Browse by Topic: Planning

Production, business, and funding resources from the University of Vermont.

A comprehensive guide to business planning for farmers, pulling from all available resources, including farmers and other business experts, that could be used to create a business planning primer—a guide that will help today’s alternative agriculture entrepreneurs work through the planning process and to begin developing their business plans.

This guide is written for anyone seeking help from federal programs to foster sustainable and innovative initiatives associated with agriculture and forestry in this country and territories. Sustainability can be understood to embrace the triple concepts of economic, environmental and social viability. A reader can find information about program resources pertaining to economic development; farm loans; insurance and risk management; local food systems, value added and marketing innovations; natural resources conservation and management; nutrition and consumer food access; renewable energy and energy conservation; and research and outreach. The guide can help farmers, researchers, entrepreneurs, community developers, private landowners, conservationists, and other individuals, as well as private and public businesses and organizations. It describes program resources ranging from grants and loans to technical assistance and information resources.

Draws together a wide range of resources for farms in transition to more climate change resilient production, processing, storage and distribution practices. Includes videos, resilience planning, best practices, and resources for underserved farmers.

Making the connection between climate and financial risk at scale for financial institutions, companies, and governments.

A concise article on the benefits of spreading your risk over more than one enterprise.

An online recordkeeping system designed especially for organic vegetable producers that allows users to keep production records related to seeding, transplanting, harvest, cover crops, compost, fertilization, irrigation, pest scouting, spray activities, packing, distribution and customer invoicing.

Programs to support humane, pasture-based farmers with grants, scholarships, webinars, mentorship, and short courses.

The Fruit & Nut Compass is a farm business planning tool to help both new and experienced producers project the financial costs and returns from an enterprise focused on perennial crops.The Fruit & Nut Compass is very different than a standard crop enterprise budget because it enables a person to examine the complete costs and expected returns of up to 12 crops, simultaneously, as part of an integrated farm plan over a 15 year time period. The tool is designed as an “open workbench” where the user enters information based on their specific plans to assess whether their enterprise will be profitable. It does NOT include any assumptions about crops, yields, costs or selling prices…those are all data entry tasks for the user. The main questions this tool helps the user answer are: how deep of a financial hole will I be digging and when might my perennial crop farm become profitable?

This fact sheet presents an overview of the most common components and options in drip irrigation systems, accompanied by estimated costs.

An annually updated guide for Vermont farmers that includes local, state, and federal technical and financial assistance opportunities for individuals and entities working with crops, forestry products, livestock, nursery stock, and/or other land-based products.

Understanding agricultural risk in production, marketing, financial, legal, and human areas.

A short guide to Whole Farm Planning. Whole Farm Planning can help you: develop a vision for your farm ten, twenty, or fifty years into the future; improve the profitability and efficiency of your farm operations; build respect from the community for your work in protecting the environment; make the farm a safe and healthy place for you and your family.

A cost benefit analysis of irrigation at Intervale Community Farm in Burlington, VT, calculated using records from 2006 to 2016.

A case study on how researchers at the University of Delaware's Warrington Irrigation Research Farm are improving irrigation to boost crop yields and manage soil and water resources.

Livestock Compass is a decision support tool designed to help diversified livestock farmers understand their costs of production and evaluate the profitability of their various animal enterprises. Livestock Compass enables farmers to make strategic decisions to adjust prices, reduce costs, shift market channel focus, reduce or drop unprofitable enterprises and expand production of their most profitable ventures based on their own farm data.Livestock Compass organizes farm information about financial and production outcomes to give a producer a factual basis for making management decisions to improve profitability. It helps a producer identify inefficiencies in production, decide what feeds to grow on the farm and which to buy from others, decide whether to raise young stock or buy stock, accurately monitor cost of production, set prices in various marketing channels, and select the best marketing channels to pursue.

This is a resource directory for livestock farmers in the Berkshire-Taconic region that details processors, feed sources, livestock healthcare providers, regional transportation, cold storage, sales options, and much more!

Website for Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. Includes links to funding resources, events, mentorship, organic certification, farmer's market organizers, consumers of organic food, and educators. Also has classified listings, policy and advocacy info, and a farm and farmer's market finder.

NAP provides financial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory, or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters.

NY FarmNet provides free, confidential, on-farm consulting to any farmer, farm family, or agribusiness employee in New York State. Our program operates an 800 help line where a caller can reach someone any time of day, throughout the year. NY FarmNet consultants work with farmers in teams of two, one focusing on financial issues and one focusing on family or emotional issues. Financial consultants have a background in agriculture and assist with business plans, cash flow analysis, succession planning, life after farming, developing financial records and record-keeping systems, and loan applications, to name a few. Family consultants have a master’s level degree in social work or counseling. They work with farmers to improve family and marital relations, develop strategies for better communication, manage stress and anxiety, facilitate difficult discussions, and run family business meetings so that all members have a voice.

Projects fail at a spectacular rate. One reason is that too many people are reluctant to speak up about their reservations during the all-important planning phase. By making it safe for dissenters who are knowledgeable about the undertaking and worried about its weaknesses to speak up, you can improve a project’s chances of success.

An educational program that improves the ability of Extension professionals and others to give management advice to farmers and ranchers based on a whole-farm analysis of their operation.

Research-based, farmer driven information about practicing sustainable agriculture on your farm. Topics to browse include Farm Business Management, Animal Production, Pest Management, Sustainable Communities, Soil Management, and more.

Biodiversity for a Livable Climate presents a talk by Walter Jehne, Australian climate scientist and soil microbiologist who is the Director of Healthy Soils Australia.