Value Plus – Your Path to Farm Success coming to BC March 26th!

By CFBMC

The difference between marketing bulk commodities and a value-added product can be like night and day – and CFBMC wants to show you the light.

Canadian Farm Business Management Council is bringing back the Value Plus workshop again this year, after receiving great feedback on the program’s launch in 2008. “We knew we had something important to share with people on the value-added front and were pleased to see how many people were interested in learning more about this topic,” says Arlene Kennedy, project manager, CFBMC.

The global marketplace is no place to be selling an undifferentiated product. The price takers, those who don’t have the power to set prices for a specialty product, are vulnerable financially and are at the whim of supply and demand. Those who have diversified have added value to an existing product and will be able to ask more for that product or service.

“CFBMC is proud to be partnering with the various organizations to bring the Value Plus workshops to rural communities in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia this year. The information learned will give agribusinesses the tools they need to develop and grow their offering and their income,” says Kennedy.

Gary Morton will share his experience and expertise as an entrepreneur, agricultural consultant and agribusiness man. The author of Adding Value through Farm Diversification, Gary has more than 25 years of agricultural consulting experience and believes that Canadian agriculture’s future lies in reducing dependence on bulk commodities and adding value that consumers will pay for.

Workshop participants will be given the tools to identify and plan their value-added offering. Implementing the plan will take time, creativity and strategy, and after the one-day workshop participants will know how to:

- identify promising value added ideas
- asses their suitability to manage a value-add enterprise
- refine the skills they need to succeed
- develop new products for value-added markets
- recognize and manage operational and financial risk
- create an action plan to move the business forward

Attendees of the Value Plus Workshop will be entered to win a one-day, on-farm consultation with a professional business consultant. This kind of mentorship can be the turning point in growing a business; the winner of this prize will be receiving a valuable service.

Registration is required to ensure availability at the upcoming sessions:

Mitchell, ON – November 3, 2009; Perth Community Futures Development Corporation
Roblin, MB – February 3, 2010; Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives
Quesnel, BC – March 26, 2010; Cariboo-Central Interior Poultry Producers Association

For more information go to www.farmcentre.com/workshops and to register contact your local representative.