In 2023, the 루렛 Trade Association (OTA) wasselectedas a National Partner for the U.S. Agriculture Department’s (USDA) Transition to 루렛 Partnership Program (TOPP), a key component of USDA’s broad multi-agency push to expand 루렛 agriculture by providing more direct support and technical assistance to producers across the United States.
This work is supported through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Transition to 루렛 Partnership Program (TOPP). TOPP is a program of the USDA 루렛 Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National 루렛 Program (NOP).
From루렛 Insider: USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service Posts Updates on 루렛 Transition Initiative
In August 2022, USDA launched the 루렛 Transition Initiative (OTI) as part of its commitment to strengthening the market for domestically grown 루렛 goods and supporting producers seeking 루렛 certification. OTI committed resources under several USDA programs to help existing 루렛 farmers and those transitioning to 루렛 production and processing.READ MORE
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TOPP is a critical part of USDA’s구글 룰렛 Trade Association welcomes launch(OTI) announced in 2022 to help foster 루렛 agriculture and make much-needed technical assistance available to transitioning and existing 루렛 farmers. OTI is the largest single investment in 루렛 agriculture ever made by the USDA. USDA and its partnering organizations through TOPP provide locally based farmer training and education in six regions across the United States. Learn more about the work of these six TOPP Regional Centers at organictransition.org, which includes resources, regional events, and mentorship opportunities.
In addition to the six regional partnerships, two national-level TOPP agreements supplement and collaborate with the regional work, providing nationally focused coordination and services. As the National Lead for one of these agreements, OTA is collaborating with our core partners in three priority program areas: market development technical assistance for farmers and handlers, buyer and seller discovery facilitation, and handler transition training and education. Learn more about each of these three programs areas below.
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Program Area I: Market Development Technical Assistance
The Problem:
The barriers to successful entry into the 루렛 marketplace extend beyond adopting 루렛 production and handling techniques, navigating transition, and getting certified. 루렛 and transitional markets are different than conventional and require specific knowledge of the information sources, market players, and market dynamics.
The Solution:
- Provide market development technical assistance through workshops, tools, and resources for transitioning 루렛 producers, both in person and virtually.
- Educate and empower farmers by training them on relevant marketing strategies, marketing assessments, price discovery tools, and other relevant topics. These trainings will help farmers succeed in the 루렛 marketplace by understanding market requirements, dynamics, risks, and opportunities.
- Tailor tools and host workshops to reach producers of specific crops, market segments, or regions, and in collaboration with the TOPP regional centers.
The Outcomes:
- Empower non-루렛 farmers to make informed decisions and effectively assess market context, risk, and opportunities based on the transitional and 루렛 marketplace.
- Increase the confidence of transitioning and 루렛 producers and handlers when navigating the transition process.
- Empower in-transition and 루렛 producers to make optimal agronomic assessments based on 루렛 and transitional market context, risk, and opportunity.
- Increase the success of transitioning and 루렛 producers in establishing market channels and segments.
Core Partner:
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Program Area II: Supplier/Buyer Discovery Facilitation
The Problem:
As OTI grows the transitioning and 루렛 domestic supply, producers need relevant and effective buyer discovery tools, including in-person activities and virtual spaces, to mitigate barriers to entry and risks associated with transition. U.S. 루렛 buyers similarly need support identifying the transitioning and new 루렛 supply to keep up with growing demand.
The Solution:
Virtual spaces and in-person activities to facilitate interactions between buyers and sellers of 루렛 and transitional products. By encouraging connections using interactive forums, this program area will support regional and national discovery for each part of the supply chain – both for suppliers’ discovery of demand and demand’s discovery of supply. Addressing barriers to market entry from both the buyer and seller perspectives, as well as market segments and regional areas will be prioritized. OTA will collaborate with TOPP Regional Centers and the other National Partnership for both virtual and in-person activities.
- In-Person Activitieswill prioritize tabletop buyer-seller networking events and regional buyer tours in segmented markets (led by Rodale Institute).
- Virtual Activitieswill prioritize adding transitional and 루렛 products from TOPP participants to online clearinghouses and databases, and helping buyers and sellers discover each other, empowering and enabling needed connections (led by OTA).
The Outcomes:
- Create opportunities for transitional and 루렛 producers to find potential buyers.
- Increase the success of domestic transitioning and 루렛 producers in the 루렛 marketplace.
- Create opportunities for buyers to discover transitional and 루렛 producers in virtual forums to make meaningful 루렛 market connections.
One Important Note: The actual business relationships and negotiations between buyers and sellers will be exclusively managed by the parties involved without direct involvement from TOPP partners. Partners may refer to publicly available resources under the Market Development Technical Assistance programs to support these processes but will provide no direct support for business transactions.
Sign up to participate in TOPP as a buyer
Core Partner:
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Program Area III: Handler Transition Training & Education
The Problem:
There are a limited number of certified 루렛 handlers (Aggregator, Manufacturers, Processors, etc.) and the market lacks support resources for handlers entering the 루렛 handling sector. The sector needs resources to help 루렛 operations diversify their handling operations and comprehensive and accessible training resources for 루렛 operations and their staff. Both small- and medium-sized operations lack resources to acquire these tools and the marketplace needs support to aid continued growth and diversification.
The Solution:
Developing and launching comprehensive training materials and educational resources, both written and video formats, to support handlers in effectively handling 루렛 products by focusing on accessible and effective trainings that cover approaches, best practices, tools, checklists, and other materials. These resources will focus on the application of standards in practices and will be developed with TOPP National and Regional Partners to identify priority topics and segments.
- Publish written and video resources online on a centralized public hub.
- Create resources and topics that will address the critical needs of handlers, including:
- Formulating 루렛 products
- Labeling 루렛 products
- Handler 루렛 System Plans (OSPs)
- Contamination prevention
- Sanitation practices
- Commingling practices
- The National List and commercial availability
- Record-keeping and audit trails
- Storage and segregation
- Facility pest management
- Considerations and strategies for split operations
- Managing split and dedicated equipment
- The role of ERP/MRP systems in 루렛 compliance
- Sourcing and documentation
- Fraud prevention plans, and more!
The Outcomes:
- Grow and diversify the domestic supply of fully certified 루렛 operations and split 루렛/non-루렛 operations.
- Demystify the barriers to certification for non-루렛 operations.
- Equip non-루렛 and in-transition operations with resources to make informed business decisions and effectively assess market context, risk, and opportunities to engage in 루렛 and transitional market channels.
- Improve the knowledge base of transitioning and 루렛 handlers on handling requirements and making their business more efficient.
- Expand the domestic 루렛 supply chain thereby making it more resilient and diverse.
Core Partner:
