 My name is Ren, and the pronouns are challenging, can be challenging, I use they, them pronouns. And I'm excited to share with you some of the research that I've been engaged in. Kind of catch phrase, farm for fringes, the idea. I will jump into that. So it is a graduate student grant. As I said, I work full time for the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships at the University of Minnesota Extension. Everything has long titles. But then I'm also a graduate student with the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Science and Natural Resource Science Management as a master's student. On this project, I had a couple of farmer advisors, Laura Jones, as well as my faculty advisor, Dr. Mick Jordan, and then co-advised by Dr. Kathy Drager, who also happens to be the statewide director of the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. Lots of connections here. Speaking of connections, this grant, instead of trying to write out a 1, 2, 3 for these different components of the project, I put it into a circle. So I'll be talking about the existing back home project, some interviews and a couple of different surveys that were done that I plugged into as part of this project, and then potential outreach that we've started to do and that's to come. So farm for fringes, here's the project model. The idea is that looking at smaller and maybe mid-sized farmers who aren't selling beyond the farmer's market or direct, very direct to consumer type of situations. So what are kind of some of those things that can be barriers to accessing larger markets like retail or wholesale? And post-harvest handling is something that's come up in a lot of conversations that I've been a part of. And part of that is cold storage or refrigeration. And so there's multiple barriers and that's what I kind of wanted to explore based upon conversations I've had. I work with produce farmers and I also do work with small-town grocery stores. So this all is very connected with my own extension. And so I wanted to take that research piece to see if there could be a connection made between the two. So the momentum, as I said, cold chains and market access for farmers, understanding what those needs are, connecting it to this backhaul project, looking at rural communities and food access as we heard. I mean, it's something that's been talked about a lot throughout this conference. And then I'll reach other extension educators I work with as well as farmers and community partners who are interested in this topic and this type of research. So my research questions, what are the barriers, small and mid-sized, mid-sized fruits and vegetable farmers face due to refrigeration or lack of? What is the current availability of excess underutilized refrigeration in rural grocery stores? And what might be the impact of connecting farmers to existing refrigeration? So starting with this backhaul project, has anyone heard about this? Yeah, exactly. Cool. So here's this concept and we tried it out. The university made a really beautiful video on it and we have tried it again and we have a protocol that's in draft on it. The idea is that the farmer, and we start with garlic, connects with the rural grocery store nearest to them and uses the existing infrastructure. So when thinking about transportation and how to get produce into the marketplace, you're utilizing an empty wholesale truck that usually makes deliveries at that grocery store and then we'll bring it to the wholesaler and distribute it out. So my project focuses on that connection between the grocery store and the farmer. I don't have time to show you the video, but take a look. So the interviews that I did, again addressing the research question one, there were interviews and there were also a farmer survey. So the interview research process, I started with a central research question and this was qualitative research, this aspect. And so looking at their perceived business success, it kind of broadened that question versus how does this hurt your farm? Trying to think about things in not always negative lenses. So data collection with the literature review and I interviewed four beginning farmers. They were pretty in-depth interviews. I ended up having dinner with them and didn't leave until after nine from their farm. So they were very interested in this topic. So I transferred those, used kind of a data matrix to pull up themes and look at relationships and then looking at the lens of sustainability with these interviews. So economic, social and environment on how refrigeration was impacting their farms. And then looking at that in terms of how does it address this idea of their business success with these assumptions and this red triangle that informs this, that refrigeration is needed because it extends the life of produce. It can help you because of that access to different markets. And this overall want that we want more farmers on the landscape that's sustainable. So this could be a whole presentation too. So I shared a few, I picked a few key quotes. So they all have pseudonyms. That's the biggest problem. We were getting up before four a.m. in the morning. So if we had a walk-in refrigerator, then we could save all those. We could save so much time really. So just looking at their own, how this impacted them personally and their time in life and commitments that they couldn't make and couldn't store it. It's constant. Like, you got the produce, you put it out. So here's another quote from Ethan. Two years ago we had a bazillion onions. We pretty much lost almost all of it just because we did not have a proper refrigeration. And it also ruined, they had issues with their barn and they had to address a leaky roof. And so they're trying to figure out even how or where to store. So there's not just refrigeration, right? There's a couple things that impact this. So Laura said, I mean we can't show them of the community if we don't have the tools to show them how viable it is to grow it up here. It's not sustainable if we don't have refrigeration being one of it, one of the things. But it's how to take care of the land and everything. So she was looking more of a waste perspective. And I say waste loosely because farmers that I work with are typically very resourceful and compost, right? So it's returning some of those nutrients. But if you're looking at profit, it's considered waste. Corey said we're all doing this and we're feeling good about it, gosh darn it. We're all a bunch of hippies and we're raising our plants. We've got our high tunnels and we're at our farmers market and no one's showing up and it's raining and I still got to be here. So he was the most pessimistic of his current situation out of the farmers. So usually kind of a recap of my results and some of those, the themes I talked about, the social economic environment. So first, the lifestyle interactions with communities and how refrigeration impacted that and kind of their, yeah, like I mentioned, the hours of operation that they're running their farm. The profitability of the farm and then farm practices and food waste. And so considering some of these implications like trade-offs that they're making, access to different markets and imbalances and how to look at sustainability with farms and with this piece. So moving on to the Produce Farmer Survey. And so I put out a call. It was through different social media outlets as well as a few different list serves and organizations around the state of Minnesota. So this is all focused in Minnesota. And the needs assessment on refrigeration from the university's perspective or institutional knowledge had not been done since 1992. So this is as old as I am, the data that exists on these needs. And so I was able to work with Dr. Cindy Tom. So she's the professor that did that survey with some of her students. And she helped form some of the questions and gave some input as well. So we did it in Qualtrics. And there were 70 farmers that responded. I asked for zip codes voluntarily. So here's the farmers that provided their zip codes. On average, they had about five acres that they were involved with farming. They were with farmers who owned farms and who were working on farms. On average, they had been farming for 13 years, which surprised me because I was, you know, that was really interesting. I think that to dig into this deeper, I would want to target even more specifically beginning farmers. So today there's an emerging farmers conference. And I do have an extension educator friend who's there. And I'm like, if you have some conversations or, you know, want to like ask a few questions about refrigeration tangentially, you're like, let me know. But anyway, so this survey, half of our were planning to increase cold storage in their farm in the future, wanted to, and wanted to expand their farm. So that was encouraging to hear. And the majority of them were using some kind of refrigeration. So 80% of them responded. So they had a walking size refrigerator, which, you know, that's, yeah, and they talked about the age of which I'll get in a second. Two door reach-in and then also like a household size was the most common. And a few root cellars as well. So considering not just electrified or electric refrigeration. So the average age of refrigerators were a little bit more than 10 years old. So consider, you know, yeah, energy cost of that and, you know, and making do with what's available. Why does your farm not have, so that 20% that did not have cold storage, unsurprisingly, is too expensive to purchase. And then also their farm size, they're just not ready to need to store things for a certain amount of time. So we also asked, also asked where they found information on cold storage and especially like from an extension perspective, right, everyone wants fashions and want to be able to make the resources available. And the majority was Google searches and then from peers and other growers. But I think this is a lack. We have some of my coworkers I work with, post-harvest specialists and like down to the temperature of different crops and things like that that can store for longevity or different qualities. So I think that's an opportunity, which I mentioned much later again. Do you wish you had more access to cold storage? Yes, the majority of farmers. And then how would it impact your farm work on? Or the farm you work on, the farm you're farm? Produce would stay fresher, longer, and then reducing the amount of old produce and less pressure to find new buyers. And so I'm thinking like the stores I work with and the wholesalers I work with, that quality piece is like continually coming up. So that's definitely farmers. It's a no-brainer. Like the post-harvest handling matters and they impact the longevity of the produce. So would access, so this is then connecting it to the grocery. Would access to off-farm cold storage refrigeration be useful to your farm? So looking at non-conventional ways to access refrigeration especially for farms who may not have the dollar resources or need to spend like low on dollars on bigger needs like barn roofs. And so there is 41% of farmers that this could potentially be useful. On one hand, farmers that I don't trust this option, it tends to be expensive and we've had problems with mold and other issues and shared who was basically used to use. So I was really glad they were honest about that challenge. But you know refrigeration is expensive. Transporting produce to and from a storage site is also potentially expensive. So different opinions off-farm cold storage seems like a good idea. Something we'd be interested in before installing our own. Our operation is very small and we found ways around electrified cold storage that meets our needs. Someone's a good idea. Okay, so with that in mind the produce farmer survey, I'll move on to the world grocery store survey. And this addresses the research question. What is the current availability? Is there a potential for leasing excess refrigeration space? And this exists within the larger context of quite a few communities struggling to keep grocery stores in their communities. And I do work with a team called the Support Our Stores team and connecting grocery stores with different professionals with different resources. So this was in Fairfax, Minnesota. So that's just another thing, a very important thing in the context of connecting grocery stores with farmers. The survey that we did was an update from a 2015 survey. So this year's survey I literally got the final data back on Wednesday this week. So I was really excited to share some of it with you for this presentation. It was 20 pages. It was a big ask for really busy small business owners. 80 questions long. We mailed it out to 250 grocers and it had a 55% response rate. So they took the time to fill out the survey. So with it though we sent a postcard or like a comment card. And this was ways that they could actually interact with us who were administrating it. So we weren't just taking information from them. We wanted the grocers to have access to any resources we could provide. So it kind of feel like a reciprocal relationship of it. And this was also both the produce farmer survey and this grocery survey were developed with the audiences. So grocers reviewed this, added questions, said no, that question actually isn't very permanent like that kind of stuff. So in particular included a question out there. I would like health connecting with local farmers to buy products. Roots and vegetables, meat and cheese or other local food items for my store. And so 58% of the stores that filled out this comment card said yes, please connect me to farmers. So that was great. I was like, now we have names, addresses, emails of grocery stores who say like took the time to fill out the survey and send it back in. It was pre-stamped. But yeah, so I was like, that was great. And in fact, I took a second to taking it over here. Give it a second. I don't know which way my mouse is going. Okay, here we go. So here are the stores that said they wanted health connecting to farmers. And so this is like a really cool way to use data and to like make it real time and like actually show this, these are potential market outlets. So I just wanted to show that. So we also included a question. While regulatory issues were addressed, would you consider leasing some of your refrigeration space to local farmers or local processors? And the majority said no. Like that's too much. I don't have enough staff as it is. I use all my space. It's too, like I don't have a schedule even when I know it's full, that kind of stuff. But there were 21% that said maybe. And then I don't remember how much of a sliver of that that said yes. So I think that the majority of them thought it was not possible. But there was that few that said this could be potential. And so with this refrigeration question aside, it's still really encouraging that they want by produce in general. We also asked what are the greatest barriers to selling locally grown produce, fresh produce? And this was like the like, I was like, understanding the rules and regulations for selling local produce. Was the biggest, they had to opt like all these things they could check like the top three and then we asked them for the number one. Below that was sufficient supply of local produce to sell so they can't get their hands on enough of it. And then maintaining shelf life. So yeah, it's interesting. The thing is like, low cost for interest was very low, which I think is cool. You know, weather, like the delivery date, that kind of stuff was low on the... Very low. It used to weather. Yeah, sometimes my grocery doesn't show up. And then we asked them have they ever turned farmers away? Because of their understanding of being uncertain about the regulations purchasing local food from farmers. And this, yes, like 29% who answered the survey said they had turned farmers away. I was like, wow, like they could do something about this. And then 45% say I'm already purchasing. And then 22 hadn't even been contacted by farmers in their community. Sorry, I was like... Okay, so with these things in mind, some of these preliminary takeaways. The education of legality of selling fresh produce to grocery stores is something that I'm like wanting to jump on. The 21% of the surveyed stores are interested in foreign options of leasing space. 41% of the farmer surveyed said that might be an interesting option for my farm. Looking at beginning farmers or farmers who don't have access to other resources or may have had to use loads and other things on their farm. And then looking at other considerations of existing refrigeration in communities. Like the town I grew up in had, well, the neighboring town, had a county fair and they had a commercial kitchen and a really nice walk-in cooler. And for the majority of that year, I mean it's used every so often for some events and things like that or like different expos. But thinking about being creative, thinking outside of the box versus I need to buy this $10,000 piece of equipment or something like that. So looking at outreach, so what next? What might be the impact of connecting the two? So with this grant, like thinking about how attitudes might change. And that attitude of the understanding of grocery stores, of the small town stores. These are, I failed to mention, but in communities less than 2,500, so we're talking small towns, small independently owned stores. That misconception about regulations, that's an easy one to change. There's been a lot of work by different organizations to make the laws so that it's legal to sell fresh produce specifically. And then we, the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Ag, has fact sheets on selling eggs and meat. And he goes on and on. And so the strengthening relationships, talking about knowing your neighbor, knowing your business owner, farmers helping and encouraging those connections to happen. So with that knowledge and like the legislation piece and legality, we've used the survey data from the grocery store specifically and their want. This is from the 2015. So it was like, I don't remember the percentage off the top of my head, but in 2015, a majority of stores also wanted to buy more produce from farmers. And so we testified with that. So this is the Dean of Extension on the left, you're right. And then Dr. Drager with Representative Jean Poppy at the Aged Food and Finance Committee. And then I testified here, this is Representative or Senator Johnson from just north of here. And this was specifically looking at the Good Food Access Program. But I think knowledge is a power and like I'm all about sharing it and on that level as well. So looking at the outreach from this survey and from the work we're doing in small town grocery stores, we're working on different customer management ideas and how to better store that and share that kind of information. We're also working on a Farm to Grocery Toolkit that can be a tool for farmers and grocers, both as an audience. So grocers have questions like, is it legal? And then farmers that I've talked with also have questions about packaging, about washing, about pricing and delivery and what questions to ask. How to make an invoice even is some conversations I have. So we're looking at specifically beginning farmers who may have not sold beyond the farmers market. So that's another project in the hopper as well. And we have both Grocery Advisors and Farmers involved on that. And I think the survey data fits really nicely into that project. So with that circular kind of flow of this project, I'm happy to connect. And if you have ideas or have looked into alternative refrigeration options or buying relationships, I'd love to chat more. So thank you. Has anybody thought about used refit trailers? Used refit trailers? Yeah, I didn't get any comments back on the survey about that. But I do know farmers are using. You know, you don't have to have a diesel motor running all the time. You can convert them to an electric vehicle. Yeah. There's a farm I visited in actually Northern Iowa who did buy one of the longer size refit trucks. Yeah. The grocery stores said no, that they didn't want to share their cooler space. Did they elaborate more on that? Are you kind of elaborating? Yeah. We had a fill in the blank next to it, like a box. And I do have all the raw data for that. And there were some that were a few sentences. There were a couple longer answers. But yeah, it was mostly time, space, and kind of the trust issue on the responses. I'm going to go back to processing and do you know any of the grocery stores that you surveyed or anything have, say, a commercial kitchen space? Yeah, we asked that. We asked if they had a meat cutting counter. If they do meet any type of processing, we asked if they had a commercial prep area to sell food. And I don't have the data ready, but I know it's in the question. And we will be publishing the survey results on the RSDP website. Are these farmers willing to have someone pick that product up similar to what this other lady was talking about? And get it to a central location? Yes, well, picking the product up on their farm. Yeah, do they not feel that it's identity preserved, so to speak? If someone's picking it up, do they want to deliver it to the end user? Yeah, I'm not sure. I didn't really look into that question, but that is a good question to ask. I know we also asked the grocery stores if they would be aggravation sites. And I don't have the data on that, but I know we asked the question. But that identity preservation, I know we've had conversations with garlic growers, and they have far less concern about identity preservation. They mostly just want to sell their garlic, they just want it out. And the Minnesota Premium Garlic Project is doing quite a bit of work on that with the Sustainable Farming Association. But identity preservation, and also traceability from a food safety perspective. So some of my time I spent training produce farmers on the new FISMA Food Safety Modernization Act to produce safety rule. And so that's another consideration with transferring aggravation, that kind of stuff. We heard a little bit earlier, too. We were involved in Long Hall Trucking across the United States, so we pick up in California and go all the way to the east coast. And a lot of times, well, blueberries, for instance, we pick those up, and we had one load that we got into Boston, and it was bad, and they rejected it. And you know, obviously at certain times of the year, everyone has produce. But I know there's a lot of farms in Minnesota, and I know how hard they work, but it doesn't seem like it's as organized as California's per se, because a lot of them have the cooler, the farm is just right up in Salinas Valley, for instance. It's right up there, and then they bring it into the cold storage in the semi-state anyway. And I know that we want to have the local market, but the weather kind of disrupts everything involved. The infrastructure and the size of farms, we definitely have smaller farms here, but we have quite a few smaller farms. So I think there's strength in that sense, with more coordination and support. Our farmers are intelligent and scrappy and interested in getting their products to communities. It just seems like if you meld both of these situations together, it shouldn't work. It's just to get everybody on board and do it.