There is a new organic directory available to connect businesses within the organic industry.  The organic industry is still young so it can be challenging to build connections.  The new Organic Road Map is the first effort to connect growers with processors, buyers and retailers.  

"We were hearing from everybody within the organic community, from the producers, to people processing...and we were hearing from these people that didn't know who else was out there, they didn't know how to connect with other businesses in the organic community," says Becky Lipton, executive director of Organic Alberta.  After learning this product was needed, Organic Alberta spent a year putting together the Organic Road Map.  They gathered information from different businesses in the organic sector and contacted them in order to put together the final resource.  

Organic producers can use this as a way of looking for different seeds, services or buyers.  On the other end, retailers can use it to look for products to sell or processors who can look for outlets to sell their product.  "For example you are a producer and you've got some grain. So you would want to look in this Road Map to see who the brokers, the buyers and the traders are," she explains. "So you would look in there and it would be a great way to look at prices and make some calls." Another way is if you are producer and you are interested in getting into organics but you don't know who the certifying bodies are, you can also take a look and they've got a list of certifiers.

"If you're a company interested in getting involved in organics, so your not a producer but you offer some sort of product say that organic producers can use or other companies, so whether they are processing, shipping and packing or anything like that,  you can get listed in this road map. We are putting it out every single year," Lipton explains.  

The Organic Road Map is available for free on www.organicalberta.org/.