Are you a food producer who’s considering whether to sell your products to wholesale markets? MarketReady is a virtual workshop series to help Iowa farmers sell food to restaurants, grocery stores, food service buyers, and schools.

This program is offered by county extension services; contact your local office to ask if they will sponsor a series in your area. FFED staff will work with them to schedule and deliver it.

The workshops address the market development risks and relationships farmers and ranchers need to manage as they plan to scale up. Each workshop includes a panel of area wholesale buyers who share information on what they are looking for from growers.

Workshop topics include:

• communications and relationship building
• packaging and labels
• supply and delivery
• post-harvest handling for produce
• grading
• insurance
• regulatory issues
• marketing

Questions?

Contact Christa Hartsook, Program Manager, hartc@iastate.edu or

Olivia Hanlon, Extension Education Specialist, ohanlon@iastate.edu.

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