Value-added agriculture refers most generally to manufacturing processes that increase the value of primary agricultural commodities. Value-added agriculture may also refer to increasing the economic value of a commodity through particular production processes, e.g., organic produce, or through regionally branded products that increase consumer appeal and willingness to pay a premium over similar but undifferentiated products. It can also be described as the process that transforms the raw agricultural product into something new through packaging, processing, cooling, drying, extracting, and other processes that change a product from its original raw form.[1] As a result of this transformation, the customer base of a product and revenue sources for the producer are expanded.[2]
In this strategy, farming is no longer confined to the cultivation of vast tract of land or the care for a large number of animals in order to be profitable. Here, even those who own less than an acre could achieve viable farming simply by extending an agricultural product's potential so that its saleability is enhanced.[3] For example, if a producer farms strawberries, he should not only sell the crop as fresh berries since he could also profit from its other portions by producing other products such as strawberry jelly and syrup.[3]