Responding to changing consumer demographics and lifestyles, U.S. food processors introduced 116,800 new food products between 1986 and 1996. On average, consumers are more willing to try new, exotic foods, and several ethnic dishes have become a part of American diets. This has led some researchers to speculate that the demand for and supply of ethnic food products will continue in the future. New food products are costly to produce and promote, and the failure rate is high. Thus, market assessment studies of newly developed food products supersede speculation.

Many of the new food products addressed health concerns such as levels of fat, cholesterol, fiber and calcium. Manufacturers use new product introductions to compete for consumers. However, as shelf space becomes scarce, retailers are now charging manufacturers a fee to display their products. The proliferation of new products is in part due to the food industry's driving desire to study consumers' wants and needs. Within this competitive marketing environment, agricultural scientists have been focusing their efforts on finding viable non-traditional enterprises for small-limited resource farmers. Because the U.S. food industry is consumer-driven, and about 86 percent of all new products fail, it is important to know the marketing potential of each product before recommending production.

Many residents of Louisiana are small scale farmers with low-income. These citizens tend to be less educated and unable to participate in many of the opportunities of mainstream America. They suffer economically and socially because of Louisiana's severely depressed petroleum and agricultural industries. Overall, unemployment tends to be high, especially for minority and other under-represented populations. Many of the citizens live in substandard housing and attend inadequate schools. Also, many of the more aggressive citizens continue to migrate in search of a better quality of life, leaving a group of citizens and leaders who lack preparation to deal with current issues. Areas of focus for the economics, marketing, policy and community development research program over the next several years include, but are not limited to:

1. Study potential barriers of U.S. agricultural policy to the success of small farmers' participation in the industry.
2. Conduct marketing assessment of nontraditional product and enterprises.
3. Study the feasibility of creating cooperatives among small-limited resource farmers.
4. Study input requirements for nontraditional crops, livestock, and other related business enterprises.
5. Study management and marketing practices of small-limited resource farm enterprises.