Eight counties | 36 cities | one region

OWENSVILLE— The Naturally Meramec Consortium, a group of businesses and individuals interested in promoting tourism and small agriculture-based businesses in the Meramec Region, held its first formation meeting in Gasconade County of Feb. 23 and identified needs the consortium may be able to help fill in Gasconade County.

“The Naturally Meramec Consortium, in its early stages of organization, is a collection of agriculture and tourism business owners who work together to find ways to market and use each other’s products and services,” Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) Planning Manager Connie Willman said. “The goal of the consortium is to increase agriculture and tourism jobs as well as sales for these businesses through the creation of a regional culture of local businesses that benefit from symbiotic relationships.”

MRPC is managing the consortium project, which was funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farmers’ Market Promotion Program and the Delta Regional Authority (DRA).

Approximately 450 agriculture or tourism businesses throughout the eight-county Meramec Region were identified as potential consortium members during previous stages of the project. The Meramec Region consists of Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington Counties. The businesses identified range from wineries and breweries to pork producers to cheese makers to beekeepers and many in between.

Initial meetings will take place in each of the eight counties, and the Gasconade County meeting at White Mule Winery near Drake is the first of these meetings.

Representatives from some eight businesses in Gasconade County as well as the Gasconade County Commission attended. Those businesses include Hermann Hills Apiaries, Nature’s Organic Haven, LLC, Rockin’ W Alpaca Ranch, Hummingbird Kitchen, Kill-Kim Foods, LLC, Homestead Farms, Hermann Stone Haus B&B, Pigs Hollow Farms and White Mule Winery, which hosted the event.

“This meeting was exactly what I had hoped it would be,” Willman said, “It really opened up communication among the businesses and there was a lot of talk about how they can help highlight each other’s products and services.”

The group also identified a list of needs that the consortium may be able to assist with to help their businesses grow. This list included items such as marketing to Missouri’s metropolitan areas and across state lines, cross-sales of products, increasing website traffic and improving connections to wholesalers.

In addition to working together to use, sell or highlight each other’s products, the consortium will also develop additional marketing tools for its members including a brochure and an interactive website. The website will allow travelers to plot a route and will highlight member businesses along the route where they may wish to stop.

Business owners who would like to participate in future meetings and the consortium project may contact Willman at 573-265-2993 or cwillman@meramecregion.org.

Formed in 1969, MRPC is a voluntary council of governments serving Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their respective cities. A professional staff of 21, directed by the MRPC board, offers technical assistance and services, such as grant preparation and administration, housing assistance,transportation planning, environmental planning, ordinance codification, business loans and other services to member communities.

To keep up with the latest MRPC news and events, visit the MRPC website at www.meramecregion.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/meramecregion.