Posts Tagged: value-added
Los granjeros podrían aumentar sus ingresos con nuevos y creativos proyectos
Los granjeros que solo venden frutas y verduras frescas dependen de los compradores para sus ventas y precios. El equipo de granjas pequeñas de Extensión Cooperativa de la Universidad de California, en los condados de Fresno y Tulare, cree que los granjeros pueden ganar más dinero y llevar su producción un paso adelante si agregan un valor extra a sus productos, al procesar, preservar y empacar sus frutas y verduras.
La asesora de pequeñas granjas de Extensión Cooperativa de UC, Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, el Programa de Investigación y Educación de Agricultura Sustentable de UC (The UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program) y la Oficina Estatal para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Económico de Fresno (Fresno State's Office of Community and Economic Development) reunió a un grupo de pequeños granjeros en un taller, el pasado mes de enero, para informarles sobre la existencia de recursos disponibles para ayudarlos a desarrollar negocios con un valor agregado.
“Los productos con un valor agregado pueden mejorar las finanzas de una granja familiar produciendo un ingreso adicional y diversificando la producción”, señaló Dahlquist-Willard. “Queríamos conectar a los granjeros principiantes y granjeros asiáticos del sureste con programas que pudieran ayudarlos a desarrollar productos con un valor agregado en sus granja”.
El taller sobre valor agregado incluyó presentaciones de un granjero que cuenta con un negocio de valor agregado exitoso, agencias gubernamentales y organizaciones no lucrativas. Prestamistas alternativos como Fresno Madera Farm Credit, quienes aportaron los fondos para el taller, también hicieron una presentación sobre los préstamos disponibles para granjeros a baja escala. El asistente agrícola de UCCE, Michael Yang, tradujo las presentaciones al Hmong.
El granjero de productos orgánicos de Kingsburg, Paul Buxman, abrió el taller contando sobre su propia incursión personal en la producción de productos de valor agregado. La historia de Buxman se remonta a 1994 cuando una tormenta de granizo arrasó su granja.
“El granizo marcó toda mi fruta. Contaba con 100 mil libras de ciruelos, duraznos y nectarinas que no pude vender. ¿Qué podía hacer?”, preguntó Buxman. “Una idea me vino a la cabeza como un foco encendido. Toma las frutas, quítales lo maltratado, cocínalas y haz mermelada”.
La nueva aventura no tuvo un éxito instantáneo. Buxman se encontró el primer año entregando la mermelada que no vendió a un albergue de indigentes en el área de la Bahía, justo detrás de un camión de pan.
“No solo de pan vive el hombre”, señaló Buxman, con una sonrisa.
Pero año con año, él y su esposa mejoraron su producto y el mercado creció.
“Esta mermelada es tan adictiva, que es algo casi ilegal”, dijo Buxman. Sus mermeladas hechas en casa Sweet Home Ranch Homemade Preserves tienen un costo de producción de dos dólares por frasco y las vende por cinco cada una.
Buxman les sugirió a los granjeros que asistieron al taller de UCCE tratar de hacer un producto con valor agregado. Los nuevos productos pueden ser especies, para limpieza, manualidades y hasta experiencias, como enseñar una destreza.
“Ustedes tienen mucho más que ofrecer a la gente de lo que se imaginan”, manifestó Buxman.
Durante la subsecuente discusión en el panel, Kiel Schmidt delineó el apoyo que Food Commons Fresno puede proveer. Un importante elemento es la oportunidad que poder rentar la cocina comercial de la organización para crear mercancía con un valor agregado bajo las especificaciones del departamento de salud. Patti Chang, de la Fundación Alimentar a los Hambrientos (Feed the Hunger Foundation). indicó que su organización provee de asistencia técnica y préstamos para nuevas aventuras que puedan cumplir con su misión de reducir el hambre y ayudar a salir de la pobreza.
“Trabajamos con dos mujeres oaxaqueñas de Madera, quienes no deseaban seguir siendo trabajadoras del campo”, dijo Chang. “Querían hacer un producto típico de su cultura: mole. Se convirtieron en un negocio certificado, abrieron una cuenta bancaria en Wells Fargo y un pequeño restaurante dentro de una tienda de abarrotes. Les ayudamos a negociar su arrendamiento”.
Eduardo González, del Centro Estatal de Desarrollo Rural del Valle de San Joaquín en Fresno (Fresno State's San Joaquin Valley Rural Development Center) manifestó que su organización puede ayudar a los pequeños empresarios con la mercadotecnia, diseño de su sitio Web y a introducir los productos de valor agregado al mercado.
Dawn Goliik de la Administración para Pequeños Negocios de EUA (U.S. Small Business Administration) informó que esta organización puede ayudar a los pequeños granjeros a iniciar, hacer crecer y administrar un negocio con entrenamiento, tutoría y asesoría.
“Es gratis para ustedes”, afirmó Golik.
El equipo de asesores de granjas de UCCE también cuenta con una asociada comercial, Lorena Ramos, quien puede ser contactada por los granjeros que buscan asesoramiento sobre el desarrollo de productos de valor agregado.
Las presentaciones y consultas uno a uno fueron ofrecidas por una variedad de organizaciones que pueden prestar fondos, incluyendo Fresno Madera Farm Credit, Access + Capital, Northern California Community Loan Fund, California FarmLink, USDA Farm Service Agency y Valley Small Business Development Corporation.
El taller culminó con una presentación sobre la Ley de Comida Casera de California (California's Cottage Food Law), la cual permite a los residentes de este estado procesar y preparar alimentos en las cocinas de sus propias casas para venderlas al público. Algunos de los productos caseros permitidos son las mermeladas jaleas, galletas, pasteles, dulce de leche, frutas secas, verduras y especies. Usted puede encontrar una lista completa de alimentos aprobados en el sitio Web del estado
La ley de Comida Casera se aplica a negocios que tienen ingresos de 50 mil dólares o menos y que no tienen más de un empleado (sin incluir a los miembros del hogar).
“No hay cargos y solo tiene que llenar algunos documentos”, indicó Matthew Gore, de Salud Medioambiental del Condado de Fresno (Fresno County Environmental Health). “No es difícil y estamos aquí para ayudarle con los formularios”.
Dahlquist-Willard señaló que una parte importante de su programa en Extensión Cooperativa de UC son las conexiones que ella y Yang pueden ayudar a los granjeros a hacer con infinidad de servicios ya existentes.
“Instamos a los pequeños granjeros a que se pongan en contacto con nosotros en nuestra oficina de Fresno”, instó la experta.
Información de contactos:
Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, (559) 241-7515, rdahlquistwillard@ucanr.edu
Michael Yang, (559) 241-7523, myang@ucanr.edu
Lorena Ramos, (559) 241-7524, mlramose@ucanr.edu
Farmers can increase income by expanding small operations with creative new businesses
Farms that sell only fresh produce are dependent on buyers for markets and pricing. The UC Cooperative Extension small farms team in Fresno and Tulare counties believes farmers can earn more money by taking production a step further, by adding extra value to their products with processing, preserving and packaging the produce.
UC Cooperative Extension small farms advisor Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, and Fresno State's Office of Community and Economic Development brought a group of small farmers together for a workshop in January to learn about resources available to help them develop value-added businesses.
“Value-added products can improve the bottom line of a small family farm by bringing in additional income and diversifying production,” Dahlquist-Willard said. “We wanted to connect beginning farmers and Southeast Asian farmers to programs that could help them develop and market value-added products from their farms.”
The value-added workshop included presentations from a farmer with a successful value-added business, government agencies and non-profit organizations. Alternative lenders such as Fresno Madera Farm Credit, who provided funding for the workshop, also presented on loans available for small-scale farms. UCCE agricultural assistant Michael Yang translated the presentations into Hmong.
Kingsburg organic farmer Paul Buxman opened the workshop with his personal journey into value-added production. Buxman's story begins in 1994 when a spring hail storm swept through his farm.
“The hail marked all my fruit. I had 100,000 pounds of plums, peaches and nectarines I could not sell. What could I do?” Buxman said. “An idea came to my head like a lightbulb. Take the fruit, cut off the scar, cook it and make jam.”
The new venture wasn't an instant success. Buxman found himself delivering unsold jam that first year to a Bay Area homeless mission, pulling up right behind a bread truck.
“Man does not live by bread alone,” he said with a laugh.
But each year he and his wife improved their product, and the market grew.
“This jam is so addictive, it's barely legal,” Buxman said. His “Sweet Home Ranch Homemade Preserves” costs $2 per jar to make, and sells for $5 each.
Buxman suggested the farmers at the UCCE workshop to try making a value-added product. The new products could be spices, food, cleaning products, handicrafts, and even experiences, such a teaching a skill.
“You have so much more to offer people than you realize,” Buxman said.
During the subsequent panel discussion, Kiel Schmidt outlined the support that Food Commons Fresno can provide. An important element is the opportunity to rent the organization's commercial kitchen to create value-added merchandise to health department specifications. Patti Chang of Feed the Hunger Foundation said her organization provides technical assistance and loans to new ventures that can carry out their mission of reducing hunger and helping people out of poverty.
“We worked with two Oaxacan women in Madera who didn't want to be field workers anymore,” Chang said. “They wanted to make a product from their culture: mole. They became a certified business, opened a bank account at Wells Fargo and opened a small restaurant in a grocery story. We helped them negotiate the lease.”
Eduardo Gonzalez of Fresno State's San Joaquin Valley Rural Development Center said his facility can help small businesses with marketing, website design and getting value-added products to market.
Dawn Goliik of the U.S. Small Business Administration said the organization can help small farmers start, grow and run businesses with training, mentoring and counseling.
“It's all free to you,” Golik said.
The UCCE small farms team also has a marketing associate, Lorena Ramos, who is available for farmers to contact regarding value-added product development.
Presentations and one-on-one consultations were offered by a variety of organizations that can loan funds, including Fresno Madera Farm Credit, Access + Capital, Northern California Community Loan Fund, California FarmLink, USDA Farm Service Agency and Valley Small Business Development Corporation.
The workshop ended with a presentation on California's Cottage Food Law, which allows residents to process and prepare foods in their own home kitchens to sell to the public. Some of the home-prepared products the law permits are jams, jellies, cookies, cakes and fudge, dried fruit, vegetables and spices. A complete list of approved foods is on the state website.
The Cottage Food Law is for businesses with a gross annual income below $50,000, which have no more than one employee (not including household members).
“There is no charge, just paperwork to fill out,” said Matthew Gore with Fresno County Environmental Health. “This isn't difficult, and we're here to help you with the forms.”
Dahlquist-Willard said an important part of her UC Cooperative Extension program is the connections she and Yang can help farmers make with the myriad services available to them.
“We encourage small farmers to contact us in our Fresno office,” she said.
Contact information:
Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, (559) 241-7515, rdahlquistwillard@ucanr.edu
Michael Yang, (559) 241-7523, myang@ucanr.edu
Lorena Ramos, (559) 241-7524, mlramose@ucanr.edu
Cottage Foods - a business in your home kitchen?
Have you thought of trying to sell your homemade jam, granola, pies, or candy? Do you have fruit from your orchard or vegetables from your farm that would have more value processed than sold fresh? Maybe a Cottage Food Operation is the place to test your product and your market and start your new business.
UC Cooperative Extension educators are offering two-session Cottage Food Operations Workshops at six different locations in Northern California. This hands-on workshop series is designed especially for farmers of fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, and honey interested in making value-added products in home kitchens as Cottage Food Operations (CFOs). The workshops are open to everyone. Classes will be small, with a maximum of 35 participants. Sign-ups are coming in fast, and some workshop locations are almost full, so anyone interested is encouraged to register soon. Registration is available on-line. Each two-session workshop costs $25 in advance, or $40 at the door, space permitting.
Workshop participants will learn multiple aspects of starting a safe and profitable home food production business, including the details of the Cottage Food Law, planning, processing, food safety, packaging & storage and marketing. Instructors will be UCCE nutrition educators, economists and farm advisors. Representatives from local environmental health agencies will provide information about the local application process. Each workshop will also feature hands-on demonstrations and tastings by current Cottage Food Operators making a variety of products.
Another big challenge to producing a commercial food product in a home kitchen, according to Hardesty, could be all the time that the producer will have to take properly sanitizing their home kitchen before and after they do the production work.
Although the new state law requires that Cottage Food Operations be permitted in all counties, with permits issued by the County Department of Environmental Health in each county, fees for registration and permits vary from county to county. Counties and municipalities may also vary in other restrictions and conditions required before Cottage Food Operations receive their necessary business license. Some counties or cities may place limitations on the number of customers per hour to a home business, limitations on open hours for sales from home, and parking space requirements for customers. The workshops will help participants understand how to navigate the registration and permitting process.
A Cottage Food Operation can be a good testing ground for a farmer to assess the marketability of a new product on a small scale. It can also be a low-cost way for a farmer to assess his or her own ability to produce and market a new product. Due to the restrictive nature of some aspects of the Cottage Food law, and the limited scale of production possible in a home kitchen, most producers may have to scale up eventually to be profitable. However, at least one farm family that is currently using a commercial kitchen for jam production is taking the class to decide whether a Cottage Food Operation would be an economical addition to their production capacity.
- Fairfield, May 13 & May 20, 2014
- Ukiah, May 15 & May 22, 2014
- Eureka, May 28 & June 11, 2014
- Redding, May 29 & June 10, 2014
- Jackson, June 12 & June 16, 2014
- Sacramento, July 1 & July 9, 2014
Cost: $25 in advance/ $40 at the door, space permitting
Register online: http://ucanr.edu/cfoworkshops
For more information: Shermain Hardesty, UC Small Farm Program, 530-752-0467, shermain@primal.ucdavis.edu