Value Added Agriculture
Value added agriculture focuses on increasing the economic value and/or consumer appeal of an agricultural product. Often producers have products they can market as both an original and a value added agricultural product, they simply need the assistance in getting started.
According to USDA Rural Development value added products must meet one of the following criteria:
- The changing of the physical state or form of the product. Examples include: processing wheat into flour, corn into ethanol, slaughtering livestock or poultry, or slicing tomatoes.
- A product produced in a manner that enhances its value, as demonstrated through a business plan. An example is organically produced products.
- The physical segregation of an agricultural commodity or product in a manner that results in the enhancement of the value of that commodity or product. Examples: include an identity preservation system for a variety or quality of grain desired by an identified end-user or the trace-ability of hormone-free livestock to the retailer.
- The term “value-added agricultural product” includes any agricultural commodity or product that is used to produce renewable energy on a farm or ranch. Examples: collecting and converting methane from animal waste to generate energy.
- Locally produced and marketed farm products are those that are grown on your own farm and are sold within a 400 mile radius of your farm or within the state in which it is produced.
USDA Rural Development offers Value-Added Producer Grants with four eligible entities: Independent Producers, Farmer or Rancher Cooperative, Agricultural Producer Groups and Majority-Controlled Producer Based Business Ventures. For more information visit their website: Value-Added Producer Grants.
Check out the Food Processing Centerand theIndustrial Agricultural Products Center for additional assistance on adding value to products or producing on a larger scale.
Successful Value-Added Cooperative Stories
Courtesy of Cooperation Works! website
Succession Planning Strives to Preserve Local Jobs and Ownership
- A project of: Iowa Alliance for Cooperative Business Development
- The Iowa Alliance for Cooperative Business Development is introducing the cooperative succession model as a creative solution for Iowa’s decline in small meat processing industry.
La Junta Goat Milk Cooperative
- A project of: Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Cooperative and Economic Development Center
- “Prairie Sunshine Products is building a creamery in La Junta,” Rainbolt said. “This RBEG money will fund a feasibility study and business plan for developing a network of milk suppliers on the co-op model. We are looking forward to helping build this exciting new business.