Iowa State University received a $5 million check from USDA Rural Development
for the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center. The center will collect
and distribute information to promote value-added agriculture. Sen. Charles
Grassley, center, was among the honored guests attending the ceremony
in January.
New
center is 'one stop shop'
for value-added agriculture
Iowa is home to a new “one stop shop” for value-added
agriculture. It’s called the Agricultural
Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC), and Iowa State University Extension
is playing a lead role in this Web-based initiative.
The AgMRC is a national, Web-based clearinghouse (soon to be available
at http://www.AgMRC.org) that provides independent producers and processors
with the critical information needed to build successful value-added enterprises,
according to Mary Holz-Clause, who works on value-added
agriculture projects for ISU Extension, and serves as the AgMRC’s
administrator.
“We want to provide producers with connections to a wide range of
experts and consultants,” Holz-Clause said.
The AgMRC received a $5 million, three-year grant from USDA Rural Development
and is a joint effort between Iowa State University, Kansas State University,
Oklahoma State University and the University of California. Extension
will take the lead administrative role in this consortium, while the other
universities will handle components of the project based on their areas
of agricultural expertise.
“The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center brings together experts
from four of the nation’s leading agricultural universities and transforms
them into a dynamic, electronically-based center to collect and interpret
information about value-added agriculture,” Holz-Clause explained.
The primary focus of the center will be electronic dissemination of market
information focusing on new processes, markets and niche opportunities
for producers.
Dan Brown, state director of USDA Rural Development in Iowa, helped kick
off the AgMRC’s efforts in January and presented the $5 million to
the initiative. “Producers are interested in increasing their involvement
in all types of value-added agricultural pursuits, but one area they really
fall behind in is marketing and having marketing-related information that
is timely and user friendly,” commented Brown, who sees the AgMRC
filling this void.
“This [AgMRC] will benefit those who are attempting to move into additional activities that move them closer to the consumer -- it’s the ‘field to fork’ concept,” said Brown, who indicated that USDA looks forward to helping local producers reach their potential.
Contact Laura Sternweis, editor, lsternwe@iastate.edu.
Visit the ISU Extension homepage.
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Last update: April 2002