Idea 283 of 500. Cluster 14: Farm to shelf
Goat and sheep dairy in the north, where the animals already are
The mechanism, from the book
The smallholder sells raw to a collector at the gate and the collector sells to a packer who puts his own name on it. Denmark's farmers got rich the day they owned the creamery.
Every idea in cluster 14 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Visit goat keepers in one northern village and ask whether they milk their animals, how much each gives, and what they do with it. Have a small batch made into soft cheese or yoghurt, and take it to hotel kitchens and delicatessens in the north and in the city for a tasting. A chef or shop willing to order weekly shows the milk is worth collecting.
- Who pays first
- A hotel chef or delicatessen buyer who wants goat cheese without importing it, and will pay for a steady weekly supply.
- What leaves today
- The animals are already in the north, but their milk earns little or nothing, while the cheese it could become sells at dairy prices.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. ElevenThe Mechanisms
Denmark's co-operative dairies and the binding contract that held them
More from cluster 14
- 271A farmers' co-operative dairy in the hill country selling cheese and yoghurt under its own brand
- 272Buffalo-milk mozzarella and ghee for the hotels and for export
- 273Fruit and vegetable drying: mango, pineapple, papaya, jackfruit and okra as premium snacks and soup mixes for Europe and the Gulf
- 274Frozen tropical fruit pulp for the smoothie chains of the world
- 275Heritage rice varieties grown under contract and sold at ten times the commodity price
- 276Organic certification services for smallholder groups, shared so the cost is bearable
Idea 283 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.