Building Cooperative Capacity

by Denny Timmerman, AURI Project Development Director

Minnesota has a long and successful history in developing cooperatives. Whether it is an electrical cooperative, food coop, credit union, telephone service provider or agricultural processing cooperative, it is a business structure that allows for many people to have ownership in a venture. Owned and governed by its customers, cooperatives often offer opportunities to groups of people that aren’t afforded to individuals.

In Minnesota, agricultural cooperatives were among the first developed and they continue to this day in areas such as dairy processing, ethanol production, even aquaculture. A recently awarded USDA grant is helping AURI boost our capacity for helping agricultural cooperatives in the state.

The Rural Cooperative Development grant will help AURI provide greater scientific technical assistance, project facilitation and organizational development assistance to new and existing cooperatives in the areas of local food marketing and distribution, dairy processing, livestock feed processing, food processing and renewable energy. AURI is adding capacity to assist in the development of cooperatives with a new level of emphasis on feasibility and business development.

Cooperatives are still a very effective way for producers to collectively organize in order to accomplish more than they could as individuals. Working with cooperatives isn’t new for AURI because many of our current clients are cooperatives, but we now have greater resources to assist in planning and development efforts.

Several AURI project development staff members have received additional training in cooperative development. AURI has also joined a network of cooperative development specialists to gain more insight to better serve emerging agricultural cooperatives.

For more information on what AURI can offer to cooperative development or to the creation of new and innovative uses for agricultural products, give us a call at (507) 537-7440 or visit us online at www.auri.org.  

Meat Sans Salt

By Carissa Nath

AURI Meat Scientist 

We’ve all probably sat down to a meal with someone who showers their food with a layer of salt before they even taste it. While that is up to individual tastes, many food manufacturers are working hard to reduce salt and other ingredients in their products.

Minnesota’s meat processors are striving to meet consumer desire for products made with more natural or even fewer ingredients—also known as having cleaner labels. Because excess sodium has been linked to such health concerns as hypertension, stroke and kidney disease, it is one of the ingredients health-conscious consumers target first.

The challenge with reducing sodium in processed meat products is that it does more than just provide saltiness. Salt enhances flavors, helps extend shelf life and creates a bind between proteins so the product holds together. Reducing sodium in meat products sometimes is a detriment to the quality and taste of products consumers have come to expect. Consumers may want the reduced salt but be disappointed in how the products taste and feel because there’s less salt.

Meat processors are changing their formulations to meet consumer tastes by using such items as sodium replacers, flavor enhancers or by reducing the amount of salt in recipes. To do so without negatively affecting the quality or the taste of the meat product presents a challenge. More and more food ingredient suppliers are offering lower sodium spice blends or alternative ingredients to help processors make the kind of items consumers want.

University of Minnesota Extension Meat Specialist Ryan Cox and I presented information on reduced sodium meat formulations at the recent Minnesota Association of Meat Processors convention. More information and alternative reduced sodium formulations will be tested at a value added meat processing seminar in August.

AURI operates a meat processing laboratory in Marshall designed to help the state’s meat processors develop and test new products. For more information on what we do, visit www.auri.org or call us at (507) 537-7440.