Imagine you are a budding hazelnut farmer full of bright ideas, but you’re unsure as to how to get those ideas off the ground both sustainably and profitably. With so many things to consider, including supply chain costs, farm-to-market lead times, and responsiveness to changes in supply and demand, it can be intimidating to know where to start.
The Ontario Hazelnut Summit’s value creation workshop was generated to foster hands-on learning and fruitful collaboration between key stakeholders. Welcoming a variety of participants made up of farmers, government agencies, supply chain managers, investors and more, the mission of the workshop was to inspire meaningful collaboration.
Those in attendance came fully invested in the Summit, ready to learn, contribute and establish meaningful connections. Building off the action-packed day full of presentations and capacity building, the workshop was meaningfully designed to shift the conversation into implementation and future thinking. This event was organized by Jonathan Parkes, a Ph.D. Candidate and Sessional Lecturer with the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and his advisor, Professor Dr. Kalinga Jagoda. Jonathan is also serving as an AFI Research Assistant.
Pre-Workshop Events
The first sections of the Summit included a presentation from marketing and communications specialist Christina Crowley-Arklie on how farmers can best engage with consumers. Ontario Hazelnut Association’s Administrative Coordinator Amanda Pilot shared insights from the perspective of Ontario hazelnut growers and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs John Kelly delivered a speech to the audience. Parkes then hosted a panel discussion, and Q&A focused on industry insights. The panel included representatives from Esta Chocolates, Market Fresh Gourmet Grocery Store, Coppa Gelato and Jewels Under the Kilt: Artisan Nut Company.
Ontario Hazelnut Summit organizer Jonathan Parkes sharing insights during panel discussion with co-host Dr. Kalinga Jagoda. Photo taken by Josh Gonzales.
AFI Value Creation Workshop
The Summit then transitioned to a workshop with Arrell Food Institute (AFI) representatives Erin Doherty who is the Strategic Initiatives Lead, Jeanna Rex the Educational Lead, Janice Leboeuf, who is the Strategic Initiatives Coordinator, and Parkes . This workshop worked with participants to collaboratively identify different approaches into the marketplace and discover areas of opportunity within the Hazelnut community.
The beginning of the workshop gave a brief background as to what the Arrell Food Institute (AFI) is, its key focus areas and how AFI supports local farmers. It then walked through concepts of market segmentation, building an ideal customer profile and how to develop a value proposition. Time was set aside for collaborative discussions throughout the workshop.
Market Segmentation
In the market segmentation section, AFI members educated participants on three different buyer groups. The first group were identified as potential buyers that could be ideal clients but may not have heard of the product before. The next group were buyers that are aware of the product and are interested in potentially purchasing it but have not followed through with action yet. The final group were buyers who were not only aware of the product but had also purchased it.
Building an Ideal Customer Profile
In the workshop’s ideal customer profile section, participants learned about the importance of focusing on one segmentation to understand your ideal customer and their perspective in that moment. To fully consider this, participants were guided through the value of understanding the external forces that drive a customer. This includes what their buying process is, any pain points they may have and what they can gain from your product. From a top-down approach key questions considered were:
How can we understand the customer?
o Who is the buyer?
o What segment of the journey are they in?
o Is there a specific organization that they represent?
o Are they coming from a specific location?
Are there any external forces that are driving them?
o Are there any market trends or regulations that a buyer must consider?
o Are there any rules or regulations that this buyer must abide by?
o Are there any economic factors that this buyer is likely to be considering?
What are the customers buying process?
o What does the buying process look like for the buyer?
i.e., Do they have to do independent research, evaluate the supplier, negotiate a fair deal?
Are there any pain points the customer is currently experiencing or may experience?
o Is there currently a lot of price volatility within the market?
o Is there currently a lot of regulatory barriers they experience?
o Is there a quality inconsistency in historic related products?
What does your product allow the customer to gain?
o Does the product allow for stronger quality assurance?
o Does the product help with cost efficiency?
o Does the product come from a reliable source?
Participants of the 2024 Hazelnut Summit in active discussion. Photo taken by Josh Gonzales.
Understanding the Value Proposition of Your Product
In the value proposition section of the workshop, participants worked through questions around how a product delivers value to a market segment. Working back from the product and into the framework of a buyer, the focus was on how the product solves the problem your buyer is facing.
The following was considered when the question “what is our value proposition to our ideal customer?” was asked:
o We provide quality and consistency with raw hazelnuts.
o We provide competitive pricing and exceptional service.
o We provide a unique and dependable sourcing model for processed hazelnuts.
The Value Creation Workshop concluded with a debriefing on key insights learned from the workshop, remaining questions the group still had. Participants shared the primary benefit was the opportunity to engage in conversation with others with guided talking points offered by the workshop.
Key Takeaways of Hazelnut Value Creation Workshop
Participants of the summit walked away with a deeper understanding of the industry, potential growth opportunities for their product, and newly forged industry relationships they can continue to foster. For the value creation workshop key learnings were:
o Market Segmentation: helps focus communication messaging to meet customers where they are on their buying journey.
o Building an Ideal Customer Profile: helps focus on how best to understand a specific market segmentations wants/needs/desires.
o Value Proposition: Building off of the market segmentation and ideal customer profile, this section focused on how to best demonstrate the value of a product based on a need/want/desire of a buyer.
Thank you to all who participated in the workshop series.
What’s Next?
Interested in learning more about innovation and knowledge mobilization?
Food from Thought (FfT) has assembled a brilliant resource page including grant opportunities, workshops, courses, placements, trainings and more.
Learn more about it here: Innovation and Knowledge Mobilization – FfT
Interested in further developing research impact skills?
Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance has a variety of workshop series related to topics key to effective research communications and engagement of non-academic audiences, including policy, industry and community stakeholders.
Learn more here: Skills for Research Impact – The Alliance