The US Department of Agriculture’s Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP) and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture recently notified the UT Ag. Extension Service that a grant proposal for market development activities in the state has been awarded to the Agricultural Development Center. The ADC is the state’s primary outreach and educational program for evaluating, planning and developing value-added agriculture projects and enterprises. A part of UT’s Ag. Extension Service, during the past three years the ADC has secured more than $210,000 in external funds for enhancing the movement of value-added agriculture.

Dr. Ray Humberd, Associate Dean of the Agricultural Extension Service, said “Several factors are causing many Tennessee farm families and other entrepreneurs to closely evaluate income opportunities by adding value to farm or natural resource products. We’re working hard to provide those folks the best information and support available. We’re extremely pleased that the FSMIP program and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture recognize the potential of the ADC by investing additional resources supporting what we do.”

The recently-funded grant project will provide funds to develop various market development tools for value-added entrepreneurs, analyze existing small business statistics and develop pertinent threshold levels for market entry and document market opportunities in retail food stores and meat processing. Additional information about the Agricultural Development Center and their many projects and business development resources may now be found at the Center for Profitable Agriculture (CPA) Web site (http://cpa.utk.edu/) or by contacting the CPA at (931) 486-2777 or by email at cpa@utk.edu.