| | Recognizing innovative and value-adding Alberta producers, this program rewards three but inspires many.
Alberta farmers and ranchers are exceptional at reading the needs of the marketplace and developing products that will resonate with consumers. Still, there’s a big difference between producing an appealing product and making a buck at it.
To help close the gap between a good idea and a great business, the Best Practices Renewal Award program will be offered again this year. The Award program recognizes producers who are expanding, adding value or diversifying to make their businesses more innovative, successful and sustainable. According to Wendy McCormick, Acting Manager, APF- Renewal Program with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, the Best Practices Renewal Award has an impact that goes well beyond the three farmers who receive recognition.
“The three winners are those judged to have taken the most effective steps to renew their farm operation with a fresh strategy or in some cases a new product or service,” McCormick says. “In past years, the award winners have inspired many other Alberta farm families to build on a good idea by creating a successful business around it. People think, ‘if they can do it, so can I’.”
$30,000 in prizes available
Each of the three Best Practices Renewal Awards for 2009 comes with a prize package valued at $10,000 worth of business development services.
While the Best Practices Renewal Award took a year off in 2008, a look back at recent years’ winners (see sidebar for one) shows how diverse and innovative Alberta farm businesses can be.
The 2007 winners were:
- the late, Victor Chrapko of Brosseau, who created Alberta’s first organic cottage winery
- Jim Hugo of Three Hills, owner of stone-ground flour producer JRK Farms
- Gwen Simpson of Carvel, founder of herb-and-flower grower Inspired Market Gardens.
“Fruit wine, stone-ground flour and fine herbs might not have a lot in common,” says McCormick, “but Victor, Jim and Gwen all took an innovative idea and started a business based on it. For 2009, the award program aims to help three new business ventures move forward in realizing their potential.”
In McCormick’s view, Alberta farmers and ranchers tend to be modest about their accomplishments. When the award applications and business plans are gathered around the judges’ table, however, producers’ level of innovation and commitment to sustainability quickly becomes evident.
“It’s often difficult to select just three ‘business plans’, because there are so many great things happening,” says McCormick. “The ideas range from farm-direct marketing, to ag tourism, diversifying or new business approaches, to the development of consumer products.”
On October 15th more information on how to apply for the 2009 Best Practices Renewal Award including eligibility, judging criteria and details of the prize package will be available at www.agriculture.alberta.ca/renewal or by calling the AgInfo desk at 1-800-387-6030.
For this winner, award was a turning point
Since her Best Practices Renewal Award in 2006, this value-added honey producer has continued to innovate and move forward.
At the time Cherie Andrews won the Best Practices Renewal Award, she had already accomplished a great deal. Along with husband Art, she started and built Chinook Honey Company, a honey producer and marketer near Okotoks.
This achievement, while impressive, was only the start of Andrews’ plans for Chinook Honey. As it turned out, her 2006 Best Practices Renewal Award was just what the doctor ordered. With some help from the professional business consultation that was part of her prize package, Andrews set out to expand the business with a line of honey-based wine known as mead.
The Chinook Arch Meadery officially opened in May 2008 as an ag tourism and ag retail destination offering the public a unique taste experience.
“We have been overwhelmed by the positive response,” says Andrews, speaking this past July. “People are quite willing to try our mead and quite curious what it tastes like. In fact, we’ve already sold half the mead we produced.”
Apart from the success of the meadery, 2008 has been a year honey producers like Andrews would rather forget. A mysterious bee disease decimated many hives early in the year, in some cases reducing hive populations by upwards of 50%. In such an environment, producers’ management expertise made the best of a tough situation.
To Andrews, the Best Practices Renewal Award plays an important role in serving the needs of innovation-minded producers. While many are accomplished producers of long standing, the program’s focus on sound business planning contributes to the ongoing success of its three winners and those who learn from them.
Says Andrews: “This kind of recognition allows people to bring themselves up to a higher standard on the business aspect of their enterprise. It can help make it much more professional.” |
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