SHELDON – Iowa State University Extension is offering a workshop to teach small-scale producers how to meet the demands of wholesale markets.

Iowa MarketReady Training is for local food producers who currently sell their products directly to consumers and are looking into wholesale marketing to restaurants, grocery stores and institutions.

This one-day training will be from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Northwest Iowa Community College, Building A, Room 117, 603 West Park St., in Sheldon.

This event is not intended for home gardeners.

The registration deadline is midnight Jan. 23. The cost is $55 per person and includes training materials, lunch and refreshments.

Discounted registration is available for attending two or more workshops including the Good Agricultural Practices Level 1 training set for Feb. 15 at the same location.

For more information or to register visit www.extension.iastate.edu/valueaddedag/content/market-ready-food-safety-training.

For additional questions call or email Linda Naeve at (515) 294-8946.

This course is taught in two parts, the first is an online pre-workshop activity that is viewed at home before attending the face-to-face workshop.

At the workshop, attendees will hear from a panel of grocery produce buyers and restaurant chefs.

Topics to be covered include communications and relationship building, packaging, labels, supply and delivery, post-harvest handling for produce, grading, insurance, regulatory and marketing.

“MarketReady training helps commercial food producers decide whether they are ready to expand to meet the demands of a wholesale market,” said Linda Naeve, Extension program specialist in the value added agriculture program at Iowa State University. “It provides them with the tools they need to meet the market demands.”

This program is being sponsored by Flavors of Northwest Iowa, a regional network for local food producers and consumers.