SBIR-STTR Award

There is currently limited access to supermarkets for small family farms to sell their locally grown and raised farm fresh foods. The learning curve for small-scale family farms to meet the requirements of retail supermarket chains is long and demanding. However, there is an increasing number of small family farms seeking to fill this growing consumer demand for foods from local and regional small family farms. This project will utilize the Good Natured Family Farms Alliance and supermarket partnership to develop a `proof of concept' model. The Good Natured Family Farms model will include a comprehensive economic and operational sustainability analysis, complete product standards and product portfolio, and a plan that identifies and demonstrates marketing strategies, operational management, and supermarket logistics. This project will formally organize the Good Natured Family Farms family-farm-to-retail-supermarket model into a system that can be used by small family farm groups and supermarkets to develop similar programs. The Good Natured Family Farm value-based model will provide a real-life scenario to conduct a comprehensive economic analysis to determine small-farm profitability in selling to a retail supermarket chain. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this project is to develop a value chain partnership business model for family-farms-to-retail-supermarkets. The objective is to develop a Good Natured Family Farms proof of concept model, which will include 1) a comprehensive economic examination and operational sustainability analysis, 2) a complete small family farm product standards and systems portfolio required for supermarket entry, 3) a plan that identifies and demonstrates marketing strategies, operational management, and supermarket logistics. The result will be a whole system including economic analysis, product information, and market strategies to connect small family-farms-to-retail-supermarkets. This whole system will identify infrastructure, information, and operational strategies that successfully link family-farms-to-retail-supermarkets. APPROACH: This research will utilize the existing Good Natured Family Farms Alliance and their value chain partnership with a supermarket chain and apply the economic and marketing principles to develop a family-farm-to-retail-supermarket model. The first methodology is to validate the economic success of Good Natured Family Farms from the family farm through processing and finally to supermarket sales. A comprehensive economic and operational sustainability analysis for Good Natured Family Farms Alliance will be preformed. The analysis will include an economic analysis of each individual family farm and an overall operational infrastructure of the Good Natured Family Farm Alliance to determine sustainability and opportunity for growth. The second methodology is to systemize all of the technical information Good Natured Family Farms has compiled in order to sell local family farm products to a supermarket chain. The technical information includes the development of a complete Good Natured Family Farms Alliance product standards and system portfolio required for supermarket entry. The technical information consist of product labeling, UPC codes, food safety regulations, quality control, identification and traceability programs, product pricing, invoicing, production and distribution infrastructure, contracts, product liability, etc. The third methodology is to develop a plan that identifies and demonstrates marketing strategies, operational management, and supermarket logistics for small family farm products. The plan includes building brand identity, data base mining, supermarket shelf space, establishing a value chain partnership network, product sales and discounts, advertisement, merchandising, promotions, displays, etc. This approach will identify the processes and procedures for marketing and merchandising a shopping cart or basket of local family farm foods in a cost efficient method. PROGRESS: 2006/05 TO 2007/05 Objective 1. A comprehensive economic analysis for the five major Good Natured Family Farms product line including all-natural beef, free-range chicken, pastured pork, glass bottle milk, and farmhouse cheese is completed. The economic and operational sustainability analysis for Good Natured Family Farms Alliance is being updated due to major revisions recently made in distribution and invoicing logistics. Objective 2. A comprehensive overall Good Natured Quality System Creditability and Integrity Assurance (CIA) Program) that includes product standards and specifications, identification and traceability, memorandum of understanding, and environmental and social responsibility is completed. This overall GNFF CIA program will be used as the basis to continue to develop a quality system specific to each of the Good Natured Family Farms products. Objective 3. The Good Natured Family Farms marketing strategies, operational management methods, and supermarket logistics from the small family farm to the supermarket is being accomplished through the creation of a video with a corresponding manual. Beef and Honey are the two products chosen to demonstrate how to take a product from the farm to the supermarket shelf. The beef represents a variable weight highly perishable product while the honey characterizes a set weight shelf stable product. The taping of the video is completed. However, the editing and formatting is still a work in progress. One predominate area identified by several reviewers is dissemination of the research results. To address the dissemination concern, the GNFF farm to market DVD video will provide a low cost method of reproduction and distribution to small family farm groups who may not have access to high speed internet but could view the DVD at the local library or community center. The corresponding GNFF farm to market manual will allow for dissemination to farmers who do not have access to electronic means. The rapid growth of the Good Natured Family Farms program brings constant change in economics, infrastructure, and logistics. Therefore, the project is taking more time than initially projected. IMPACT: 2006/05 TO 2007/05 The Good Natured Family Farms Alliance is noted as one of the leaders in local food cooperative production and marketing. The summer of 2006 Ukrop's supermarkets visited the GNFF Alliance and Balls Food Stores to consider replication of a similar program in their grocery store chain. The principal investigator spoke with a share-group of six independent supermarkets located throughout the United States about the Good Natured Family Farms Alliance partnership with Balls Food Stores. Good Natured Family Farms Alliance was selected as one of the three proof of concept for the National Association of Family Farms. The Kellogg Food and Society Initiative selected the Good Natured Family Farms Alliance as a case study. The principal investigator has presented at the Growing the Growers conference in Kansas City to an audience of 250 farmers and educators and at the Agriculture Future of America 2006 conference in Kansas City with 150 future agriculture leaders attending. The principal investigator will present at the Minnesota Organic Conference in January 2007 with attendance of 300 farmers and educators expected to attend and at the 2007 Kentucky Small Farms Conference with an attendance of 300 farmers and educators expected to attend

Locally grown foods account for less than one percent of the total $900 billion in retail food sales in the U.S. (18) Therefore, consumers purchase more than ninety percent of their food from supermarkets. In order for local small family farms to grab a greater portion of food sales, they must get their locally grown foods on the mainstream supermarket shelves, as well as partner with stores to get foods to consumers in nontraditional ways, such as cCSAs. The food system plays a central role in the health of Kansas Citians. It dictates access, quality, affordability, and the nutritional value of the food we consume. The state of our health is inextricably related to the quality of our food system. Unfortunately, healthy, nutritious, accessible and affordable food eludes many people, which, in turn, undermines health. Gaps include hunger and food insecurity, lack of fair prices for farmers, lack of fresh local food in schools and institutional setting, lack of full service grocery stores in inner city food deserts, lack of knowledge on what food is nutritious, and lack of knowledge on how to prepare nutritious meals. Various organizations attempt to fill these gaps, and many alleviate suffering in the short run, but they lack the coordinated, broad-based structure and sufficient expertise and funds to provide comprehensive, ongoing solutions. GNFF has already successfully established an effective model to distribute locally grown foods from small family farms into mainstream supermarkets. Now they'd like to take that one step further, by providing the same service to Kansas City's inner city food deserts through a permutation of the CSA concept referred to as the `New Collaborative CSA' (cCSA). The cCSA will be developed as collaboration between Good Natured Family Farm Alliance, Balls Food Stores, Hallmark Cards, inner city community churches and Bistro Kids Farm 2 School Program. Each partner will provide an essential part to the cCSA, to aid those vulnerable populations in the inner city food deserts with access to local farm fresh food. In summary, the partnership between GNFF, Balls Food Stores, Hallmark Cards, an inner city community church, and Bistro Kids Farm 2 School program will: a) increase sales and revenue for GNFF farmers by giving them access to a new market of consumers, b) increase sales and revenue for Balls Food Stores by giving them access to a new market of consumers, and c) provide healthy, farm fresh, locally grown food to vulnerable populations in Kansas City's food deserts. OBJECTIVES: The squeezing out of small family farms and small and mid-size supermarkets in concurrence with the increasing consumer demand for locally grown foods and the growth of direct markets, presents an enormous opportunity for both. Small family farms and small and mid-size independent supermarkets can form alliances providing a marketplace for locally grown foods, and provide small and mid-size independent supermarkets with a point of differentiation. These partnerships can further develop their market potential by developing programs that get them closer to consumers, especially to the food deserts of Kansas City. This research proposal will develop a model for a collaborative community supported agriculture (cCSA) program. The objective of this proposal is to develop a cCSA program that takes the Good Natured Family Farms alliance (GNFF) locally grown foods beyond the supermarket walls to the inner city food deserts. Balls Food Stores' existing distribution and logistical infrastructure will be used to bring farm fresh foods to these three distribution venues: a) Hallmark Cards Headquarters - Distribution through this corporate workplace in downtown Kansas City will provide locally grown foods to people from all socioeconomic classes through a Farm to Firm program; b) Inner city community churches - Distribution through churches will allow easier access to farm fresh foods to inner city families who live in the food deserts of Kansas City; c) Kansas City Academy, Oakhill Day School, Academie Lafayette and Operation Breakthrough - Distribution through Bistro Kids' Farm to School Lunch Program will provide healthy schools lunches to the students at these four inner city schools. The result will be that this cCSA model will expand the consumer base for GNFF locally grown foods, increase the revenue for these farmers, provide an additional marketplace for Balls Food Stores, and supply those in Kansas City's food deserts with local, farm fresh, healthy foods conveniently. The commercial application and future long-term applications of the innovation include the evolution of the cCSA to local and regional buying clubs. These buying clubs will feature local and regional grown foods, and in addition, build on the national network of Buy Fresh Buy Local chapters of family farms. APPROACH: The key technology objective is to develop a model for a New Collaborative Community Supported Agriculture (cCSA) program. The New Collaborative CSA (cCSA) will provide the technological vehicle to provide locally grown farm fresh food to inner city deserts through partnerships with the corporate workplace, community churches, and schools. The cCSA will utilize the supermarket's central warehouse and distribution to bring local farm fresh foods to inner city CSA sites. This technology will remove the need to build supermarket bricks and mortar, whereby providing healthy farm fresh food at a more affordable price to vulnerable inner city communities. The current system weaknesses include; a) large supermarket chains are not equipped to deal with small family farms and vise versa, b) small family farms selling to supermarkets independently have little to no leverage, c) the inner city consumers have limited access to quality supermarkets and locally grown foods, d) farmers markets in the Midwest are seasonal, e) successful CSA programs require the development of infrastructure and logistics that take away from the time small family farms have to grow and produce food, f) it is expensive for small and mid-size supermarkets to expand with bricks and mortar, g) there are at least 30,000 items in the average supermarket and locally grown foods without a recognizable brand can easily get lost. The overall objective of this proposal is to set up a cCSA program that goes beyond the supermarket walls to distribute locally grown foods to the corporate workplace, inner city food deserts and schools. To accomplish this, the GNFF Alliance will collaborate with the following entities: Balls Food Stores, Hallmark Cards, Inner city community churches, and Bistro Kids Farm to School program This new collaborative driven CSA will be used as a test case to develop a system to: a) re-establish a market for local small family farms, b) make locally grown foods accessible, convenient, and affordable to consumers in the corporate workplace and inner city food deserts, c) provide small and mid-size supermarkets a way to expand without adding bricks and mortar, d) connect school students with local family farms by providing a closer connection with their food source, thereby helping to raise a new generation of healthier and better educated students, and e) make locally grown foods accessible, convenient, and affordable to vulnerable populations in the inner city food deserts using inner city community churches as CSA sites. Management representing each of the participating companies will develop a plan for infrastructure needs including delivery of locally grown foods to Balls Central Warehouse, assembly of the CSA baskets, trucking requirements for distribution, location for CSA basket distribution, member sign-up, pricing, ordering, invoicing and payment. The representative management team will be responsible for maintaining contact on a regular basis and provide constant feedback for process improvement