2006 Managing Excellence in Agriculture Conference

Kananaskis, Alberta

Delta Hotels

Saint-Sauveur Quebec

Delta Hotels

Value Chain Workshop

Objective of this Workshop

Worldwide evidence shows that adopting Value Chain Management (VCM) strategies and practices enables producers to improve their long-term competitiveness. The objective of the workshop is to introduce participants to concepts surrounding value chains and value chain management. They will gain insights into already successful agri-food value chain alliances from within Canada and abroad;, and then begin the process of looking for ways to apply VCM approaches to their own particular situation.

Main Speaker

Martin Gooch is Research Associate - Value Chains at the George Morris Centre, a national agri-food think tank and consultancy based in Guelph, Ontario, and has considerable experience developing and researching successful agri-food value chains. Martin’s career spans the agri-food industries of Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and assisting the development of agri-food value chains that have won national and international awards of excellence.

Martin holds an Undergraduate degree in International Business. He also possesses a Masters degree from the University of Queensland. Martin’s thesis analyzed the critical success factors of forming and managing value chain alliances within in the perishable food industry; an area that he will be continuing to research through his recently commenced PhD.

Co-Presenter (Kananaskis)

Jerry Bouma is a partner with Toma & Bouma Management Consultants - a firm, which specialises in the provision of strategic business and planning services to the agri-food industry. Jerry has over 25 years experience as a marketing strategist in the agri-food business to business marketplace. He has held several senior marketing positions with agri-business firms specific to value chains, and acted as Project Manager and lead consultant in the development of a Value Chain Initiatives for Alberta’s Agriculture & Food Council and the Saskatchewan Council for Community Development.

Jerry is a member and a past president of the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association and the Alberta Food Processors Association He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Villanova University, Pennsylvania and a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Guelph.

Agenda

1:00 pm	Introduction, Martin Gooch
1:15 pm	National Value Chain Roundtables
1:45 pm	Why form value chains? (Drivers and benefits)
2:15 pm	Case Studies (Successful alliances and critical success factors)
3:00 pm	Coffee Break
3:10 pm	Applying what we’ve learned (Mapping value chains and making it happen)
4:20 pm	Wrap up summary, expectations