Transcript Making Effort in Developing Marketing Niches for Small Scale, Women and Minority Producers

University of California Cooperative
Extension
Making Effort in Developing Marketing Niches for Small Scale, Women and Minority Producers
University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) and California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) Inland Empire Small Farm Initiative (IESFI)
National Extension Women in Agriculture Education Conference, April 6 & 7, 2006 St. Louis, MO
Etaferahu Takele, UCCE Ag Econ/Farm Management Area Farm Advisor Southern California Counties
Peggy Mauk, UCCE Subtropical Horticulture Advisor, Riverside County
Background/Introduction
There has been a decline in small scale, minority and women
producers in southern California (~20% decline from 1997 to
2002). There are ~10,000 producers in this category in southern
California of which women principal owners account for ~5%.
However, the number of women producers is more given their
partnership roles in most family operations.
Production costs increase induced by resource competition for
land and water between the rapid urban expansion and
agriculture and insufficient returns for many crops have caused
financial difficulty for farmers in southern California.
Impacts
Results and Accomplishments
• Educational programs:
• Workshops and seminars (7) conducted on production of specialty
crops and development of marketing niches attracted 275 clientele
with 31% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 20% Female and 2% Black.
• Newsletters, flyers and poster presentations reached ~3,000
clientele
• Risk Management Education Center established:
• UCCE and CSUSB in partnership established the IESFI, a center for
providing continuing risk management education and consulting to
Small Scale, minority and women producers in Riverside and San
Bernardino Counties.
• The center benefited 45 growers in tax credit programs; business
education, and USDA loan and soil conservation programs.
• Marketing Niches:
Many of these producers especially the small scale and minority
will face financial difficulty and move out of farming unless they
have comparative advantage in both production and marketing.
This theme has been the basis for the UCCE risk management
education program since the year 2000.
In 2003, UCCE and CSUSB funded by the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) formed partnership and
established an Initiative for establishing a center for expanding
the risk management education in the Inland Empire counties of
Riverside and San Bernardino. This poster presents our activities
and results from this program.
• Farmers cooperative formed: Supported by IESFI educational
programs, and USDA rural development funding, the Desert Alliance
for Community Empowerment (DACE) developed a food buying coop. This co-op serves to bring locally grown fresh produce to
agencies that provide food and nutritional support to low income
residents and enabling local producers to direct market and reduce
costs of marketing (shipping, brokerage and selling).
• Networking already developed and funds are being pursued to
develop direct marketing to School Lunch programs conducted by
the Department of Defense.
• Farmers market development in progress to supply the winter
tourist attraction areas of Indio and Palm Desert.
Purpose and Goals
• To conduct a production and marketing risk management
program that will improve the viability and sustainability of
small scale, minority and women producers.
Southern California
Counties
Methodology
• Equip growers with skills and tools to have a comparative
advantage:
• Redirect and enable growers to produce new and specialty
crops.
• Develop new direct or non-traditional ways of marketing
these crops.
• Attract, collaborate and network with local institutions and
agencies for enhancing program delivery and implementation.
Project Counties
San Luis Obispo
San Bernardino
Santa Barbara
Riverside
Ventura
Los
Angeles
Orange
Imperial
• We demonstrated the importance and effectiveness
of collaboration to attract funds and pooling of
resources for addressing program needs of our
clientele on a broader scale. Partnership programs
of UCCE and CSUSB networking with DACE has led
to:
•A continuum of the risk management education
by UCCE and the consulting program by CSUSB in
crop production, marketing, business
management, and economics.
•An increased effort and success in the
development and management of new markets
and community businesses by DACE.
• We have also demonstrated that several growers’
production and marketing skills have enhanced,
and their viability and sustainability increased
despite increasing production costs.
Conclusion
UCCE expanded its risk management education for
small scale, minority and women producers through
partnership with CSUSB and forming the IESFI . This
partnership attracted other agencies to collaborate and
extend programs on a broader scale to our clientele.
The IESFI has made progress in increasing the viability
and sustainability of small scale, minority and women
producers in the Inland Empire through educational
and consulting programs, redirecting them to produce
and market crops that will give them comparative
advantage. Also, with collaboration to other agencies,
IESFI efforts have resulted in the development of direct
marketing niches for these clientele group. With
funding from USDA a buying co-op is being formalized
for bringing locally grown fresh produce to agencies
that provide food and nutritional support to low income
residents. This marketing program is expected to
reduce costs of shipping and selling hence increasing
growers net returns. Funds are collaboratively being
pursued to help in the development of other direct
marketing venues for this clientele group.
San Diego
Project Collaborators :Joe Elizondo, Director, Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship, CSUSB and Jose Aguiar, UCCE Small Farms and Vegetable Crops Advisor, Riverside County