A Food Business AI Tool for Entrepreneurs and Producers
The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) works with entrepreneurs, farmers, founders, and home cooks alike to provide valuable knowledge and insight into starting and growing a food or beverage business.
The team has vast experience in providing businesses with consulting and technical services for product and process development, regulatory compliance, labeling, food safety, and sourcing materials and equipment.
The number of new food businesses in Minnesota has exploded over the past decade. As an example, the number of registered cottage food producers, oftentimes the starting point for aspiring food entrepreneurs, has grown to over 10,000 since the first Minnesota Cottage Foods Law was passed in 2015. To help meet demand, serve more businesses, and broaden its reach, AURI launched AVA, AURI’s Virtual Assistant, in the fall of 2024. The tool is free for agricultural producers, food entrepreneurs, and innovators across the food chain to find answers to common food business, food science, and food safety questions anytime they want. AVA functions similarly to other generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot with one key difference: its knowledge library relies on information curated by AURI’s science and business experts to provide answers. Unlike other AI tools, AVA does not “learn” from previous interactions with users. AURI’s Director of Business Development for Food, Jason Robinson, notes that AVA provides responses only from pre-vetted information by AURI’s team that users can trust.
“AVA doesn’t confuse food philosophy with food science,” Robinson says.
Because of its sophistication, AVA encourages people to ask questions “in their own words,” making it easy and intuitive to use, Robinson says.
Another advantage is that users can freely provide the details of their product or business plans without the fear that sensitive, confidential information will be used to update AVA’s knowledge library and thus appear in future responses. Plus, the service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“I had a chance to play a bit with the new AI tool you [AURI] launched and wanted to congratulate you on a job well done,” says Ephi Eyal, President of TAL Management. “I was impressed with the layout, the level of detail and depth it provides, and its ability to make reference to specific resources and with individuals within the organization. I also liked your selection of frequently asked questions as a good starting point for those less handy with large language models.”
The key to maximizing the effectiveness of AVA is for users to provide as much context and specificity as possible in the questions asked, Robinson states. People unsure where to begin can select from a series of “commonly asked questions” to get started. Robinson encourages people to take the time to provide feedback on AVA’s performance, using the thumbs up and thumbs down functions available after each answer to further refine and improve AVA’s effectiveness. So far, the most common questions for AVA include information on obtaining a universal product code (UPC Code), creating a nutrition label, measuring shelf life, and licensing and regulations.
“The challenge for users is in asking effective questions. This is not a keyword search engine. I tell people to approach AVA like you are talking to a mechanic about the problems you are having with your car – provide background and as much context as you can,” Robinson notes.
Since the launch, AURI staff have monitored how users are using AVA. Robinson says that AURI will add more content, research, and articles to the tool to address specific topics and knowledge gaps that develop. AURI is also partnering with other stakeholders and ag focused organizations to increase awareness and boost engagement. AVA was funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development—Cooperative Services Agriculture Innovation Center program. The goal of AVA is to connect agricultural producers and entrepreneurs to the information they need around new value-added food opportunities to start or expand a food business.
To learn more about AVA, click here.
