September Tours Pair Food Marketers with Buyers
COLUMBIA, Tenn. – Direct farm marketers and value-added agriculture entrepreneurs interested in learning more about selling products to wholesale buyers such as grocery stores, restaurants and institutions are encouraged to attend one of three upcoming educational programs to be held in northeast Tennessee and surrounding areas in late September.
The events are hosted by the University of Tennessee Center for Profitable Agriculture, and Alaina Boyd, an Extension specialist with the center, worked to coordinate these events with the help of local Extension personnel, including UT-TSU Extension Washington County, as well as North Carolina State Extension and Virginia Cooperative Extension.
“These food buyer tours offer our producers a chance to network with wholesale buyers and form valuable connections in their local communities. While the tours especially target value-added dairy producers, all interested producers and technical assistance providers are welcome to participate,” says Boyd.
Three “MarketReady: Tennessee Food Buyer” tours will take place in the following cities:
- Northeast Tennessee (Johnson City and Jonesborough), on Wednesday, September 24
- Boone, North Carolina, on Thursday, September 25
- Abingdon, Virginia, on Friday, September 26
The purpose of these programs is to enable direct farm marketers and value-added agriculture entrepreneurs to tour facilities and network with food buyers at various locations in the region and to learn more about the opportunities, methods and challenges of selling products to these marketing channels. Each program day will consist of at least three tour stops. Lunch will be included. It is not mandatory to attend all three program dates.
Participants will meet at a designated location in each city prior to beginning the tour. Participants may drive themselves to each stop, but carpooling is encouraged. For more detailed information on dates, times and logistics, visit tiny.utk.edu/CPAEvents.
Previous food buyer tours hosted by the Center for Profitable Agriculture have been held in various Tennessee cities, including Chattanooga, Knoxville, Murfreesboro and Nashville. Past tour stops include Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, Whole Foods Market, MarketWagon, Rutherford Farmers Cooperative and UT Dining Services. A series of three unique stops will be offered on each program date.
The tours are free to attend, but pre-registration is required. Space is limited, so interested producers are encouraged to register online now at tiny.utk.edu/TNBuyerTour25. Registration is open until spaces are filled or until five business days before the event.
Note that interested individuals may attend any combination of tour dates. Attendees are responsible for reserving and paying for any overnight accommodations or travel arrangements necessary to attend.
Carpooling is encouraged as parking spaces may be limited. Please make arrangements to carpool if necessary. Transportation will be available and provided by CPA staff on a first-come, first-served basis for attendees who do not wish to drive themselves.
These Tennessee food buyer tours are a direct result of collaboration between the Center for Profitable Agriculture and the MarketReady Producer Training Program on behalf of the Southeast Dairy Business Innovation Initiative (SDBII), with funding made possible, in part, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service. Additional information about the SDBII can be found at tiny.utk.edu/sdbii.
A travel scholarship is available to help defray a portion of travel costs for eligible dairy producers attending this educational program. Travel reimbursements are only available to eligible dairy producers located in the SDBII region. To be considered for this travel scholarship, dairy producers must complete a registration form before the deadline listed above.
Please contact Alaina Boyd at acboyd@utk.edu with questions.
The Center for Profitable Agriculture is a partnership between the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation. The Center has worked for 25 years to help farmers analyze and develop value-added agriculture enterprises. Learn more about the Center at cpa.tennessee.edu.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch, and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.