By: Sarina Zhou and Jamie Dalton, senior and sophomore in Supply Chain Management, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The following post was written by students on an ADM Institute-sponsored observation study tour through India – March 23, 2015. During the second and third days of our trip, we visited two types of markets where the atmospheres […]

A Tale of Two Markets: Insights about the Different Ways Products Reach Consumers in India

Hearing from Locals on Farming in South India: Day 1
By: Joe Goley and Korawat (Kay) Tanwisuth, Sophomores in Supply Chain Management, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The following post was written by students on an ADM Institute-sponsored observation study tour through India – March 21, 2015. We started the first of our nine-day journey with a blessing from Hindu priests in a local temple in […]
Combating Postharvest Loss for Smallholders: How to Achieve Sustainable Adoption?
By Steve Sonka and Grace Kenney The ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss is currently working on a learning assessment of global food loss as part of a grant funded with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation for the Waste and Spoilage in the Food Chain Development Initiative. This effort has led to […]

ADM Institute Sends Business and Engineering Students to India for Third Time, Another Great Success
by Kari A. Wozniak When Casey Dollinger’s father heard of her plans to travel to India, he was concerned. Not just in the typical fashion a father might worry about their student’s study abroad trip. She wasn’t ready, he felt, to fully grasp the significance of postharvest operations in agriculture in just 10 days. Casey’s […]
Minnesota Workers Share Expertise Across the Globe
A Minnesota-based non-profit, Partners in Food Solutions, provides business and technical training to farmers abroad by matching food processing industry volunteers with businesses in developing nations. http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/224647761.html
Food Farmers at Konkrompe Address Challenges
A farmers’ cooperative convened a stakeholders meeting to discuss postharvest losses in the town of New Konkrompe, Ghana. Locals say interventions have been attempted, but none have successfully overcome major maize storage and marketing problems faced by most of the farmers in the region. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=277197
Linking Smallholder Farmers to Markets in Africa
The G8 increasingly emphasizes the importance of market linkages for smallholder farmers in Africa. International debates and conversations, captured in two recent reports, focus on 5 priorities for how markets can function better for smallholders. Several organizations on the ground are promoting a market focus, such as FANPRAN, Farm Africa, the One Acre Fund, and others. […]
Cambodia: Forum on Loan Products and Banking Services Held for Rice Postharvest Sector
The Cambodia Postharvest Learning Alliance recently sponsored a forum on loan products and banking services in the rice postharvest sector. The forum included presentations on interventions for PHL, ‘business plans for piloting technologies with stakeholders’, and additional information on loan products and financial services. Attendees were stakeholders from all sides of the agricultural sector. http://irri-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/cambodia-forum-on-loan-products-and.html
Egypt: Pro-poor Horticulture Value Chains in Upper Egypt
A special horticulture program in Upper Egypt helps small farmers and agricultural workers to work more efficiently and improve their business partnerships through the benefit of a program known as the MDG Achievement Fund. Visit www.mdgfund.org to learn more about the program. http://www.mdgfund.org/content/propoorhorticulturevaluechainsupperegypt
Cambodia: Business Not As Usual—Loan Products and Banking Services for Postharvest Sector
The Cambodia Postharvest Learning Alliance sponsored its first business roundtable, Loan products and banking services for the postharvest sector, after which representatives from microfinance institutions presented their various loan products and banking services. They look to implement improved postharvest technologies as sustainable business models. The event offered farmers an opportunity to interact with banking institutions, […]