Thursday, April 10, 8:00am – 5:30pm (lunch included)
Dubuque County Extension Office, 14858 West Ridge Lane, Dubuque
$55/person or $90/couple or two employees from the same farm

While significant opportunity exists to build on the demand for local products in local markets, many farmers are hesitant or unprepared to meet the transactional requirements required by institutional, wholesale and restaurant buyers to manage food safety, insurance, product quality and traceability risks. Iowa MarketReady, a new program from the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Value Added Agriculture Program, addresses these issues and seeks to educate food suppliers to succeed in today’s markets and continue to be profitable, while utilizing a new marketing stream. The training is based around best business practices identified by buyers in these markets that are actively seeking local suppliers. Iowa MarketReady will help farm vendors selling dairy, fruits, meats and vegetables design a better business strategy to succeed. Topics to be covered include communications and relationship building, packaging, labels, supply and delivery, post-harvest handling for produce, grading, insurance, regulatory and marketing.

Pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, call or email Christa at 515-294-4430 or hartc@iastate.edu. Please give names of registrants, address, phone number, e-mail address and indicate whether you are a produce or livestock/poultry/egg producer.