Resource Guide for Agricultural Group-based Businesses

CDI resource guide for agricultural
group-based businesses...

Cooperative Development Institute
P.O. Box 244
South Deerfield, MA 01373
phone: 1-877- NE COOPS, 413-665-1271
fax: 413-541-8300
info@cdi.coop

The Keep Local Farms program connects consumers with New England dairy farmers through promotion of all dairy products, education on farm activities and the potential for consumers to directly support dairy farmer-members of the New England Family Dairy Farm Cooperative. If you are interested in local food production, productive open land and your local community – click to learn more about the Keep Local Farms program.

Introduction

The Cooperative Development Institute created this group-based business resource guide to help farmers, agricultural service providers, and economic development professionals work together to develop the products, services, markets and business structures that are needed to sustain agriculture in the Northeast. Despite the impressive successes enjoyed by many group-owned agricultural businesses, information about this approach as a strategy for sustaining agriculture is widely scattered and hard to come by.

Are you interested in agricultural marketing?
Have a look at these two valuable resources:

Preserving Rural Character through Agriculture:
A Resource Kit for Planners

Market Planning for Value-Added Agricultural Products

And browse our
Business Resources for Farmers' Markets

This guide begins to fill that void by providing access to group-based business production, distribution and marketing concepts, models and best practices. In so doing we hope to not only strengthen farmer efforts at collaboration, but equally important to contribute to the development of a strong network of agriculture service providers and business specialists supportive of their efforts.

And because this site is a work in progress, we encourage you to send your suggestions for improving the guide, resources to add, links to make, etc. to the Cooperative Development Institute: info@cdi.coop.

Please note that the guide is designed as a PowerPoint Presentation with 106 pages. Please download to share with others and know that more information and support is available from the Cooperative Development Institute. If you need the guide sent as a Word document, please email us at the above address.

Acknowledgements

This resource would not be possible without the generous support of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NE SARE) and the many hours of fruitful dialogue and debate amongst the Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Committee for this project.

Some of the information was taken from The Cooperative Leader, editor Jane Livingston, published by Cooperative Development Institute.

Advisory Committee members include:

	Roger Allbee, State Executive Director, USDA Farm Service Agency, Colchester, VT
	Marty Broccoli, Agriculture Economic Development Specialist, Department of Agricultural, Resource & Managerial Economics, Cornell Cooperative Extension-Oneida County, Ithaca, NY
	Richard Burke, Director, Program Support, USDA Rural Development, Amherst, MA
	Herb Cole, Jr. Professional Development Coordinator, Northeast SARE, Penn State Univ., University Park, PA
	Mike Dolce, Community & Regional Outreach Specialist, USDA Rural Development, Rutland, VT
	Vernon Grubinger, Director, Center for Sustainable Agriculture, UVM Extension, Brattleboro, VT
	Rick LeVitre, Regional Specialist, UVM Extension, Howe Center Business Park, Rutland, VT
	Jan van der Heide, Extension Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Mexico, NY

Special thanks go to the staff of the Cooperative Development Institute, who directed and coordinated the development of this online resource.

The Cooperative Development Institute staff that worked on this project included:

	Lynn Benander, former CDI Co-Director
	Lynda Brushett, Senior Cooperative Specialist, Sustainable Agriculture and Marketing
	Jen Gutshall, Executive Director and Senior Cooperative Specialist
	Stacey Cordeiro, former Cooperative Development Specialist, CDI
	Laurie Siggillino Broussard, Office and Communications Manager

Special thanks also goes to the many people who provided valuable feedback and substantive contributions to the website.

	David Holm, Program Manager, Northeast SARE, Burlington, VT
	Herb Cole, Jr. Professional Development Coordinator, Northeast SARE, Penn State Univ., University Park, PA
	Gerald Ely, Cooperative Development Specialist, USDA Rural Development, Tunkhannock, PA
	Chris Fullerton, Manager, Tuscarora Organic Growers Cooperative, Inc., Hustontown, PA
	Tanya Turner, Cooperative Development Specialist, Keystone Development Center, PA
	Paul Paulsen, General Manager, Vermont Quality Meats Cooperative, North Clarendon, VT
	Amy Trubek, Executive Director, Vermont Fresh Network, Montpelier, VT
	Michael Rozyne, Managing Director, Red Tomato, Canton, MA
	Mike Look, Foggy Bottom Wild Blueberry Co-op, East Machias, ME
	Faith Lally-Williams, Our Family Farms of Western Massachusetts, Greenfield, MA
	Ken Marshall, President, Penn's Corner Farm Alliance, Shelocta, PA
	Arthur Eve, Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative, LLC, North Amherst, MA
	Patrick Deluhery, Attorney, Massachusetts

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