The Council for Healthy Food Systems
produced and hosted 8 in-person and 4 virtual workshops in multiple regions of
Texas covering food safety, business laws and regulations, and financial
management. Our program had 294 participants, with an average of 25 people at
each event.
Of the 12 total workshops, 7 included sessions on
all three topics: food safety, business laws and regulations, and financial
management. One was solely on financial issues, while 4 included all except the
financial session. All financial sessions were conducted by a consulting partner,
Foodshed Investors.
We provided 22 individual consultations
to help producers make improvements that best fit their operations.
Our outreach, workshop materials,
and follow-up focused on small to mid-sized farmers and food producers
(produce, livestock, and value-added), with emphasis on producers doing
direct-to-consumer marketing.
Our follow-up surveys and interviews
with attendees indicate that farmers increased their ability to ensure compliance
with laws and regulations governing food safety for their existing operations,
as well as the information and confidence to legally expand into new product
lines, diversifying their operations. They identified and addressed business
and personal liability risks, and implemented accounting and financial
best-practices to reduce financial risk and expand sources of funding.