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Value-Added Products
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Sheep rancher Jeanne Carver
developed a line of woolen garments such as fleece vests featuring
their Oregon-raised wool, adding value to a typically low-priced
commodity. – Photo courtesy Imperial Stock Ranch |
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In 1986, Earnie and Martha Bohner began making jam in rented facilities
near their farm in southern Missouri. Since then, Persimmon Hill
Berry Farm has built a processing kitchen to make value-added products,
from jams to sauces. To create specialty items that would appeal
to customers, the Bohners did their homework. First, they worked
with a chef to perfect recipes for jams and barbecue sauce. Later,
with a SARE grant, they sought ways to add value to shiitake mushrooms.
After market research, including detailed cost comparisons, showed
that freeze-drying on site would be prohibitively expensive, the
Bohners decided to dry their fresh shiitakes off-site, then convert
the high-value product into a top-shelf shiitake soup mix.
“The development of new products is something we work at
all of the time,” says Earnie Bohner. “New farm products
and enterprises help keep us interesting to our return guests and
give our first-time guests more motivation to come and see us.”
Today, their sales of value-added products accounts for 50 percent
of the farm’s gross income.
Processing fruits and shiitake mushrooms allows the Bohners to
use “seconds,” extend their marketing season and diversify
their marketing outlets.
Dan and Jeanne Carver diversified their central Oregon ranch by
developing a variety of value-added products from their sheep flock.
With a SARE farmer/ rancher grant, Jeanne Carver tested the market,
then targeted lamb and wool sales toward high-end consumers and
commercial buyers. Now, they sell Imperial Stock Ranch lamb to upscale
restaurants in Bend, Ore., wool in yarn-and-pattern kits for hand
knitters, and ready-to-wear woolen and lambskin fashions.
“Our customers love the quality of our product, the flavor
profile of the meat, the feel of the wool, and the message of the
land and sense of place,” Carver says.
Direct-marketing their lamb led to selling some of their main product
– beef -- directly as well. “The marketing project has
increased awareness and visibility of what we grow, how we grow
it and, most importantly, how we manage the land,” says Dan
Carver. “Once the chefs [buying Imperial Stock Ranch lamb]
tour the ranch and see the roots of their product, they ask “How
do we get your beef?’ The demand is there,” he notes,
“but it will grow only as fast as our processing and distribution
will allow.”
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To add value to local fare,
the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont developed
pizza on-the-go featuring a portable oven and diverse products,
from wheat to vegetables to meat. Lisa Harris of NOFA-VT demonstrates.
– Photo by Lindsey Ketchel |
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In the Northeast, where festivals proliferate, the Northeast Organic
Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) used a SARE grant to research
a variety of prepared foods for sale at fairs, festivals and farmers
markets. Their goal was to develop a healthy value-added product
that featured diverse local ingredients purchased directly from
farmers and appealed to festival-goers. The answer turned out to
be pizza.
To make it work, NOFA-VT needed a portable oven. They contracted
with a Maine company that specializes in wood heating to build them
a wood-fired French clay, copper-clad oven, with help from a USDA
Rural Business Enterprise Grant. They then set it on a trailer so
it could be pulled from event to event by truck. In 2006, “Vermont
Farmers’ Fare” began selling 12-inch pizzas made from
Vermont-grown wheat, vegetables, cheese and meat.
The pizzas “are a big hit!” says Enid Wonnacott, NOFA-VT’s
executive director. “No one can believe the crust is made,
partially, from local wheat. One of our goals was to get local food
on the radar screen of people who may not even think about the farms
in their community and what is available from those farms.”
Wonnacott and others planned the portable pizza project to offer
farmers a direct market benefit, and also to encourage them to sell
their own value-added products. The oven also cooks bread, pies
and even roasted vegetables.
Value-added opportunities are everywhere. Examine your product
and brainstorm about how processing might increase its value. Fruit
growers can dry their product or make wines, juices, vinegars, spreads,
sauces, syrups and preserves. Grain growers might create cereals
and baking mixes. Dairy operators can bottle milk or make cheese,
while livestock producers might sell dried meat or specialty cuts.
When you add variety to your product line, you increase the choices
presented to your customers and your chances for expanding your
sales volume.
Some things to keep in mind when contemplating value-added products:
 Consider
projected costs and returns carefully before investing in specialized
equipment for value-added products. Often it makes sense to work
with a co-processor to test your market.
Some
of the best value-added items make use of by-products or seconds.
Seek
the experts. Consult with your state Extension Service, Department
of Agriculture or small business groups about packaging, processing
and recipe development.
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