http://www.ruralec.com The Rural Enterprise Center is a program of the Main Street Project focused on economic development. Our mission is to strengthen communities by organizing programs, resources, and the support infrastructure needed to maximize the success potential of rural Latino entrepreneurs. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:02:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Because animal factories are inhumane, unhealthy and unsustainable for the future of our food supply systems. As a Latino living in Southern Minnesota, I am proud to be working on a new system that engages the talents, culture, traditions and knowledge of sustainable intensive agriculture that we bring to ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/542 A very positive and needed development just happened in the City of Minneapolis. This is good news for all of us working on regional food systems development, we can only hope that the many thousands of voices that made this possible would be sufficient to open up other regional institutional ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/541 Pollo de Campo™ is a rural enterprise developed (hatched) at the Rural Enterprise Center. This enterprise is aimed at capitalizing on the knowledge and skills brought to our region by Hispanic/Latino immigrants with a farming background and able to engage in food production in Southern MN. The development of this ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/537 Spring 2009 hit us like a rock, I have been so busy it has been hard to set aside time to write about our recent progress, but here is a quick overview of areas where some significant developments have been achieved. First, we were able to secure partnerships with organizations that ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/532 A recent front page cover and long article about our client and business training participant Jose Herrera and his restaurant Plaza Morena in Owatonna has created quite a stir. Check it out yourself at http://35cbusiness.com/ http://www.ruralec.com/archives/521 I just presented at a local foods, faith and immigrants forum at Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis. Katherine Glover, a free lance journalist wrote an article on the forum. Tomorrow, April 4th, I will be presenting on our Food and Agriculture Development Model at a public presentation organized for the ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/519 This is the title of an article at the Mankato Free Press about the March 13th Regional Southern MN Economic Development Summit. The Rural Enterprise Center's agripreneurs development model was voted the second most important priority for the development of the Agriculture and Food Sector as it pertains to ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/516 I receive information just as many of you in the thousands of gigabytes a day, but every once in a while, something so powerful that it becomes irresistible to share comes along. Below is a link to one of those things worth sharing widely. By the way, don't think of this ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/505 Food and energy is something we cannot go without, and the farther these two come from where we use them, the less sustainable they are, this is a matter of logic and economic fact not a matter of opinion, or political leaning, or weather we agree or disagree on global ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/502 Although Latino/Hispanic communities and entrepreneurs are still behind in understanding the value of organic agriculture from a health standpoint, at least we can start understanding it from the economic opportunities that this industry represents as told from the top. Some of us have been on the organic sustainable agriculture wagon since ... http://www.ruralec.com/archives/496