10-16-96 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

i 'if het" ha 's 1914te3y to he Rile stal,� it's com. The IWHY 11PIP411lic UPOW111 in UlObal is l�"hici aLy apising 11,0ju je;ad [lEma . That means Anirallicall fi;efl Upains----pirilt,%hiallY col"11--11vill he C0i11111gt8itjf,,s 11just alieci ed.rr "Value-added operations provide production percent,with a total of$172.7 million spent on diversity on the farm and have gone back to stability.increase income,and reduce trans- turkey feed.Roughly 15 percent of the state's grandpa's ideals" portation costs." corn and soybean crops are being used in pork Minnesota is also home to a variety of co- )11 the most natural way to add value to production. operatives that add value by transforming crops crops is by feeding them to livestock.Minnesota Many of the farmer-owned cooperatives in into marketable goods.From Cozen peas and turkeys.for example,consumed 14 million the state are involved in livestock production. sweet corn to artificia J made Ca il- bushels of soybeans and 25 million bushels of George Dahlman,a Coal and agribusiness ana- flour and recycled newspapers,production oss the corn last year,raising the market prices re- lyst at Piper Jaffray,says the value-added cooip- itiesare of the la acrompan cs are taking the ceivcd by farmers an estimated 3 percent to l0 eratives are simply embracing oyed by many strategy large com- value-added movement even further.Kathy panies for years."They put Vrabcck,business team leader of Green Giant's the flour mills and the New Business Division,says,"It's the value- i'- corn-processing facilities in added side of vegetables that's providing all the ry4 the supply-rich areas,then growth in the vegetable market."Green Giant, move that product down one of Minneapolis-based Pillsbury's major the line."Dahlman says. brands,defines a value-added vegetable prod "if you take big hog opera- uct as something other than plain frozen vegeta- lions and put them in the isles used as side dishes. middle of where feed sup- Given the growth potential.Green Giant plies are,you gain sonic ef- places significant emphasis on developing val- ficiencies. If you think ue-added items.On the heels o[its success with about it from a transporta- Pasta Accents,a frozen vegetable-pasta-sauce °•' lion Dint of view,it makes combination•and Create-A-Meal,a frozen veg- o-t P sense." etable and sauce product that,in combination Melberg agrees. "My with meat,constitutes a one-dish meal.Green grandfather used to raise Giant has just introduced Veggie Nuggets:The oats—the fuel of the(arm. batter-covered vegetable and sauce product is He'd feed the oats to the positioned to draw customers from the popular y'-T�., horses.then he'd raise corn French-fry and Tater Tot market. or barley on the fields Similarly,agriculture giant Cargill has a facili- plowed by the horses. ty near Savage where a multi-staged processing Then he'd feed that to the operation transforms corn into a totally pigs,cattle,and chickens biodegradable commercial-grade plastic.The and sell the meal and product,a polylactic-acid plastic,has been used eggs;'he explains.reflect- for some time on a limited scale.For example, ing on the evolution in it's been used in surgical sutures because it de- Agrleulture is-huge in terms of output,in economic importance"for farming over the last cen- grades in the body and does lion ot[have taste has the state,say.!aware letterman,an agricultural economist with tury."We've conic full cir- moved.In the past,p P the Federal naeer.e Bank of min—poiis. cle In realizing the value of been in small volumes at high costs.Cargill is TWIN CITIES BUSINESS MONTHLY OCTOBER 1996 37