Food Distribution Research Society 2008 Annual Conference
Sep 12th, 2008 | By Mayda | Category: UncategorizedEvent ‘Food Distribution Research Society 2008 Annual Conference’ by Casey Hoy
Entrepreneurship in the Food Chain When “local” is King
This year’s conference features speakers and panelists with
expertise on entrepreneurship, the food chain from a-z and the local
purveyors. Highlights of the conference include some truly unique
speakers, a chance to experience food retail like you can’t imagine, a
special Food Marketing Challenge for stu-dents, and a record number of
research papers on Wednesday.
October 11-15, 2008 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Dublin, Ohio-
click the link below for more information
Read more: http://socialsynergyweb.org/oardc/node/209
Post reply: http://socialsynergyweb.org/oardc/comment/reply/209#comment-form
Great article about forming a foundation, Wayne. My concern is the already existing organizions like the Aldo Leopold, Westin Price, Oeffa, Farm Bureau who have similar agendas. Sometimes I think there are too many groups not working together as the biggest problem. Which is why I’m all for starting one that does. The biggest group being Ohio State Univ with a lot of land and Ag students who don’t even grow their own food on campus. Talk about the sustainable food movement. I only saw about 10 of those said students at the Farmland Preservation Conference. Even fewer attending the Small Farms lecture at the Farm Science Review on the oh wine industry. Couldn’t even interest the OSU ed tent to offer info on localizing barley for the local Somali demand.
Perhaps the best way to work with existing organizations is on a project by project basis. We can take a look at the areas of sustainable and local ag that are underserved and develop projects to which we can dovetail with their current programs and seek funding from these orgs to pay for the project.
Ag students are not necessarily there because they want to grow local or sustainable food. Some if not most are there because they want jobs in big Ag industries.
Localizing barley for the local Somali demand needs to be presented as a business opportunity. A detailed report with information from a marketing point of view. Perhaps survey local retailers that market to the Somali community and see where they get the barley and whether they are willing to purchase locally grown barley over the other stuff.
Does the consumer have an appreciation of local vs non-local? If not then marketing would have to be made on price alone, and can local barley producers sell it directly to these grocers at a competitive price? Is there another angle that might position a local product more favorably with the consumer, such as it being grown by local Somali commuinity or farmer. This is an opportunity for further research.