Project Title:  Assessing the Status and Needs of Value-Added Agriculture Producers in Wisconsin  Round 1 (2003)   

Project Leader (s):  Carol Roth, Brad Barham, Jeremy Foltz

Project Collaborators: EAM Team

Project Category:    Outreach/Education

Situation:  While the number of dairy farms continues to decrease throughout the state, value-added agriculture is growing rapidly in numbers and diversity.  For example, the Wisconsin Agricultural Showcase  featured more than 150 municipal farmers’ markets that are held throughout the state and more than 200 agricultural enterprises that direct-market a variety of commodities to consumers.  Even within dairy, a shift toward other value-added production methods has also occurred.  Farmers have adopted strategies for remaining competitive and production methods that are more environmentally sustainable.  This is clearly demonstrated by the growth of the market for organic products and a rapid adoption of management intensive rotational grazing.  Despite the rapid increase of value-added agriculture in Wisconsin, no systematic statistical studies of value-added agriculture are available. That leaves value-added agriculture in Wisconsin and elsewhere poorly understood.    

Reasons for Doing This Work

Value-added agricultural enterprises are growing in importance throughout Wisconsin, with an emphasis on more consumer-centered methods of production and marketing.  Although it is evident that the use of these strategies has grown rapidly, no comprehensive studies of value-added agriculture in Wisconsin (or elsewhere) are currently available.  Thus, the scope (magnitude), diversity (different types), and performance (economic, environmental, community, and quality of life indicators) of value-added agriculture cannot be discussed in a systematic fashion, and this lack of information limits potential advances in research, education, and policy.

Providing outreach education to producers in Wisconsin who are involved in value-added agricultural activities is hampered by an inadequate understanding of who these producers are, what they are doing, and what are their various educational needs.  This project addressed these shortcomings by developing an updated database of value-added producers in Wisconsin.

Response:  In January, 2004 PATS fielded a survey to a random sample of 1,500 value added producers from a list containing 6,000 names from five major enterprise types – vegetables /ornamentals, fruits/nuts/maple syrup, grains / forages, non-dairy livestock, dairy.  The value-added farmer list, which took nearly two years to complete, allows us to reach the full diversity of this population.  The survey instrument was designed to capture the important issues that value-added farmers face.  It has questions on: farm and family characteristics, marketing choices, farm performance, use of technology, and farm information needs.  As with all PATS surveys we used a modified Dillman approach to generate a 46% response rate.

Results:  The Program on Agricultural Technology Studies (PATS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted extensive outreach to farming associations, farmers’ markets, direct marketers, and other agricultural organizations in an extensive effort to identify all of the value-added farms in Wisconsin.  In this study we defined value-added farming as: Any activity that allows producers to capture greater value than would normally be secured through conventional commodity channels.  The additional value can come from production, marketing, and processing strategies that distinguish the products from standard agricultural commodities. As a result of this survey, we estimate that in 2004 there were a minimum of 6,700 farms in Wisconsin that could be classified by this definition as value-added.

Evidence:  As a result of this project, a database of value-added enterprises within the state has been generated. The list of agricultural organizations and associations was also useful in gathering additional data about about educational needs of value-added farmers throughout the state (Survey Attached). Both the list and survey were instrumental in targeting possible attendees for the Direct Marketing 101 Workshop, as well as developing the content.