Value-Added Agriculture

The popularity of craft beer and micro-breweries combined with the growing awareness of buying locally-produced agricultural products provides Maryland farmers with an emerging crop production opportunity: hops. Research the possibilities of producing this high-value crop right here in Maryland. Maryland and surrounding states have a good market for locally-grown hops.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service website, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) threatens the health of honeybees across the nation, the issue exacerbating in the 1980s with the increase of new pathogens & pests. Since a great number of agricultural crops we grow in Maryland depend on honeybee pollination, the honeybee decline threatens our food industry.

Information on wine appreciation and health

New Grape Grower Workshop presentations, held during the Maryland Grape and Wine Industry Annual Conference, Jan. 12-13, 2021.

According to online sources, "May you live in interesting times" is an English expression which purports to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. Everyone can agree that these are indeed “interesting times” and feels like every day brings more negativity. The actions taken to curtail the viruses spread will have long ramifications.

Frozen foods are a pandemic powerhouse ringing in $65.1 billion in retail sales in 2020, a 21% increase compared to a year ago.” In 2020, frozen food sales grew in both dollars (+21%) and units (+13.3%), with nearly all types of frozen foods seeing double-digit sales increases...Feb 23, 2021.

In November, I had the opportunity to give a presentation through the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ (AGNR) new Agricultural Careers and Entrepreneurship (ACE) Virtual Center webinar series. The presentation was titled, Entrepreneurs-Born or Made?

The USDA’s first survey of Local Food Marketing Practices, conducted in 2015, found 167,009 U.S. farms sold $8.7 billion in edible food directly to consumers, retailers, institutions, and local distributors. Consumers accounted for 35 percent of these direct food sales, and retailers, 27 percent. Direct farm sales include both fresh foods and processed or value added products such as bottled milk, cheese, meat, jam, cider, wine, etc.

The new buzz word in marketing is “pivoting. A pivot in business usually occurs when a company makes a fundamental change to their business after determining (usually through market research) that their product isn't meeting the needs of their intended market. The Covid-19 pandemic protocols have made producers and market outlets alike to pivot to more on-line ordering and pre-packaged products.

Packaging is more than just a way to get your product from A to B — it’s also an incredibly valuable customer touchpoint. In today’s age of “Social Media” moments and You Tube videos, your product packaging is an additional way to get extra marketing mileage for your “brand”. A product's packaging communicates many things, from what the product can do for your customers to your company's values. It is important to take some time deciding exactly what you want to accomplish by packaging your item, because for most food products, almost a quarter of the cost per unit that is realized comes from the price paid for packaging.