County representatives for the Missouri Regional Cuisines Project

COMMERCE, Mo. -- Progress has been slower than expected in organizing the pilot region of the Missouri Regional Cuisines Project, but those with a stake in the project remain optimistic about its future.

Representatives of the six counties in the MRCP's pilot Mississippi River Hills region held an open meeting Thursday morning at River Ridge Winery in Commerce to discuss the project's progress and plans for the future. "I think we all would have liked to have seen things to move a little bit faster," said Tish Johnson, the project's interim coordinator. But Johnson said the project is making progress, and interest is growing.

Owners of farm- and tourism-related businesses, tourism officials and members of the University of Missouri Extension from Jefferson, Ste. Genevieve, Scott, Perry, Cape Girardeau and St. Francois counties were all in attendance.

They discussed marketing strategies, educational programs and the formation of a not-for-profit corporation to administer the Mississippi River Hills pilot project.

Another priority is to secure funding for the project for next year, said Johnson. Currently the pilot project is only funded through the end of 2006.

The MRCP was begun in 2003 by Dr. Beth Barham, a professor at the University of Missouri, to promote Missouri's agriculture and tourism industry using regional branding. The six-county Mississippi River Hills region was chosen as the pilot area for the project -- a collaboration of the University of Missouri, Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Johnson administers the program out of the University of Missouri Extension office in Ste. Genevieve with the help of a "roundtable" of people representing agriculture, tourism and government in the area.

Last year the roundtable set out goals for 2006-2007: form a not-for-profit corporation to manage the project, secure a part-time regional coordinator for the project, provide educational programs to support and sustain entrepreneurship in agriculture and agritourism, develop and implement a marketing plan, develop standards of quality and a regional label of origin for food and wine products and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies that promote regional identity.

Work has been done toward achieving all of those goals, said Johnson, but more needs to be done. A marketing campaign using advertising and promotional materials has started, as have efforts to encourage agriculture-related entrepreneurship in youth.

But progress on developing standards of quality and a regional label of origin are lagging behind, along with the search for a coordinator and formation of not-for-profit status.

Roundtable member Teresa Meier, whose family owns Meier Horseshoe Pines in Jackson, said despite the slow-going on some goals, she's seen the effectiveness of marketing strategies already.

"This is an excellent way for farmers and small business to get the word out," said Meier. She said people have learned about her operation through project promotional materials distributed in other areas of Southeast Missouri.

For Meier, being involved in the project is a great payoff for local producers and agritourism operations when most of them can afford little advertising.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182