Midwest Value Added Conference Bringing Profit Back to the Farm Presenter: Heather Amundson – River Country Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc.

Planning Committee  Farmer  UW Center for Cooperatives  WI Dept of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection  WI Technical College System  Wisconsin Farmers Union  UW Center for Integrated Ag. Systems  River Country RC&D Council, Inc.

Conference details  5 th year in the running  Held 2 days  Focused on farms of all sizes  Emphasizes marketing strategies and business options to improve the bottom line

Farmer Advisory Panel  Diverse/randomly selected group of individuals in the Midwest  Meet in May  What do we learn? -session ideas -promotion ideas

Main Focus Areas – Everything  Marketing  What are others doing  Cooperatives  Rules and regulations  What to do to get started  Farm Bill updates  Unique Opportunities

General Session – Dept of Ag. Reps.

Highlights  Youth Panel  Humor from the Country – Jerry Apps  Being a good neighbor!  It’s your turn.  Tradeshow

Reception  Features local foods and products  Provides opportunity to see what others are doing  Networking opportunity

Evaluations  200 Individuals Attended  45 Evaluations Returned  Program overall usefulness = 4.11 out of 5  4 states represented

Comments  “Excellent Speakers and Good info!”  “Real Eye Opener”  “I felt this was one of the best conferences I have ever attended.”  “Great topics!”

6 th Annual Conference  January 30-31, 2004  Incorporating suggestions from this year’s conference  Create theme days  Continue to feature value added products

To get on our mailing list… Contact me at: Heather Amundson 1304 N. Hillcrest Pkwy, Suite B Altoona, WI Phone: Fax: