Local Roots Gets Local Foods

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I love agriculture! Everything single thing about it gets me spun up and eager to engage. To do something. Talk, learn, educate, blog, tweet, whatever.

I am fortunate to be involved in a startup that takes me to places through farm country. During one of my recent trips out to Smithville, OH, I had the pleasure of meeting with a then prospect, now a new customer! On the way back home, I thought I would stop by and meet with my friend Brian Gwin who works for the Wayne County Economic Development Council with a focus on agriculture. Brian is a wonderful individual with a family farm in the area. He understands agriculture and economic development. I am glad to know Brian and look forward to working on projects together.

Brian knows I have a strong interest in local food economies. I believe that efforts promoting this are good for farmers and good for the community. As such, he took me over to one such group that was established in 2009, Local Roots Market & Café.

The marketing manager, Jessica Eikleberry was gracious enough to show me around the place and talk to me about the organization, its goals, and ideas on continuing their efforts to strengthen the Wooster area economy and surrounding communities.

Let me just say now, Local Roots gets local foods. I can relate to their mission:

"To establish a year-round market place for the purpose of connecting consumers and producers of locally grown foods and other agricultural products. Our goals are to encourage healthy eating, expand local economic development, promote community involvement, and sustainable living."

I like their approach for producer members in that they set it up to where the producer puts together their own profiles, develop their own prices, and gain access to the marketing services of Local Roots. It is all inclusive. As a grower you can share your story to connect with the consumer.

Another great perk is that each item sold has information the consumer can use to contact the grower enabling an immediate connection to the person growing their food. Awesome!

Why Local Roots gets local foods

During my visit to the store, I noticed all the other non-food items that were in the store. Now, this may seem counter intuitive, but to me Local Roots understands that agriculture is multi-faceted. We in the business of agriculture also produce fiber and other products that require a producer as well. And in their market you will see things like bee based lip balm (go bees – we love you!!!), wool, yarn, and soap products, to name a few.

It is the essence of building a strong agriculture based local economy. Providing access to fresh, local, healthy food as well as the other myriad of products founded in agriculture. Awesome isn’t it?

So, if you are interested in local foods and local economic development, Local Roots is a shining example. Go visit their website and check out the list of participating producers and other great resources!

My thanks again to Jessica for her time and willingness to share the Local Roots story. I wish her and the volunteers who have made Local Roots a success continued prosperity.

Regards,
Nate J. Taylor
(814) 441-1867
natesuetaylor@gmail.com

Photo Credits:
bluhazyjunem on flickr

IntelliCrop–Got Beta?

If you haven’t already, you may want to subscribe to my RSS Feed.

So, if you don’t know, I along with 3 dear friends started a company in November 2010. We are already close to the beta program (April 1st, 2011).

I just could not be more excited. We already have companies on board, with hopefully more soon.

IntelliCrop already has a post about the flagship service here so I am not going to go into much more detail here, but I urge you to go check it out. While you are there, have a look at the products tab. I would love to hear your feedback and answer any questions. Or sign you up for either beta or for the limited commercial release in May. 

But I would like to add these neat videos demonstrating just how far technology has come in relation to computing complex algorithms.

This is a video of a difference engine and it is awesome!


Now we have this handy little “computer” called Watson. Just think of the insane amounts of algorithms getting crunched! Amazing.

Go IBM

Now, we are certainly not close to using the power of Watson at IntelliCrop, but we are fully aware of the technology advancement curve. We are also acutely aware of where computational power is today and are leveraging this as we bring more agronomic model based products and services to the market place.

As the IntelliCrop blog post states, we are in a limited release phase so contact us for more details.

Regards,
NJT
(814) 441-1867
natesuetaylor@gmail.com

"Swing Thru" and Our New Project

I am pumped! So pumped that I just have to share. As you may already know, I am working with 3 other partners in getting our startup off the ground, IntelliCrop. Things are progressing nicely so far with beta launch just a few short weeks away! It is hard to believe we are already at the "paying customer" point. Boy, how time flies.

But that is not why I am extra pumped up. It just so happens that another group of us are starting another project/company and I just couldn't be more excited. We have done the market research, talked to our target market on the value proposition, sourced an excellent manufacturer and distributor, and formed one helluva team. Two of the three folks I have known for a while now so this is almost old hat for us; however, there is one team member that I did not know, and glad I do now. His name is Lee Prunty and I am stoked to be working with him. His knowledge of the market we are entering is superb and his years of experience are certainly going to assist us in taking the right amount of measured risk. I was in my first meeting with him earlier this week and like the way he operates. Good stuff! I am excited to engage and learn from him. He is the kind of person I want to learn from; an acute engineering mind with strong business acumen.

Let the good times roll!!

Given the direction of our project, we really needed a 20' container delivered to our designers. Guess who just happens to be the exclusive North American owner and distributor of the Swing Thru product line? Yep. Lee. I really love this well engineered product. Being that my life prior to agriculture was in marine transportation, I can really grasp the importance and innovation in the design. And now that I have been in the agriculture world (thankfully!!!!), I can see the immense benefit of the swing thru system. Are you asking what the swing thru system is yet? Well, before you Google it, the first thing to do is to navigate to the Container Handling Solutions website. There you will be able to learn more about Lee's company and view some demo videos on the swing thru system. Check  it out. It is a great piece of machinery, especially if you are trying to ship grain in a container. Obviously the system can move a container regardless of the contents; however, I thought I would mention the usefulness of the Swing Thru in an agriculture setting.

Here are a few photos of the container delivery.

That's Lee operating the Swing Thru.

Container Unloaded

The above photo is a good view of what it looks like when the container is offloaded. Take note of the design in that Lee could just as easy lift that container up and load it onto another trailer on the left for transport anywhere. Cool isn't it!

Controls

I watched Lee maneuver the container where he wanted it using the controls shown above. These controls are located on both ends of the trailer assembly and are very straightforward.

Motor for Swing Thru Ssystem

This is located in the forward part of the trailer and is pretty simple to start and get up and running. 

Above is what the Swing Thru looks like when it is being transported. It meets the International Highway Standard for vertical clearance for ease of transport

I really like this product and was fortunate enough to be able to see it in action due to the current project scope. If you think you may have a need for something like this, let Lee know via email

Lee Prunty

lee@wsint.com

Stay tuned for more posts and further details as we get these exciting projects off the ground. Are you doing anything exciting you want to share? Please do so in the comments. 

Regards,

Nate J. Taylor
(814) 441-1867

5 Reasons Why Wireless Access Is Integral To Agriculture

I just finished reading a short article in Fast Company that discussed President Obama's push to make Wi-Fi more accessible to rural areas throughout the United States. I applaud this initiative and hope it gets the support it needs on The Hill.

In today's world of agriculture access is critical. Making the right decision is crucial to continued farm profitability. One sub-par choice like entering a field when it's to wet, planting to early, or applying fertilizer to late/early can heavily impact the bottom line in the downward direction. This is bad for the companies providing custom services to the farmer, bad for the farmer(s) who work tirelessly to supply us with food, feed, fuel, and fiber and can also be bad for the consumers if this leads to further consolidation in the marketplace led by decreased competition. Here are 5 reasons I think Wi-Fi everywhere is good for agriculture.

1.) Access Information Anywhere - We all know that farmers are traveling more and more to spread the word about the benefits of a healthy agriculture system. And crops are not malleable in their timing. When it is time to plant, it is time to plant. When it it time to do anything related to crop production, it is time and the window of opportunity is small. So having access for the on the go farmer is of utmost importance. Being able to hop on the web with a smart device will allow farmers to obtain the information they need to make the best decision for their farming activities

2.) Knowledge Sharing - With the rise of social media, more and more farmers are sharing information about their activities. This "real-time" sharing of information is helping other farmers throughout the growing season make better decisions and plan for future activities. For example, if you know a heavy rain is coming because Jim just posted a tweet, sent you a text message, or posted it on the social web, then you can plan accordingly and move your equipment where it needs to be.

3.) Agvocating - As we all know, the conversation about food has been elevated to a place where everyone is engaged. As such, there is a ton of misinformation out there. Having ubiquitous access to the web will allow farmers and ranchers to share their story not only from the office, but the field as well. Consumers want to know where their food comes from and who produces it. A direct connection to the farmer, even virtually, will enhance the trust between consumer and farmer and help build this much needed bridge

4.) Small Business Growth - We all know the the lifeblood of economies around the world is the small business. And the days of desktop applications are numbered. There are already a number of companies looking at their web-based strategy as well as a number of start-ups utilizing the web to deliver their service (shameless plug - My start-up is doing this). Increasing access to the web allows more companies to provide the level of service farmers and ranchers need to be successful in todays agricultural system as the market increases with increased access to the internet. The larger the market, the more opportunities available for entrepreneurs to form new companies and create more well paying jobs.

5.) Data Acquisition - It's all about the data folks. Data is what drives decisions, even the absence of data! At this point it is quite difficult to collect all the data we would like, at the resolution we need, to really make data-driven decisions. If we do collect the data, it is cumbersome and very time consuming, not to mention the possibility of errors. The more and more we increase access to the web to transmit data back to a smartphone where decisions can be made, the more profitable a farming operation can become. As OEM's work toward building sensors and telecommunications companies work toward access everywhere, we can work on how this real-time data can be used. Can anyone say agronomic, soil, and weather models? I sure can.

As I look toward the future, I see multiple data sets being integrated into a service to enable sound business decisions aided by stellar applications delivered over the mobile web.

What do you see? What benefits to agriculture do you see with increased access to the mobile web? Let us know in the comments.

Regards,
Nate J. Taylor
(814) 441-1867
natesuetaylor@gmail.com

Interested in more of my gibberish? You can follow me on Twitter @natejtaylor

Photo Credits
Flickr User Claudian-
Flickr User james_clear
Flickr User ShowGood

Scenery On The Drive Today

I thought I would share a few of the shots I took along my drive from Sycamore, IL to Rochelle, IL. Have I told you yet how much I love the area I live in? You can just feel and see agriculture everywhere!

Local Grain Elevator and Storage Facility

One of my friends fields

I love Red Barns!

For more on red barns read my friend Janice's post here

Hoop Houses used to extend the growing season

Grain Bins on a local farm

NIU Huskie Stadium - Last sight before home