Final report for SPDP22-16
Project Information
Crop specific cost information is foundational to financial planning and ultimately to operating economically sustainable farms that support farmer livelihoods and allow farmers to remain in business for the long-term, yet many farmers don’t have these vital business records.
Oregon Tilth and Oregon State University’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems have developed Know Your Cost To Grow (KYCTG), an online curriculum and cost calculation app that guides diversified vegetable farmers through a process to determine crop-specific costs of production and utilize cost information in business planning and decision-making.
This project focused on training agriculture professionals and educators from organizations in the Southeast to use the KYCTG program to support diversified vegetable farmers with cost of production analysis. After being introduced to the costing process themselves through a series of virtual training sessions, trainers shadowed the process of guiding a farmer through the costing process in Know Your Cost To Grow. This approach to delivering the training provided trainers with practical experience in supporting farmers with using KYCTG, deepening their understanding of the costing approach used in the KYCTG program. While some trainers saw more immediate opportunity to use the KYCTG program with the farmers their organizations serve, others discovered that modifications to the program were necessary to make it accessible and a better fit for the farmers they work with.
In response to this discovery, the PI developed "Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing, a primer for the more robust KYCTG program. Trainers contributed input on the new curriculum through consultation, organizing a farmer focus group and reviewing the curriculum draft. The final curriculum, is comprised of six modules that include short instructional videos and learning activities which agriculture service provider and educators use to guide farmers through the costing process. The new curriculum was presented to a national audience of 50 agriculture service provides on June 26th, 2024 with over half of participants expressing interest or intent to use the "Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing" to support diversified vegetable farmers with cost analysis.
The primary goal of this project was to train agricultural professionals and educators to become skilled and confident at using the KYCTG program.
Specific objectives for agricultural professionals and educators included proficiency with:
- Identifying key cost related records for farmers to focus on, emphasizing inputs that are variable with production volumes and crop specific (especially labor inputs).
- Supporting farmers to develop systems to capture in-season records using the time study approach.
- Identifying and implementing effective strategies for providing accountability and coaching to farmers through the in-season record keeping process.
- Supporting farmers with utilization of the web based KYCTG cost calculation app.
- Utilizing cost information to identify opportunities to increase crop profitability and make decisions about crop mix.
By equipping service providers with both the KYCTG program and the primer to KYCTG, "Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing", we have expanded the reach of this program, ultimately empowering more farmers to make more informed business decisions, improving the long-term economic well-being and quality of life of farmers and leading to more economically sustainable farms.
Cooperators
Education
The educational approach used in this project was based in experiential education. After an orientation for the project in September 2022 the participating agriculture service providers attended two virtual trainings on the Record It module of Know Your Cost To Grow and were introduced to the approach for estimating costs of production used in this curriculum. They recruited a farmer to support with determining costs of production for one vegetable crop. Form here, the educational approach became individualized with participating agriculture service providers observing the process of the the PI leading the farmer through the costing process in individual virtual session(s) with their farmer. A training on the Calculate It module in Know Your Cost To Grow demonstrated the calculation process. Service providers whose farmers completed cost calculations were able shadow the analysis process.
The need for a modified version of the Know Your Cost To Grow program added an additional layer of learning via exploring the question of how to make the program more accessible. The approach taken here involved several of the participating agriculture service providers in discussions about how to develop a curriculum that would be a better fit for the farmers they serve. They also reviewed a draft version of the new curriculum which required thinking critically about the curriculum material and how to best communicate it to farmers.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Introduce trainers to each other and to the Know Your Cost To Grow Program
Go over key training activities and timeline.
On September 26th 2022, we held an hour long virtual orientation session to introduce the participating service providers to the Train-the-Trainer program.
Trainers develop an understanding of the purpose of the KYCTG program and the training activities.
Trainers understand time study approach for accounting for labor and process for doing time studies as well as strategies for getting time studies done. Time studies are key cost related records for farmers.
Virtual "Record It - Part 1" trainings were offered on three different days during the last week of October 2022 to accommodate trainer schedules and availability. Trainers were asked to prepare for the virtual training by reviewing the Record It module and using a case study example to complete the time study plan worksheet. The case studies were designed to capture realistic farm scenarios, requiring the trainers to put themselves in farmers’ shoes as they work through the Record It module. This gives the trainers practice at identifying the crop-specific variable costs (primarily labor) in a crop production scenario that includes direct, indirect, variable, and fixed costs. Trainers were also asked to come with questions about the Record It module and to review the "Time Study Tips" section of the Record It module and share a tip that resonated with them as a way to brainstorm about potential systems to capture in-season records and strategies for implementing the record keeping practice of conducting time studies that is central to the KYCTG program.
Not all trainers were able to complete the "homework" for this session, however, the training still allowed trainers to experience the "Record It" module content. The training was focused on the following key steps from the Record It module, identifying: activities to do time studies on; units to use measure time studies; when to start/stop the clock and how to record time studies in the field.
Trainers have a clear plan for training farmers on Record It and their role in this process (for the Train-the-Trainer program).
Trainers have a general understanding of the KYCTG costing process.
Trainers understand the records farmers will need.
Virtual "Record It - Part 2" trainings were offered on three different days in late November/early December of 2022 (11/28, 11/29 and 12/1)to accommodate trainer schedules and availability. A revised plan for the training process was presented to trainers for feedback. We talked about why information about the labor requirements of different crops is important for decision-making. The time study approach was reviewed in more depth. We also talked about the recruitment farmer process.
Trainers had a clearer understanding of why information about the labor requirements of different crops is important for decision-making and how the time study approach is used in KYCTG - this contributes to their ability to follow farmers through the KYCTG process and ultimately become a KYCTG facilitator.
Trainers observe how farmers engage with the following key topics in KYCTG:
Understanding why knowing crop-specific costs is useful for business decision making.
Identifying what labor activity records farmers will need to keep to determine their farm's crop-specific labor costs of production.
Developing their Time Study Work Plan
Each trainer recruited a farmer to participate in the program in 2022-2024. Each trainer/farmer pair attended a virtual Intro to KYCTG for farmers aimed at introducing farmers to the KYCTG approach. Trainers shadowed the sessions.
Trainers observed how farmers are engaging with the KYCTG program and increased their familiarity and comfort with the program content.
Trainers observe the development of a time study work plan and see the set up of a workbook in the Know Your Cost To Grow web-based application. (This is where time studies get entered and are used to determine costs.)
They observe the process of supporting farmers to develop systems to capture in-season records using the time study approach and identifying and implementing effective strategies for providing accountability and coaching to farmers through the in-season record keeping process.
Farmer/trainer pairs participated in a virtual meeting focused on refining the farmers time study work plan (activity list, units, time study start and stop and record keeping plan) and setting up their workbook in the KYCTG web-based application.
Trainers observed how farmers are engaging with the KYCTG program and increased their familiarity and comfort with the program content.
Trainers have experience with utilization of the web based KYCTG cost calculation app.
This virtual training on June 6th gave trainers practical experience using the KYCTG web-based app. They were each assigned a form in the app to present on. During the session we went through the entire calculation process for a single crop.
Having participated in this training, trainers are more skilled and confident with the using the costing tool and are more able to support farmers with utilization of the web based KYCTG cost calculation app.
Supporting farmers with utilization of the web based KYCTG cost calculation app.
For the trainers that whose farmers continued engaging with the program and collected some time study records, individual sessions continued and focused on the cost calculation process and the analysis process, ultimately leading to the estimating costs of production for a single crop.
Trainers whose farmers continued engaging with the program were able to observe the entire costing process and observe the process of supporting farmers with utilization of the web based KYCTG cost calculation app and utilizing cost information to identify opportunities to increase crop profitability and make decisions about crop mix. They gained skills and confidence in using the KYCTG program.
The objective of this webinar was to introduce service providers to the new "Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing" curriculum, which was designed to be a primer to the more robust Know Your Cost To Grow curriculum.
This webinar presented the new "Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing" curriculum to 51 service providers around the country. An additional number of service providers have requested the recording of the webinar to review it. The new curriculum,"Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing" was developed in direct response to feedback from agriculture service providers in this project who found that Know Your Cost To Grow was too advanced for the farmers they work with and were not successful at working with farmers through the whole KYCTG costing process for this reason. The "Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing" curriculum was developed by the PI to address this unanticipated project outcome. Trainers who found that KYCTG was not a fit for their farmers contributed their insights and input to the development of this new curriculum via consultations and review of the draft curriculum. Feedback from a farmer focus group and observation of other educational programming these trainers deliver also shaped the curriculum. The final curriculum, is comprised of six modules that include short instructional videos and learning activities which agriculture service provider and educators use to guide farmers through the costing process. The curriculum incorporates best practices for adult learning from the 2021 SARE publication by Sandy Bell and Janet McAllister "Sustainable Agriculture Through Sustainable Learning: An Educator's Guide to Best Practices for Adult Learning".
The impact of this initiative was that service providers are equipped with a curriculum that is more user friendly for them to deliver and is more accessible to the farmers they work with. This will enable more service providers to use the new curriculum, which is a bridge to the more robust KYCTG program. 100% of respondents to a post-webinar survey said they were ready to start using the curriculum or interested in using the curriculum in the future.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
This project had two major outcomes. First and foremost, the core group of participating agriculture service providers gained experience with the Know Your Cost To Grow Costing program. They developed their own financial literacy skills, gained a deeper understanding of costing concepts in general and specifically of the costing approach used in Know Your Cost To Grow, which centers around using time studies to determine labor activity rates to estimates crop-specific labor costs. The agriculture service providers that were able to observe the process of supporting a farmer with using Know Your Cost To Grow to complete a cost analysis are planning to integrate Know Your Cost To Grow into the programs they offer to support farmers and have gained confidence in their ability to deliver the program. The other major outcome was the development of the new curriculum, "Getting Started with Crop-Specific Costing", which was developed in direct response to feedback from agriculture service providers in this project who found that Know Your Cost To Grow was too advanced for the farmers they work with. The curriculum was presented to a group of 50 agriculture service providers from around the country on June 26th and 100% of respondents to a post-webinar survey said they were ready to start using it or interested in using the curriculum in the future.
Here are some specific outcomes of this project in the words of the core group of agriculture service providers.
"The time spent on the project has been incredible, and I have learned a lot, especially ensuring that the curriculum is tailored to the needs of the farmers so that thinking about and using costing methods is not overwhelming or intimidating for them. As an agricultural specialist this project has significantly changed how I provide technical assistance to farmers."
"(The) Know Your Cost To Grow training has given me an excellent introduction to crop-specific cost analysis and the process by which farmers can obtain farm-specific crop production costs. This project has inspired me to develop workshops and one-on-one training opportunities centered on the "Know Your Cost To Grow tool as a means to assist farms with strategic planning and to empower them to expand confidently into new markets with the most profitable crop enterprises. It has also given me a reference point to discuss crop-specific cost analysis with growers, to crowdsource the most efficient methods of harvest and post-harvest handling, and promote the value of good data collection in farm business management and decision-making."
"The Know Your Cost to Grow Program has had a profoundly positive impact on (one of the farmers I work with). This farmer has repeatedly stated the value of knowing the cost analysis of his kale and cabbage crops, and is better able to assess his profitability from his multiple revenue streams (ex. restaurants vs farmers market vs wholesale). With these numbers, this farmer has been able to adapt his production, labor, and business practices to maximize their profit on these crops. They will likely be using the knowledge they gained from the KYCTG program and conduct cost analyses to more crops that they grows (ex. tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, etc.). They have also expressed that he thinks every farmer that goes through the our farmer training program should go through the KYCTG program, since it’s been incredibly eye-opening for then to get this profitability data for this farm business." (Specific names of farmers and the program have been updated.)
"...my participation in the Southern SARE Professional Development Project: Training Agriculture Professionals and Educators to Support Diversified Vegetable Farmers with Cost Analysis increased my understanding of crop cost analysis strategies including using time studies to estimate labor costs and creating systems to capture in-season records for implementing those strategies. I feel this program will be very useful for the farmers in SFC’s network who are participating in our farmers markets, but especially those in our Wholesale Readiness project cohort who are looking to scale up. KYCTG would help those farmers determine which crops are going to be most cost effective to grow at a wholesale scale and narrow down their crop plan to only include the most profitable ones."
"Participating in the review of the “Getting Started with Crop-Specific Cost Analysis” program provided me with a better understanding of crop cost analysis and the steps involved in introducing this complex topic to farmers. I believe this primer is useful not only as introduction to the more robust ‘know your cost to grow’ program but is also a valuable stand alone resource that will give farmers an easy to follow and repeatable process for roughly gauging the profitability of crops. I look forward to introducing this program to our network of farmers!"
"This important project has provided myself and my team, networks, and statewide coalition with new language and tools to use in our provision of direct aid to small scale farm and food businesses. Immediate impacts include a stronger group of trainers with more skills in farm financial literacy building capacity. Long term impacts will hopefully include more small-scale farmers able to manage costing practices with scale appropriate tools. This will lead to more financially sustainable smallholding farms able to produce more food for local and regional production.
The empowering and inclusive language used in these modules will help open pathways to success for very small farm and food businesses in the deep south by acknowledging the realities of the culture and climate of our region."