Building Commerical Readiness of, and Market Access for, Small and Mid- Sized Farmers through MarketMaker

This project will support the work Dr. Woods is doing with grocery retailers and restaurants designing an education program and self-selected retail ready qualification program for growers in the MarketMaker network of states. It is expected that a technical report that summarizes interviews and focus group activities with representative grocery and restaurant retailers will be provided along with the completion of a pilot education program tested in Kentucky by around September 30, 2009. The retail ready program will be developed in collaboration with those implementing MarketMaker in their respective states and focus on both produce and livestock products. These efforts should be able to provide direction to the future development of the MarketMaker program in the identification of retail ready growers in the network and facilitate more retail use of the directory. This project would also research and design a "Restaurant Ready" curriculum and certification for agricultural and value added producers similar to the Good Agricultural Practices program. This will facilitate restaurant and institutional purchases as the purchasing agent will be assured that the producer understands their needs. Once established this program could be utilized nationally and internationally to signify that a producer understands and is ready to sell to a restaurant or institution.