producing whatever you want, then leaving it up to the processor and marketer to alter it and sell it, without regard for what the consumer is looking for. “In supply chains, the


relationships tend to be adversarial. They’re triggered at the bottom by what people who are growing or raising want. In a value chain, consumers’ wants are the trigger,” explains Henderson.


By delivering a custom product, you create a competitive advantage and you can expect to receive a premium price, he says.


By delivering a custom product, you create a competitive advantage and you can expect to receive a premium price.


Once you have


determined what the consumer wants, the producer and


processor work


together to provide that form of the


product, whether it is packed or


processed differently, or promoted differently.


For instance, if consumers are looking for a product that comes from a farmer they feel they know and can trust, then it should be marketed that way, with


information about the farm and the farmer; a story about its production. Even the grower’s inputs, such as fertilizers or breeding/genetics, can be important in such a case. For a value chain to work, once the consumer research has been done, the grower and processor have to work together to differentiate their product in the way the consumer surveys have indicated.


Henderson will work with groups or individuals who want to make


8 British Columbia Berry Grower • Fall 2010


more money by embarking on a value chain.


He can facilitate sessions to help growers and processors get from the first step to the second, and he can even coach those who have embarked on a value chain but have found itís not entirely successful. His background is in the


incubation of small businesses. “I feel B.C., because it has one of the most diverse agricultural industries in the world, would benefit the most from value chains, yet it’s used the least here,”


Henderson comments. So, he has a lot of work to do. Henderson just began working on agri-food value chains with the IAFBC a few months ago and says it requires a different attitude, involving the use of words like collaboration and partnerships. To learn more about value chains,


go to:


www.iafbc.ca/publications_and_ resources/valuechains.htm Henderson can be reached at: bhenderson@iafbc.ca or by calling 250-365-1675.


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