Rural Ventures, Inc. Business Papers

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: MS-844

Staff Only

Collection Scope and Content Summary

Business papers, 1982-1984, created by Rural Ventures, Inc. in support of a tentatively named Snow Country Produce Cooperative, a proposed produce co-op in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Includes a market study and two drafts of a business plan.

Dates

1982-1984

Access

Available for use in the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections.

Biography

In the early 1980s, Rural Ventures, Inc. conducted a market survey of 42 fruits and vegetables capable of being grown in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The goal was to identify specialty crops that could be grown and marketed profitably by limited resource farmers in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, Iron, Gogebic, and Ontonagon Counties. The organization also developed a business plan for what was tentatively named Snow Country Produce Cooperative. The purpose was to create both a source of supplies and a market outlet for the produce, with a significant impact on the economic conditions of the area. There is no indication whether or not the cooperative was ever established.