Bioscience, Buying Local

By Phyllis Jacobs Griekspoor, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Aug. 26–Agribusiness Alliance has set two goals

An agribusiness innovation center, a bioscience industrial park, an increased presence for farmers markets and truck gardens, and a push for a food processing center are all ideas that members of the Agribusiness Alliance continue to work on with Visioneering Wichita.

The Alliance is an action arm of the Agri-Business Council of Wichita. The council — which has 80 members from major agribusiness companies and smaller businesses — was founded in 2005 to help strengthen the existing agribusiness industry, enhance awareness of the importance of agriculture in the Wichita metro area and explore new agribusiness opportunities.

The Alliance was launched earlier this year and is preparing to enter what Agri-Business Council president Jim Mock calls an “action phase.”

“We’ve been meeting and sharing ideas and figuring out what we’d like to see develop,” said Mock, a retired 36-year veteran of the agribusiness industry who has a doctorate in plant breeding and genetics.

“Now, we’d like to move forward with getting something done.”

A major presence

Mock said agribusiness is already a much larger presence in the Wichita metro area than many people realize. It ranks second behind aerospace manufacturing as the largest revenue producer locally and first in revenue generation statewide.

In 2005, the last year statistics are available, revenue from the south-central region’s 9,200 farms alone totaled almost $1 billion. And 2005 was a year plagued by drought and crop losses.

The industry as a whole includes further processing of many of the products produced on those farms as well as the impact of businesses such as the corporate headquarters of Cargill Meat Solutions, the bakery operations of Sara Lee, Farmland and Dold Foods meat processing and Monsanto Imagine’s research facility. There also are numerous seed research companies, flour milling operations, grain handling, vegetable oil refining and transportation of raw and refined materials.

The industry also includes orchard operators and truck farmers, including such operations as Beck’s Farm near Newton, Sargeant’s Berry Farm, growers in the Kansas Grown and Old Town Farmers Market networks, and recreational attractions such as Bergmann’s Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze.

Two directions

Suzie Ahlstrand, who coordinates Visioneering Wichita as vice president for community development at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, has been helping facilitate discussions.

She said the group has emerged with two directions — one toward industrial development of new agribusiness products and a second toward a bigger role for local fruit and vegetable growers and potential agritourism.

On Thursday, the group agreed to pursue both avenues through separate committees, one of which will work on bioscience initiatives and one that will pursue “buy local” opportunities.

“We think both directions are vital to the future of agribusiness, and we need to work together,” Mock said. “But we decided to divide into two leadership groups to pursue ideas to develop.”

More help wanted

Both groups agreed that a first priority will be to reach out to businesses or individuals that could play key roles in future development but are not now part of the effort.

“I would love to see someone involved in business development in the Alliance,” Mock said. “We could really use a real estate person. I’d like to see some businesses from towns in the region take part, too, because success in this effort will have a major impact in the region.”

The group also hopes to attract participation from Wichita State University and the University of Kansas Medical School-Wichita as well as members of the veterinary community.

“Human health and animal health and science are areas of big opportunity in bioscience,” Mock said.

Action plans

The group pushing for an agribusiness innovation center pictures that center as a sort of clearing house for agribusiness initiatives. It would be a place where someone with an idea for a business could turn for help in developing a business plan, exploring feasibility and learning about potential markets.

The Alliance hopes to pursue a grant application to the Kansas Bioscience Authority to establish the center, which Mock said would likely have offices at the Kansas World Trade Center.

The group said it will also attempt to identify companies already in Wichita and talk to them about what they need to expand here as well as making contact with similar centers in other parts of the country to explore how the concept might work.

The “buy local” committee of the Alliance is beginning its action phase with an effort to identify what additional specialty foods might be grown here and what retail markets are available in the city.

The group also plans to contact additional people who can add expertise to their effort, determine where land suitable for truck farming might be leased or purchased, and explore options for adding greenhouses that could be used to provide seedlings to residents wanting to grow their own vegetables.

Mock said he thinks the group has made good progress since joining Visioneering Wichita.

“We’re moving ahead,” he said. “I want to see us get beyond just throwing out ideas and do something concrete. That’s the next step.”

Reach P.J. Griekspoor at 316-268-6660 or pgriekspoor@wichitaeagle.com [mailto:pgriekspoor@wichitaeagle.com].

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