During this last part of January and February we will be finishing the mobile poultry processing facility design, applying for a building permit for the fixed infrastructure to conduct biological treatment of effluent from poultry processing and preparing the plan for the building of these infrastructure. Other parallel tracks are also moving forward like the overall business planning for the Hillside Farmers Cooperative, the hiring of an outreach coordinator for our region, hiring of an agripreneur training program and community farm manager, putting together the financial package for the launch of farming operations to support the launch of the cooperative, etc.

As we move forward in all of these fronts, we are thankful for the many partners, volunteers, and funders that make this work possible. Stay tuned for future postings where we will be profiling these partnerships and the key roles they play in launching a new food and agriculture system in our region.

The Cannon River SFA Chapter will hold their annual meeting at 3:30 p.m. following the Farm To School program. Electing officers and planning activities for 2011 are up for discussion.

This event is free to the public but please RSVP to kzeman@kmwb.net or (507) 664-9446 by Jan. 26.

Meanwhile, this morning MPR posted an article on immigrant farmers in MN where our work was quoted. This piece I understand either was or will be aired later on mid morning.

We measure success as we structurally and systematically affect the role of Latinos from one of laborers who go home poor after generating millions of dollars for our regional and national economies, to one as players in partnership with the millions of farmers, consumers, farm organizations, government programs, and businesses who want to have a more secure country where our food does not depend on non-renewable resources and unsustainable practices. The Latino population in this country together with the millions of established farmers who they can partner with are positioned to make one of the greatest contributions to this nation from this point of view. We just need to realize it at a large scale, and to engage at the right levels, building capacity, re-directing resources and changing the systems and infrastructure that make our current systems un-sustainable in the long run.

Winter is the best time for farmers to plan and re-sharpen their saws, this is also true for our organization as we revisit and evaluate our plans and strategies and make the changes necessary to be more effective and aggressive about achieving our institutional mission and goals. This process goes a lot faster and a long way farther when there are partners, allies and supporters as well as whole communities willing to do their part to bring about the resources and support infrastructure to make things happen. The United States Department of Agriculture’s is a key supporter of our work. A recent Small Socially Disadvantaged Producers Grant is allowing us to build the foundation for a regional network of farmers organized under the Hillside Farmers Cooperative. Read more about this at the USDA Know Your Farmer Know your Food Program blog.

Launching the processor and organizing a large network of drop-sites is the starting point for the scalability of production and reaching out to wholesale accounts to build volumes and launch the first cluster of 8 poultry farms and at least 10 other enterprise operations from related enterprises. These and other activities are in front of us as we prepare to establish a strong presence in our regional markets and get the first cooperative launch, we look forward to engaging even more of our established partners and starting new relationships, specially in the market and distribution area of our business infrastructure.

We have started the launch process for the very first farmers cooperative led by new immigrant families in partnership with established but struggling small farmers in SE Minnesota. This process has resulted in a solid plan to launch the cooperative under an economic clustering strategy that allows us to incorporate up to 14 symbiotically related farm and food enterprises, both economically and ecologically while incraesing the efficiencies of small enterprises and the value of the family farm.

This and much more is at the center of our strategic approach to building a new ecology of food from table to farmer in a way that makes sense, can be sustained from an energy and ecological perspective and that delivers a new system of relationships, networks, support infrastructure, and overall a new agriculture and food system that is competitive, resilient, accessible for people living in poverty while delivering high levels of benefits for all involved.

These are some of the examples of the work we do and the reason we would like to think that you want to make a contribution, one that keeps giving back to our own communities.