AGRIBUSINESS INCUBATOR PROJECT

"The Agribusiness Incubator Project provides opportunities, processes and resources that facilitate the entry of new farmers and farm businesses into the agricultural community of North Central Wisconsin".

That is the mission statement of a venture that started in Marathon and Lincoln Counties in October of 2003 called the Agribusiness Incubator Project. Just prior to that date there were several things that came together leading to this joint project between area farmers and agribusinesses, Marathon and Lincoln Counties, the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce and the Marathon County Economic Development Corporation.

The initial discussions about setting up an incubator farm in order to provide a training ground to get new dairy farmers into the business came out of a January 2002 planning session for the Central Wisconsin River Graziers, a farmer network based here in the Marathon and Lincoln Counties. The network members have been working with management intensive grazing as a low cost production model that lends itself well to dairy start-up operations. Based on their experiences the group wanted to pursue different ways that an incubator could be set up.

The desire of the Graziers to use a grazing-based model fit right in with their counties. In September of 2001 the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors adopted a comprehensive plan that stated "preserving agricultural resources" and "supporting various efforts to preserve the family farm" as key elements in the implementation of their plan. In 2003 the Marathon County Task Force on the Rural Economy conducted a study looking at possible initiatives that could spur on rural economic revitalization. One of the Task Force recommendations was to have Marathon County create an agricultural transition program, with an incubator farm being a component of that program.

To help meet the goals of all involved UW-Extension began engaging the farmers and their communities in the development of the Agribusiness Incubator Project. An important element in making sure that agriculture remains a viable career path and an integral part of the rural economy.

What follows are summaries of the various projects, events and meetings that have been held since the project began.

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Papers Related to Agricultural Development:

• Changing Profile of Agriculture in Lincoln, Langlade and Marathon Counties
  • Change is a constant in the world. In this white paper the community issues, local agricultural trends from the 1987 to 1997 Censuses of Agriculture and the changing agricultural marketplace come together to shape some opportunities and challenges for Extension programming in agricultural development. (20 pages, 284 KB)
• The Farmer's Career Path: A Planning Framework for Agricultural Development
  • This white paper builds on the previous white paper on the challenges and opportunities for Extension programming in Agricultural Development. The paper reviews agricultural trends shaping public perceptions about the status of agriculture, summarizes the results of three community visioning processes, reviews some of the data on farm entry/exit patterns, highlights some research on agricultural transition in New Zealand and proposes how the farmer's career path can be used as a strategic planning framework in agricultural development. (16 pages, 179 KB)

Mission and Goals of the Project:

• Long-Term Goals, Resources and Cooperators - October 14, 2003 (3 pages, 21 KB)
• Important Attributes for an Agribusiness Incubator - November 10, 2003 (3 pages, 13 KB)
• Mission Statement Development and Workgroups - December 15, 2003 (3 pages, 23 KB)
• Flow Chart of Activities and Projects (1page, 50 KB)
• Logic Model for Incubator Project Development (1page,65 KB)

Initial Project Workgroups:

• One-Stop-Shop Resource Development Workgroup - January 22, 2004 (3 pages, 21 KB)
• One-Stop-Shop Resource Development Workgroup - February 23, 2004 (1 page,12 KB)
• Financial Support and Funding Workgroup - January 22, 2004 (3 pages, 21 KB)
• Financial Support and Funding Workgroup - February 23, 2004 (2 pages, 18 KB)
• Model Development Workgroup - January 21, 2004 (4 pages, 26 KB)
• Model Development Workgroup - February 25, 2004 (3 pages, 31 KB)

Ongoing Meeting Summaries:

• Summary of Workgroup Activities and Project Action Items (5 pages, 50KB)
• Meeting Summary - July 22, 2004 (2 pages, 20KB)
• Project Update - December 22, 2004 (2 pages, 19KB)
• Project Update/Mentoring Development - February 21, 2005 (2 pages, 19KB)
• Project Update/Mentoring Development - July 8, 2005 (3 pages, 29KB)

Mentoring System Development:

In October of 2005 a Mentoring System Work Group began exploring the development of mentoring support system for new farmers and mentors themselves. The following meeting notes follows the progress of that effort.

• Farmer Experiences with Mentoring - October 18, 2005 (2 pages, 29KB)
• Farmer and Other Mentoring Programs - November 28, 2005 (2 pages, 33KB)
• Discussions with New England Small Farm Institute - December 19, 2006 (2 pages, 24KB)
• New England Tour Learning Goals - January 3, 2006 (2 pages, 27KB)
• How Conflict Styles May Affect Mentoring - February 6, 2006 (1 page, 19KB)
• New England Tour Debriefing - March 17, 2006 (4 pages, 34KB)