WINNIPEG – Food entrepreneurs can sometimes lose their way between the farmgate and consumers’ plates.
But people who have been down the road before want to help keep would-be food processors on track with a new four-month course.
The Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie, Man., is screening applicants for its Agri-Food Entrepreneurship Certificate Program, scheduled to start in November. It’s believed to be the first of its kind in North America.
The centre is running the course with help from Assiniboine Community College and the Manitoba government.
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Questions spur course
Markus SchmŸlgen said employees at the centre continually fielded questions about how to get a food processing business to work, and decided a course might be a good idea.
“A lot of times, we were approached for more assistance regarding the business plan, the marketing plan,” SchmŸlgen said.
“We weren’t really set up for all that. We always tried to do our best, but we never had a program in place for it.”
He admitted at $7,000, the program may seem expensive. But he said it costs at least that amount to develop a food product, plus more for a business plan.
Government contribution
He said if students intend to open a business in rural Manitoba, the government will pay up to $3,000 of the fees.
The Food Development Centre is an agency of the Manitoba government. For a fee, laboratory workers analyze nutritional and chemical qualities of food and can determine shelf life. There is also a pilot plant for food processing.
SchmŸlgen said the course’s target market is farmers who want to further process what they grow, or people who have a food business and want to expand into new products.
Instructors from the food processing industry will teach participants how to research market trends and find market information for their ideas. It will also turn their ideas into products and write a business plan.
SchmŸlgen said about 80 percent of the course will be hands-on work and will be offered twice a year. The first class is expected to have less than 10 people.
Some of the course can be done through distance education methods and part-time studies.
