October 2024

Greetings from the Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center!

We’re excited to roll out our region’s Business Builder program this month! All of our states are different, we have four cross-cutting themes, and we have a unique partnership focused on Native farm and food businesses. Thus, we’ve designed a variety of approaches for Business Builder. That means we’ll be rolling out many different grant programs to reflect those different opportunities.

Read on for more details!

- Lauren Gwin

Co-Lead, Northwest and Rocky Mountain USDA Regional Food Business Center

Associate Director of OSU’s Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems

Associate Professor, Crop & Soil Science Department

Extension Community Food Systems Specialist



NEW: NWRM RFBC Funding Opportunity

NOW LIVE: Competitive Business Builder Grants

Today, we’re announcing the launch of the NWRM RFBC’s $6.75 million Business Builder subaward program to support farm and food businesses producing in, sourcing from, and focused on local and regional markets. The funding is being distributed through competitive and non-competitive awards on a rolling basis from 2024 to 2027 through three pools of funding, each designed to address distinct regional needs and increase regional impact.

Focus on Place grant programs are developed in partnership with the center's state teams (Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming) and Tahoma Peak Solutions. Focus on Place grants will include competitive and non-competitive grants. A new Request for Applications will be released for each place-specific competitive grant program.

Focus on Topic awards align with the center’s four goals- building meat supply chain capacity; creating diverse markets for climate resilient agriculture; connecting and scaling food entrepreneurs; supporting right-size investing and infrastructure. These awards will be offered competitively and non-competitively.

Regional-Scale Projects focus on benefiting individual food and farm businesses across the region, including underinvested businesses and geographic areas across at least three of the Center’s six states. 

We are now accepting applications for the first Focus on Place funding pool in Colorado. The center has $200,000 available in Business Builder grants for farms and food businesses located in Colorado and expects to make between 20 and 60 awards. The Request for Applications is open through January 10, 2025. The next Request for Applications will focus on Idaho and be released later this fall. Additional pools of funding will be announced as they become available.

Learn more about the Business Builder program and review the Colorado Request for Applications at our Business Builder webpage. 

View the full USDA press release here. 

Webinar

Marketing Solutions Roundtable

November 6, 2024

9:00 - 12:30pm MT

The Marketing Solutions Roundtable is designed to help us explore what is possible in our six-state region by exchanging ideas, learning together and cultivating new connections for creating, expanding and diversifying markets for these crops, looking at what is working here and elsewhere that could be implemented, adapted and innovated to expand markets locally and regionally. 

The Marketing Solutions Roundtable will include:

• A keynote by Dan Hobbs, long-time cooperative development specialist, organic farmer and entrepreneur, collaborative leader and ag innovator from Montezuma County, Colorado.
• A slate of firsthand “solution stories” from our region and across the country, highlighting successful efforts involving different partners and market-building approaches. We’ll learn about direct-to-consumer marketing, how networks and collaboratives are expanding local and regional markets, shared facilities like community mills, how end users create networks of growers to supply their needs and how growers grow niche markets for their grains—all with behind-the-scenes insights into how to get started, maintain over time, learn and adapt. We’ll be hearing from Hillside Grain, Meadowlark Farm & Mill, The Grain Shed, Moon Family Farm, and Ethos Bakery. 
• Breakout rooms for peer exchange and networking, deeper dives into how to implement or adapt different approaches, and opportunities to connect with others in your state.

Announcement

Montana State University Food Product Development Lab to Undergo Renovations

Montana State University Food Product Development Lab recently announced that they have secured funding to renovate the Food Extrusion Unit, supported by the Research Facilities Act Program, project award no. MONW-2024-06496, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA's) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

As the only pilot-scale food research extruder for public use in the Mountain states, this facility is important for value-added innovations in our region. With the renovated facility, MSU aims to engage underserved stakeholders in value-added innovation of underutilized crops. Such an effort can diversify cropping and localize food manufacturing, ultimately creating a more resilient food system.More details can be found here.

Announcement

State of Washington Proclaims September as Eat Local Month

The State of Washington officially proclaimed September 2024 as Eat Local Month. Local food producers—and eaters—around Washington gathered at farm tours, farmers markets, and other celebrations to enjoy the diverse products that make Washington State special. View the proclamation here.

An official Eat Local Month had a big impact across the state:

• The Eat Local First Collaborative reached over 75k people with Eat Local First messaging
• 12k users visited eatlocalfirst.org in September, 11k explored local farm and food business listings
• 43 local farm and food events were posted and shared including several community farm tours
• 4,351 entries were made in the Eat Local Month Giveaways representing 87% of counties in the state and 34 lucky winners collected Eat Local First swag and $275 in gift cards to local farm and food businesses

Report

Mountain Meat Summit Annual Report: Bridging the Continental Divide

Funding from USDA AMS and the NWRM RFBC supports our National Meat Summit Steering Committee, both of which serve stakeholders in meat value chains across our region and nationally, including production of the Summit that was held in Bozeman, MT in May 2024. Grant-funded support from WSARE and a special allocation from National SARE were also fundamental to the success of the event.

The Summit supported coordination and networking across the region’s meat value chain stakeholders, TA providers, allied industries, and academics. The event also included valuable education through tours and topical conference sessions. A consulting fair offered technical assistance to Summit participants. This report offers descriptive statistics, an evaluation and suggested improvements.   

Webinar Recording

Supporting Farmers, Ranchers, and Agricultural Workers Across America

Hosted by USDA and Farm Aid, this webinar explored strategies, programs, and resources to address farm stress. Find other webinars, along with additional resources around this topic, here.

Session recording passcode: %xR88dAh

Online Course

Resources on Urban Agriculture for Farmers, Non-profits, and Planners

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), in partnership with the Cornell Small Farms Program and Rooted, have launched the Promise of Urban Agriculture courses to provide critical information for building or supporting successful commercial urban farms.

The courses, now available on the Cornell Small Farms Program website, educate participants through unique video content and materials about topics including Accessing Urban Land for Farming, Urban Farm Planning and Management, and Sources of Urban Farm Income.

Business Planning

NMPAN Release: The Updated and Revised Business Planning Guidebook for Small Meat Processors

Every business needs a fully baked business plan, whether you're just starting up or you've been in business for 5-10 years and need an organizational refresh. While it may seem like a heavy lift, the clarity and awareness you'll bring to your own business and where you need improvement will be completely invaluable.

Thanks to the diligent hard work from NMPAN associates and industry pros Samantha Egolf, Kathryn Quanbeck, Lauren Gwin, Arion Thiboumery, Rebecca Thistlethwaite and David Zarling, our widely downloaded Business Planning Guidebook for Small Meat Processors has been updated to 2023 relevance. The guide covers:

• The components of a business plan
• The sales & marketing plan
• The operations plan
• How to approach management
• A brief overview of financial assumptions and planning, and more.

This guide does not provide boilerplate assumptions for overhead, benchmark pricing for service fees or products, or standard costs per labor hour, because those metrics vary by business structure, goals and size, among other factors. This guide gives you a roadmap of components to build a compelling business plan, and our Technical Assistance program is here to help you with the contents of the plan itself!

Toolkit

Shared Kitchen Toolkit

The Food Corridor’s Shared Kitchen Toolkit is getting an update with new data, industry trends, and operational best practices. This Toolkit is intended for everyone from kitchen entrepreneurs to startup nonprofits, from economic development agencies to producer networks, from food system groups to real estate developers. This Toolkit also provides helpful guidance to existing food businesses and community kitchens (churches, community centers, schools and food access program kitchens) who seek to share their commercial kitchen space with entrepreneurs and food programs as an ancillary use.

Symposium

Farm and Food Symposium

November 12 - 13, 2024

Spokane Valley, WA

The Annual Farm and Food Symposium unites visionary farmers, leading biological and regenerative agriculture companies, renowned scientists, forward-thinking investors, informed consumers, and influential industry leaders.



Together, they will share insights, experiences, and best practices to advance the field of regenerative farming.

Summit

Shared Kitchen Summit

November 12 - 15, 2024

New Orleans, LA

Hosted by the Food Corridor, this is the premier gathering spot where the heart of the shared kitchen community beats the strongest. It’s where we all come together to share, learn, and celebrate the incredible work being done in shared kitchens across the country. Many would say it is an experience to be at the leading edge of the shared kitchen wave, joining hands with a community that’s all about boosting efficiency, sparking growth, and innovating in our local food scenes. You’ll dive into a treasure trove of knowledge, swap best practices, and get your hands on priceless data and technical know-how to not just keep your kitchen running, but to help it thrive and elevate the local food landscape.

Trade Event

Taste of PNW Organic

November 14, 2024

Vancouver, WA

Tilth Alliance, in partnership with Oregon Organic Coalition is hosting Taste of PNW Organic, a dynamic farm-to wholesale trade event for organic producers and buyers in Washington and Oregon on Thursday, November 14 from 1-7 pm in conjunction with this year’s Tilth Conference in Vancouver, WA. Organic buyers, distributors, processors, producers, and those transitioning to organic are invited to learn, network, sample, and explore sales relationships, plus enjoy a delicious happy hour! Taste of PNW Organic is sponsored by Organically Grown Company and is open to all Tilth Conference attendees, plus day of event attendees at no charge.



Advanced registration is required by Monday, October 28.

Annual Conference

Wyoming Food Coalition Annual Conference

November 14-16, 2024

Casper, WY

Wyoming Food Coalition is hosting its annual conference this year at Casper Community College. The agenda is packed with buyer/grower mixers, producer showcases, local food samplings, and a lineup for keynote speakers.

Conference

Montana Organic Association Conference

December 10 - 12, 2024

Great Falls, MT

MOA holds an annual conference that covers a variety of agricultural disciplines, interests, and organic viewpoints. MOA conferences offer workshops, panel discussions, great food, entertainment, and informative, nationally recognized guest speakers. The MOA Annual Conference & Meeting is a time for members and vendors to renew friendships, listen to motivating and educational speakers, meet new customers, display organic wares, elect board officers, and attend to MOA business.

Scaling Food Entrepreneurs

Shared Kitchen 101 Workshop

Written by Erin Maidlow of Umpqua Valley Farm to School

I recently attended the Shared Kitchen 101 Workshop at the Food Innovation Center in Portland. While I've had a shared kitchen for two years now, I am always down to learn more, so I signed up. The workshop went over all of the basics of a shared kitchen and beyond. It was reassuring to hear other folks with shared concerns, questions, and the instructors had great suggestions and didn't just push The Food Corridor on participants, but offered solutions outside of the software (they worked for TFC).

We do use TFC and find it extremely beneficial to our kitchen. Most of the questions that came up around scheduling, fees, etc can be answered by using TFC, but they showed us how to use spreadsheets instead, or find other ways of handling issues. One thing that really stuck with me and that we are creating this week is a menu of services which we provide at our kitchen to generate revenue. All of our vendors market their products, so the suggestion of creating a photo studio for them was fantastic and we are implementing that now!

Overall, a really great workshop for beginners or veterans in shared kitchens.

Montana Business Enhancement Program

North of Nowhere Beef: A BEP Success Story

When North of Nowhere Beef wanted to make USDA-inspected, shelf-stable ground beef jerky for the Montana School Backpack Program, they knew they needed expert help. With the assistance of the Mission West Community Development Partners FADC, North of Nowhere entered the Food & Ag Business Enhancement Program (BEP) for recipe development with the Oregon State University Food Innovation Lab. 

The Opheim, MT-raised beef, along with a list of parameters, were sent to the OSU food scientists. Parameters included things like no non-natural preservatives, no additives or fillers, no soy, no gluten, no sugar, the lowest salt possible while still achieving excellent flavor, etc. 

After three rounds of four test batches, and many discussions and adjustments, we landed on the recipe we all agreed met the criteria, including the important criterion of tasting great.

“The expense of expert food scientist assistance over several months would have been hard for our small business to afford without the BEP assistance. Some of the ingredients, ingredient sources, and processes that the food scientists came up with were things we likely would not have determined on our own or would have taken us longer to figure out,” says North of Nowhere owner, Darlis Nordhagen. The first large batch of jerky was prepared for schools at the end of August. What a win for this business and for Montana students!

Visit the Montana State team webpage for more success stories.

Regional Food Business Center Highlights

NWRM RFBC Presents at Local and Regional Foods Division Webinar Series

On Thursday, Oct. 17, the USDA AMS Local and Regional Foods Division launched the Local and Regional Foods Resources & Research webinar series, a monthly webinar series highlighting local and regional foods research projects, resources, partnerships, and programs. 

The first webinar in this series provided an update on the Regional Food Business Center Program and included representatives from different centers sharing about their region-specific initiatives and activities. This webinar also shared information on the centers’ impacts over the first year of the program and highlighted how stakeholders can get involved with their local center.

Funding Provided by:

Center Leads: Colorado State University, Oregon State University

Regional/multi-state: Tahoma Peak Solutions, Network of Incubators and Community Kitchens (The Nick), Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Luna Bird, The Food Corridor

Colorado: Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado State University

Oregon: Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon State University Food Innovation Center, Oregon Community Food Systems Network, Oregon Food Hub Network

Idaho: University of Idaho, Idaho Department of Agriculture, FARE Idaho, Sun Valley Institute, Arrowleaf Consulting Group

Montana: Montana Department of Agriculture, Montana State University

Washington: Washington State University, Washington State Department of Agriculture

Wyoming: University of Wyoming, Central Wyoming College

USDA: Ag Marketing Service Collaborators and NW-Rocky Mountain Regional Coordinator

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at How to File a Program Discrimination Complaint and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: program.intake@usda.gov. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. https://www.usda.gov/non-discrimination-statement