Product Pathways: Getting Your Product from the Field to the Shelf

Product Pathways: Getting Your Product from the Field to the Shelf

 

Product Pathways: Getting Your Product from the Field to the Shelf

September 20, 2022; 10 a.m. (Mountain)

We will follow your product from the farm to the market during this webinar. Learn how important it is to share the story about the cultural significance of your product. Depicting that story on the label can impact your success with wholesale and retail buyers. Connecting the buyer, whether the end consumer or retailer, is vital. You have worked hard to harvest the raw materials and create a good product that consumers should want. You will see how it’s important to show those efforts in your packaging and labeling.

Molly Roe with Winnebago’s Sweetgrass Trading Company will give tips on how to put your best foot forward to please the buyers. Your label tells the story before your product is consumed, so it must reflect the quality and hard work. She has some great pointers for reaching success with the sale.

Aaron LaPointe from Ho-Chunk Farms will join us with a video of the corn harvest at the farm. It showcases the beauty of sharing the story behind the farm with your potential buyer. The example also highlights an agritourism activity many can replicate with their harvest.

Finally, you will be given links to the free resources available from AIANTA’s agritourism and culinary research on their website. Download tools to help you build your own agritourism business and refine your products for your best benefit.

We would like to thank the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) for providing the funds for our Agritourism Project, and making this webinar possible.

Speakers/Panelists
photo of Molly RoeMolly Roe, Account & Brand Manager, Sweet Grass Trading Company
 
Molly Chapple Roe is the account and brand manager for SweetGrass Trading Company, an online Native American food and gift shop owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. In her role at SweetGrass, she oversees marketing efforts by curating newsletters, managing social media accounts, writing blog posts promoting Native businesses, and working to restore food sovereignty and traditions for Native people. Roe has a Master’s in media communications from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is a member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.
 

Aaron LaPointe, Senior Manager, Ho-Chunk Farms, Inc.
 
Aaron LaPointe is the Senior Manager at Ho-Chunk Farms Inc. Which is a 6,400 acres tribally owned corporate farm in Winnebago, NE on the Winnebago reservation. He is the vice-chair of the Winnebago Food Sovereignty Task force committee, where he works to bring sustainable food systems to the Winnebago people. He has been working in these roles for 6 years. He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2016 with a B.S. in Mechanized systems management and Agronomy from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Aaron has also recently been appointed to the FSA state committee and continues to advocate for sustainable agriculture at all government levels.
Moderator(s)

Kelli Hepler, Agritourism Specialist, AIANTA

Kelli Hepler is a Colorado-based agritourism developer and marketing consultant. She has worked in tourism for 35 years running her own business promoting and developing tourism products for clients and organizations. Kelli has been an active part of agritourism development for 20 years creating award winning programs and working to create clearer paths for agritourism business. Kelli has been working with farmers and ranchers to create agritourism programs that connect their guest to the land and the food they produce. Educational tours, farm-to-table dinners, special events and product development are part of her focus.

Kelli has two adult children, Tanner and Asha and three vivacious grandchildren, Wyatt, Stetson and Maysa. She loves to mountain bike, kayak, try foodie adventures and has a house rabbit to make things really fun!