetting technical assistance service providers already working on the ground with priority communities as identified by USDA, with the bigger goal of launching an “Accessing Capital Technical Assistance Network.” |
| Right-sized investing and infrastructure is complex and evolving. This work must be done in communities, led by and in partnership with trusted members of those communities, and done with direct relevance to the goals and context of specific entrepreneurs and enterprises. Underserved and priority communities (Black, People of Color, Indigenous, Veterans, disabled, beginning/new entry, limited resource/operating in areas of persistent poverty and urban communities) are prioritized across the region. |
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| Building a Marketing Strategy for Your Small Farm Virtual/Zoom February 3 - February 28, 2024 Register for this virtual four-part marketing workshop series to amplify your message, connect with customers, and grow your farm business. In this four-week workshop, you’ll create a personalized marketing strategy to grow your farm business. You’ll assess your current marketing, examine new strategies, and adapt those strategies to fit your business. Learn More & Register |
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