SILVER VALLEY, Alta. – It’s tough enough to start a new business with support from family and friends and instant access to customers, but imagine starting a farm-based business with little family help and with the nearest customer almost 100 kilometres away.
The monthly meetings of the Learn Agri-Food Network in Alberta’s Peace River region strive to reduce that isolation for budding entrepreneurs.
“They’ve made the world a whole lot smaller for me,” said Lianne Read of Silver Valley Fibres, who attends the monthly meeting in Rycroft, Alta.
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The meetings have become so popular with Peace country businesses that the Learn Agri-Food Network has expanded to three locations in Rycroft, Grande Prairie and Falher.
Before joining the network, Read struggled to complete the regular farm work on her 600-head sheep farm as well as develop her wool and fibre business. By attending the business support group, she realized she’s not alone.
“A lot are like me trying to value add and start a small business without a whole lot of experience.”
Susan Meyer, an organization development specialist with Alberta Agriculture, said the network was developed almost three years ago after it was determined that businesspeople need more than Alberta Agriculture staff to help develop their fledgling businesses.
“We’re not the most useful people for businesspeople to talk to,” Meyer said.
She and two other Alberta Agriculture employees organized the business-to-business meetings with the goal of shielding members from the “shoulds,” which is what she calls the people who say, “you should do this, you should do that.”
With the help of a facilitator, businesspeople meet monthly to talk about challenges and solutions.
“We do not say we have no rules, but we have a process that works,” Meyer said.
Each meeting has a different flavour depending on who is in attendance. At the last meeting in Falher everyone was new to the forum and all were saskatoon berry producers.
At one meeting a farmers’ market vendor wanted to add meat to her line.
“Call the health inspector” was the reply from the others who knew the rules.
It’s a meeting Read makes an effort to attend each month.
“If I have a new idea, they are great sounding boards.”
Barb Barrs of Birch River Clay has been working with pottery and raku as a hobby for years on her farm near Woking, Alta. Through the monthly meetings she has learned to expand the hobby into a business.
She learned about marketing and bartering, creating a business plan, dealing with unhappy customers and developing a lucrative Christmas market.
“It’s been really helpful. It’s a good support network,” said Barrs, who hopes to encourage customers to make the journey to her farm.
“It’s always a struggle for a small business getting started, especially in a rural area.”
Through the network she has found a mentor who challenged her to develop a mission statement and a business plan. By focusing on the plan, she has narrowed her target market to tourists, weddings and holiday shoppers.
“My eventual goal is to have people come here and make it more than a shopping trip.”
