Results of the Fall 2018 Agri-Food Roundtable
DOWNLOADDecember 12, 2018 - William Knudson
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Introduction
Staff members at the Michigan State University (MSU) Product Center Food-Ag-Bio sent questionnaires to 84 members of the Food and Agriculture Roundtable. The roundtable is composed of leaders in the state’s food and agriculture system, primarily farmers, leaders of agribusiness firms and food processors. All major sectors of the state’s food and agriculture system are represented: dairy, livestock, field crops, fruits and vegetables as well as the nursery, floriculture and landscape industry. The first eight questions were designed to assess the current state of the food and agriculture system as well as future intentions. Two open-ended questions were designed to determine current and future areas of concern, and issues important enough to address through research and extension and perhaps changes in public policy. A total of 26 surveys were returned for a response rate of approximately 31 percent.
The results of the survey have been used to construct a set of indexes on the current and future state of the food and agriculture system. The indexes have a theoretical value of zero to 200, with a score of 100 indicating a neutral – neither positive nor negative – outlook about the food and agriculture system. Scores above 100 indicate an increasingly positive outlook; scores below 100, an increasingly negative outlook. Indexes were developed for the current state of the food and agriculture system in Michigan, the current state of Michigan economy, sales of food and agriculture products, future investment and future employment plans.
The next roundtable survey will be conducted in the spring of 2019 and the results will be released in May or June.
