Jasmine Ryan

Hatch Program 1

13 Nov 2021

About

As farmers seek new ways of generating income, demand for adding value to raw agricultural products has grown tremendously. Jasmine Ryan is a business analyst who has been growing grains with her husband Brett for over 13 years on their farm located in Barry, NSW.

Jasmine identified a significant opportunity to supplement their business by capturing more value back to their farming operation by creating nutritious and healthy flour for consumers. Jasmine's idea is to value-add wheat and buckwheat into flour through an on-farm mill and offer it to the consumers by providing traceability options via Q.R. codes.

Validating the Idea

Jasmine participated in the Hatch program to develop confidence in her product, connect with industry professionals to help create her venture and to better understand the operations in other small mills.

Both buckwheat and wheat flour boast high nutritional value and are considered versatile in cooking and baking. In the culinary world, these flours can be used as healthy alternatives in brownies, muffins, pancakes, bread and cookies. Jasmine aims to have an on-farm flour mill providing high-quality fresh buckwheat and wheat flour to local restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and families. In addition, due to consumers' heightened concerns about food safety, she also wanted to introduce transparency via Q.R. code on her product and to inform customers re where their food is coming from.

The Hatch Program realigned my thoughts and brought me back on track in recognising the key foundations in developing a product saving on time and investment.

What's Next?

▪ Continue to conduct interviews and research on local council requirements for on- farm milling operations
▪ Reach out to potential individuals and businesses to further assist her in developing her business plan
▪ Perform initial product development trials by creating gluten-free cake mix and biscuit mix to further test the desirability of her concept with customers at farmers markets