The Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement (CREE) along with partners have worked to create a marketing manual to help the agriculture sector develop a successful marketing plan. Read below to learn more about the individuals that helped make this project a success.
Trent Blare is an assistant professor in Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida’s Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) in Homestead, Florida with a 60% extension and 40% research appointment. He has published seventeen peer reviewed articles on creating inclusive markets, value chains, and food systems in Florida and throughout Latin America. His current work explores the potential for Floridan agricultural entrepreneurs to expand their current markets and gain access to new ones. He is leading the Marketing in a Digital Era program, which seeks to train agricultural entrepreneurs in creating their own marketing plans that take advantage of the opportunities in direct sales and the digital marketplace.
Fredy Ballen is an agricultural economist working in the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, FL. Fredy’s areas of work include issues related to marketing and production of tropical and subtropical fruit crops.
Lauri M. Baker is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication with a research appointment (65%) with the Center for Public Issues Education. She previously worked at Kansas State University for eight years where she earned tenure and co-founded the Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement (CREE). Her research interests include new-media technologies, communication preferences and impact on local economies, online technology for economic development, marketing through new and social media, strategic communication and audience analysis, Extension communication, and climate change and disaster communication.