Online Education Strategies to Meet Food Entrepreneur Needs
Teaching & Educational Technologies
Emily Marrison
Extension Educator
OSU
Coshocton
Abstract
Value-added endeavors have long been a diversification strategy for agricultural producers to increase resilience. In some cases, small or beginning farmers seek food processing opportunities for their crops or livestock. Entrepreneurs may utilize local agricultural products to make and sell value-added foods. These food businesses have educational needs that differ from traditional agricultural businesses. Ohio ranks second in the United States for number of farms (7,752) that sell food directly to consumers. Ohio State University Extension faculty set out to identify resources and educational strategies to meet the unique needs of food entrepreneurs. The team implemented a three-phase educational approach that included law bulletins, webinars, and an asynchronous online course. The team published law bulletins on licensing, labeling, and selling food products in Ohio on the OSU Extension Farm Office website. Website traffic shows the popularity of these topics, as the food law library page is the most visited Farm Office page with over 250,000 visits since 2014. The second approach was to design a “Starting a Food Business” webinar series for home-based and farm-raised food entrepreneurs. The team taught over 350 participants in the four-part series on establishing a business, food regulations, and food safety and marketing aspects unique to food businesses. By the final webinar, 89% said they were more knowledgeable about starting a food business and 81% were likely to take action on something they learned. Lastly, the team developed an asynchronous, online course called “Food Business Central.” This course serves as a centralized on-demand hub connecting participants to information and resources for all types of food products they might want to make and sell. It consists of ten modules on legal start-up, insurance, food law, food safety, and marketing and economics. Throughout the course, participants build a “My Food Business Action Plan” with considerations to explore and actions to take. Over 100 participants have enrolled and 10% have completed all modules to build their action plan. Offering educational resources in multiple forms helps food entrepreneurs to find information in ways and at times that best suit their needs.
Authors: Emily Marrison, Peggy Hall, Garth Ruff, Nicole Arnold
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Emily Marrison Assistant Professor, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, The Ohio State University, Ohio, 43812
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Peggy Hall Associate Professor, Director, Agricultural and Resource Law Program, The Ohio State University, Ohio, 43210
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Garth Ruff Assistant Professor, Field Specialist, Beef Cattle, The Ohio State University, Ohio, 43724
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Nicole Arnold Assistant Professor, Field Specialist, Food Safety, The Ohio State University, Ohio, 43210