Volume 2
Issue 3
Fall 2011
Food For Profit — A Statewide Entrepreneurship Program
Customized to Meet the Needs of Local Food Entrepreneurs
Have you ever been told that your favorite homemade bread or salsa
is “good enough to sell?” Do you have additional fruit or vegetables
from your farm or home garden that you would like to make into a
commercial product? Food for Profit is a one-day workshop designed to help you work through the maze of local and state regulations, food safety issues, and business management concepts that
all must be considered in setting up a commercial food service.
This workshop is in collaboration with Penn State Cooperative Extension, University of Maryland Extension, and the Maryland Rural Enterprise Development Center and will be held at the Maryland Agriculture Resource Center, 1114 Shawan Road, Cockeysville, MD on
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The tuition
cost is $40.00 per person which includes all materials and lunch. Pre
-payment and registration are required. Registration go to: http://
www.cvent.com/d/mcq73k or call 877-489-1398.
Continued on page 2 …
Cows, Corn, Community & Kids — It’s All CRED
University of Maryland Extension - Community Resource
& Economic Development (CRED) team cordially invites
you to attend a special workshop on November 7, 2011
from 9 AM to 2:30 PM. This workshop will be at 3 locations (4-H Center, UME - Washington County Office, and
Wye Research & Education Center) for your convenience.
The program will explore:
Who should attend?
If you are a member or affiliate of any impact team, this
workshop is for you! If you’re not, this workshop is also
for you! That’s because whatever we are doing in our
Extension roles, we are building communities that are
sustainable and resilient.
Pre-registration reserves your lunch and training materials.
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CRED outreach in Maryland
Present the Community Capitals model
Discuss UME CRED programing initiatives and
indicators of success
Provide a toolkit for technical assistance
To register go to: http://agnradmin.umd.edu/training
Cancellations after Tuesday, Nov. 1 will be assessed $15
lunch and materials fee. If you have any questions about
the workshop, contact Ginger S. Myers at 301- 432-2767
x338 or gsmyers@umd.edu
Page 2
Volume 2
Have You Seen This Icon?
From Maryland Rural Enterprise Development Center - www.mredc.umd.edu
Market studies now estimate that
there are 73.5 million US
smartphone users as of the spring
2011. This hardware is revolutionizing the variety and scope of software applications. The icon pictured here is a QR scan. Without
too much detail, a smartphone with
a free downloaded QR scanner
reader can scan QR codes and
load any recognized Web URLs on
the device's Web browser. Augmented reality (AR) programs on
smartphones allow for the overlaying of computerized elements, such
as graphics or text, on top of a realtime video or other real-world display with the aim of providing additional information to the viewer.
While the technology has been
around for years — in aircraft cockpits, for instance — smartphones
are helping to drive usage as these
high-end mobile devices put the
necessary hardware - accelerometers, cameras, compasses, GPS —
right in people's pockets. These
types of smartphone applications
are advancing direct marketing and
information delivery on myriads of
subjects to our clients. The old
adage, “Be there or be square” certainly applies to keeping up with
mobile technology applications.
The Maryland Rural Enterprise
Development Center,
www.mredc.umd, is a 24/7 web
Food For Profit
Continued from page 1 …
Agenda
9:00 – 9:05
Welcome & Introductions
Ginger S. Myers, Director, Maryland Rural
Enterprise Development Center, University
of Maryland Extension Marketing Specialist
9:05 – 9:30
Rewards and Challenges of Food Business
Jeanne Dietz-Band, Owner, Many Rocks Farm
portal is a one-stop-shop for the
latest, most successful business
development innovations and support for Maryland’s agriculture and
natural resources enterprises. It is
the first agricultural site in the State
totally dedicated to agricultural and
natural resource business development. It provides both business
resources along with actual production and or/processing advice
as they relate directly to agricultural
and natural resource-based enterprises. Through Google Analytics
we know that site visitors are coming to MREDC via their mobile devices. Formatting and content editing now provides for even faster
service to these devices and we
expect an even great number of
visitors to the site through these
types of connections.
NESARE Farmer Grants Due December 1st
Northeast SARE offers Farmer Grants are for commercial producers who
have an innovative idea they want to test using a field trial, on-farm demonstration, or other technique. A technical advisor — often an extension agent,
crop consultant, or other service professional — is required as a project participant.
Projects should seek results other farmers can use, and all projects must
have the potential to add to our knowledge about effective sustainable practices. Applications for 2012 funding are due December 1, 2011.
For an application form and more details about projects and funding visit
http://nesare.org/get/farmers/
The BARN
Issue 3
9:30 – 10:15
Legally Speaking - Robin Henderson
Chief, Center for Food Processing Maryland
DHMH
10:15 – 10:25
Break
10:25 – 11:15
Safe Food Handling - Lynn Little, FCS
Educator, University of Maryland Extension –
Washington County
11:15 – 11:45
Developing a Game Plan
Winifred McGee, Senior Extension Educator,
Entrepreneurship, Penn State Cooperative
Extension
11:45 – 12:30
Lunch Break
12:30 – 12:50
Start-up Support - Ginger S. Myers
12:50 – 1:40
Finding a Niche - Winifred McGee
1:40 – 2:20
Packaging Your Product - Winifred McGee
2:20 – 2:30
Break
2:30 – 3:30
Pricing Your Product - Winifred McGee
3:30 – 4:00
Share Your Next Steps! &
General Questions
(a short participant survey)
Winifred McGee & Ginger S. Myers
If you have any questions concerning
this program, please contact:
Ginger S. Myers,
University of Maryland Extension
Specialist at gsmyers@umd.edu or
(301) 432-2767 x 338
Fall 2011
Volume 2
Issue 3
Recordings Available
On-line of Strategic
Marketing Workshops
for Livestock Producers
Page 3
It Takes A Region 2011
A Working Conference to Build our Northeast Food System
Mark your calendars now for
November 11-12, 2011
Pre-Conference workshops on November 10, 2011
The demand for locally raised meats and livestock
products continues to grow. Strategic and specific
marketing efforts can help farms take full advantage of
the local meats market. This past July, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, developed a
series of three workshops that taught the basics of strategic marketing, including how to identify a target market and focus marketing efforts. Participants also
learned how to choose the market channels that meet
the needs of their farm and customers, such as CSA,
farmers’ market, and wholesale.
Topics covered include: usage of claims, creating content for marketing materials, positioning, branding, differentiation, processing and marketing legalities, and
more.
While this series is tailored specifically to the marketing
of meats and other livestock products, it will benefit any
farm looking to improve their marketing efforts.
Recordings of the sessions as they were presented in
July are available at: http://
www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/projects/LP/
livestock.cfm
For more information, contact: Matt LeRoux, Ag.
Marketing Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension of
Tompkins County, (607) 272-2292 or by email at
mnl28@cornell.edu
Desmond Hotel and Conference Center
Albany, NY (www.desmondhotelsalbany.com)
Check out the agenda at
http://www.ittakesaregion.org/program.html
In 2011, Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working
Group (NESAWG) and partners will draw on the success
of our past two "It Takes a Region" conferences and
build on exciting efforts underway in our region in distribution logistics, research, messaging, food access and
nutrition, and policy advocacy.
We welcome new participants – especially emerging
food system leaders and community activists – as we
bring focus to the Northeast agenda for the 2012 Farm
Bill. Presentations will address pressing issues such as
food system worker equity and growing biomass versus
food. And we’ll continue to explore scale, size, geography, and cross-sector partnerships. Watch for new features and networking opportunities.
Meet food system advocates, policymakers, planners,
researchers, Extension and other educators, farm groups
and support organizations, food supply chain businesses, consumer groups, youth, students and young food
system professionals.
On The Web
Advancing Economic Development 2009
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/communications/EconDev09/SP367.pdf
Check out this booklet posted by the Iowa State Extension to see how a maturing
CRED program can implement a wide variety of economic initiatives and report
out substantive, quantitative, and qualitative impacts.
Commentary on Cooperative Extension
http://missionextension.wordpress.com/
Jim Langcuster a news and public affairs specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System established a blog
to share his thoughts and those of other Extension Educators on the importance of social networking and its role in the
survival of Extension. Check out an article “What Drives Extension Work?”
http://missionextension.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/what-drives-extension-work-%E2%80%94-really-continued/
and find out the impact Extension has with its clientele. Written by Peg Boyles, University of New Hampshire
Cooperative Extension.
Fall 2011
The BARN
Page 4
Volume 2
Issue 3
What Could a UME Community Development Educator Do?
While there’s been a call for adding two Community Resource and Economic Development Educators to UME
programming, the new positions have been given specific
job duties related to current natural resource priorities.
Still, most UME educators and staff have no clue what a
Community & Economic Development Educator could do
in their Cluster.
As a veteran of Ag Marketing, I've long believed that everything we do is all about community and economic development, we've just arranged it in three specific packages
— Ag & Natural Resources, Family Consumer Science,
and 4-H Youth Development — and pretty much everything that's appropriate and leftover is covered by our
CED, AED, and Admin team. Everything Extension does
is designed to improve conditions and enhance the economy of our communities, whether that community be defined with local government borders, specific industries,
community residents, or families and individuals. And,
though we have "official" designations, we are working
together across disciplines to pool our experience and
knowledge to best serve our clients.
Photo by Edwin Remsberg
► Challenge our professional networks to expand
resources to Extension projects and services.
► Work with youth to develop workplace and entrepreneurial skills, help families develop healthy homes
and be money smart.
► Be the “solution” in your community.
For a list of several existing programs CRED programs
such as “Dream, Plan, Implement” for entrepreneurs, go
to http://www.mredc.umd.edu to learn more about what
tools and resources are already available for you and
your clients.
So, what should CRED bring to the table?
► Assist businesses of all sorts to improve workforce
environments, and skills and, of course, bottom lines.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for the
UME’s CRED work, please contact the CRED Impact
Team leaders:
► Nurture existing relationships and expand our
connections with local government officials and
other community groups.
Shannon Dill, sdill@umd.edu
April Hall Barczewski, adhall@umd.edu
Ginger Myers, gsmyers@umd.edu, (301) 432-2767 x338
The BARN
University of Maryland Extension - Western Maryland Research & Education Center
18330 Keedysville Road, Keedysville, MD 21756
301-432-2767 x338 or x301, E-mail: gsmyers@umd.edu or sbarnes6@umd.edu
Editor: Ginger S. Myers
Regional Marketing Specialist, University of Maryland Extension
Director, Maryland Rural Enterprise Development Center
The BARN is published quarterly featuring the programs and resources of the
University of Maryland Extension’s (B)usiness Development, (A)g Marketing,
and (R)ural and Community Economic Development (N)etwork.
For more information visit:
Maryland Rural Enterprise Development Center
http://www.mredc.umd.edu/
To Subscribe:
Ag Marketing Program
http://AgMarketing.umd.edu
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http://wmrec.umd.edu
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http://www.extension.umd.edu/
University of Maryland Extension programs are open to all citizens
without regard to race, color, gender, disability, religion, age,
sexual orientation, marital or parental status, or national origin.
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will receive notification when a new issue of The BARN has been posted on the web
or other important events we would like to share with you.
Hardcopy subscription: mail check or money order for $10 per year, payable to
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Online: Issues are posted online and can be downloaded for free:
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Comments and suggestions regarding The Barn are always welcome. References
to commercial products or trade names are made with the understanding that no
discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the University of Maryland
Extension is implied. Articles and photographs can be reprinted with permission.
Fall 2011