Center for Profitable Agriculture Helping Farmers Quarterly Develop Progress Value-Added Report Enterprises IN THIS ISSUE... Progress Report 72, April 2016 A Message From the Director. Page 1 Direct Farm Marketing for Success Workshops Conducted in March. Page 2 Farmers Market Boot Camp Sessions. Page 2 Grass-Fed Beef Conference Held March 17. Page 2 Megan Leffew Featured as Speaker at Recent TN Rural Development Conference. Page 3 New Fact Sheet on Managing Risks of Poultry Processing. Page 3 A Snapshot of Tennessee Agritourism: 2013 Study Summary. Page 3 Growth Prospects for the Tennessee Wine Industry. Page 3 Agritourism Session and Tour Evaluation Summaries from the 2016 Pick TN Conference. Page 4 Number of Establishments Permitted by TDA Food and Dairy Section. Page 4 Project Updates.. Page 5 A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR During the first quarter of 2016, specialists in the center provided 48 presentations in 11 locations to 1,514 participants. Presentation topics included: Marketing Methods to Make Money Social Media and Email Marketing Basics for the Farmers Market How to Know If You re Making Money Plant Sale Regulations In addition, our Center s educational exhibit was featured at five different events which provided some 315 contacts. These events included: Pick Tennessee Conference TN-KY Tobacco Expo Tennessee Cattlemen s Association Tennessee Young Leaders Conference Specialists were also involved with various consultations in person, via email and the telephone with 700 contacts.
Direct Farm Marketing for Success Workshops Conducted in March The Direct Farm Marketing for Success workshop was conducted in two locations during March. Just over 85 people attended the event in Murfreesboro and Knoxville on March 9 and 10. The program was provided especially for direct farm marketers, agritourism operators, and value-added entrepreneurs. Four presentations were made during the workshop on topics including business structure options, consumer trends and pricing. Farmers Market Boot Camp Sessions With more than 195 participants in 6 different locations, 2016 marked another successful year of farmers market boot camp workshops. This year s sessions were held in Hamblen, McMinn, Wilson, Franklin, Gibson, and Hickman Counties. Sessions featured presentations from Megan Leffew, Faith Critzer, and Hal Pepper on topics including social media, marketing methods, food regulations, and sources of funding. Grass-Fed Beef Conference Held March 17 The 2016 Grass-Fed Beef Conference was held on March 17, 2016 at the Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The conference was organized by the Lower Middle Tennessee Priority Planning Team, a coalition of University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University county Extension agents and specialists from the south-central region of the state, and UT s Center for Profitable Agriculture. The conference was partially sponsored by the Southern Risk Management Education Center. Approximately 100 people attended the conference. The primary goal of the conference was to provide a holistic understanding of grass-fed beef production systems and give producers tools to help them reduce the management risks of their operations. Post-workshop evaluations helped measure the effectiveness of the Conference and provided feedback on ways to improve future Grass-Fed Beef Conferences. Based on participants ratings of the Conference sessions and additional feedback obtained, the 2016 Grass-Fed Beef Conference resulted in an increase in understanding of grass-fed beef forage production and management, grass-fed beef nutrition, grass-fed beef meat quality, grass-fed beef production costs, grass-fed beef cattle breeding and genetics, and grass-fed beef marketing and labeling. This added knowledge is expected to reduce participants production, financial, marketing, and/or legal risk associated with their grass-fed beef operations in the short- and long-term. The high producer interest in this first-time conference and the desire to learn more about grass-fed beef production systems shows 2 P a g e
promising potential to carry out the event in other parts of the state and expand the size and scope of the conference. Doing so would require greater collaboration among UT and TSU Extension across the state and could open opportunities to involve other governmental and non-governmental organizations. Megan Leffew Featured as Speaker at Recent TN Rural Development Conference We are pleased that Megan Leffew was a featured speaker at the 2016 Tennessee Rural Development Conference in Murfreesboro on March 30. Her presentation was titled Agritourism in Action: A Growing Opportunity for Rural Economies. The image at right was used to promote the conference and her session. New Fact Sheet on Managing Risks of Poultry Processing The Center for Profitable Agriculture recently released a new fact sheet for poultry farmers interested in direct marketing their poultry products. The 21-page fact sheet titled Managing Risk: Costs, Regulations and Food Safety for On-farm Poultry Processing in Tennessee available at tiny.utk.edu/cpa244 is a summary of materials presented at poultry processing workshops led by University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture in January 2015. It is intended for use in future workshops and one-on-one discussions with producers and Extension agents. A Snapshot of Tennessee Agritourism: 2013 Study Summary A survey of Tennessee agritourism operations was conducted in early 2013. A total of 171 operations responded to the survey. Selected results from the survey have been summarized and are available online at tiny.utk.edu/cpa247. Growth Prospects for the Tennessee Wine Industry: Major Findings, Challenges and Opportunities and Recommendations Specialists from the center recently collaborated with Dr. David Hughes, Greever Chair of Excellence Agricultural and Resource Economics, in the evaluation of Tennessee s grape and wine industry. A summary of the study is available online at tiny.utk.edu/cpa248. 3 P a g e
Agritourism Session and Tour Evaluation Summaries from the 2016 Pick TN Conference The Pick Tennessee Conference was held February 11-13, 2016, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Agritourism sessions and operation tours were included in the event as was the annual meeting and banquet of the Tennessee Agritourism Association. Separate evaluations were distributed and collected for agritourism sessions held on Thursday and Friday of the conference and the agritourism tours held on Saturday of the conference. A summary of the results of both evaluations is available online at tiny.utk.edu/cpa246. Number of Establishments Permitted by TDA Food and Dairy Section The following is an updated listing of the number of establishments permitted and inspected by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Food and Dairy Section of Consumer and Industry Services. Type of Establishment 4/11/2014 6/20/2014 9/19/2014 2/5/2015 5/21/2015 10/29/2015 3/4/2016 Retail Food 9,526 9,585 9,526 9,577 9,474 9,317 9,300 Food Manufacturing 1,275 1,300 1,309 1,295 1,302 1,303 1,314 Food Warehouses 511 514 507 520 527 527 538 Tobacco-only Stores 285 306 304 295 312 * 356 Domestic Kitchens 145 146 147 143 139 137 137 Farm Egg Producers 22 22 22 19 15 100 16 Farm Meat Producers 97 112 119 124 142 152 149 Custom Slaughter 62 60 58 46 54 51 53 Deer-only Processors 84 84 83 69 73 71 71 Farm Dairies 376 377 368 362 353 335 327 Dairy Processors 23 23 25 24 24 22 28 Wineries 48 48 51 54 55 ** ** Distilleries 6 6 6 18 19 ** ** Beverage Plants (water, ice, coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages) 214 290 * TDA is no longer keeping this number. ** Wineries and distilleries are combined under Beverage Plants. 4 P a g e
Project Updates Preliminary Assessment for Value-added Dairy Product A Tennessee dairy farm planning to make and sell ice cream on-site must use pasteurized products in making the ice cream. The farm may choose to purchase a pasteurized mix or it may choose to build a facility for processing its own pasteurized milk and cream to be used in making the ice cream. Making ice cream with a purchased pasteurized mix is far less complicated. Using the farm s milk to make the ice cream will involve the separation and removal of cream, and the homogenization and pasteurization of the cream and milk mixture. The farm will also need to determine what can be done with the excess skim milk that will be a byproduct of this process. Building an on-site pasteurization facility may offer an opportunity to attract customers who want to buy ice cream made with the farm s products, but one should carefully compare the potential returns to the costs of building and operating a milk processing facility. An alternative to building a milk processing facility is to work with a small processor to acquire a mix or pasteurized milk and cream using the farm s milk. This may be accomplished by selling the farm's milk to the processor and buying the processed milk products back or contracting with the processor to make them. Whether the farm uses its own milk or some other source for ingredients used to make the ice cream, one should make sure marketing efforts are consistent with the actual source of the milk. It is also important to consider whether zoning regulations allow the farm to remodel or construct a facility to process milk and make ice cream and, if so, ascertain the costs to comply with them. Knowing where to get approval, whether building plans will be required and what it will cost to develop them are key preliminary steps as one considers valueadded dairy processing. AG.TENNESSEE.EDU Center for Profitable Agriculture P.O. Box 1819, Spring Hill, TN 37174 931-486-2777 ag.tennessee.edu/cpa Programs in agriculture and natural resources, 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, and resource development. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture and county governments cooperating. UT Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment. 5 P a g e