Growing Farm Sustainability in ND through Collaborative Professional Development for Small Business Advisors

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: decision support system, focus group, technical assistance
• Farm Business Management: agricultural finance, budgets/cost and returns, business planning, financial management, grant making, market study, marketing management, new enterprise development, risk management, whole farm planning
• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, partnerships

FARRMS, a longstanding
provider of support for sustainable ag producers, has
identified
a need to
educate technical assistance (TA) providers in the the unique
business building needs of small-scale local food businesses.
These businesses
need additional assistance in financial

management but they are a niche currently
underserved by both ag advisors and small business
advisors. Based on a thorough needs assessment of
farmers/local food
businesses and TA providers and supported by staff from ND
Farm Management Education,
FARRMS will create a ten-part
webinar
series and online
resource guide. Webinars will be recorded and
published online alongside the resource guide. This educational program is
intended for Farm Business Management
instructors, Small Business Development Centers, and any
service provider that advises small-scale farms and local
food businesses. Three “Model Farmers” who
have demonstrated
business acumen
will advise
FARRMS staff in the development of
webinar
curriculum and
educational tools. Model Farmers will host farm
tours to provide an in-person perspective on the complexities
of operating a small farm business.
100 TA providers
will participate
in webinars and 60
will attend farm tours. 85% of participants will
increase
knowledge of business
planning specific to local food
businesses. They will assist 75 local food producers in
business building and financial
management. The result will be new local
food businesses and expansion of existing businesses with
more viable local ag businesses creating thriving
sustainable communities.

Outputs will
include: 

• A series of ten real-time
  interactive professional development webinars on business
  planning tools and financial management resources tailored for
  small-scale sustainable ag producers. Webinars will be recorded
  and made available for on-demand
  viewing) 
• An online resource guide and toolkit
  with supporting educational materials, templates, and resources
  made available for remote viewing. 
• Total views of webinar recordings
  and online resources. We will track views of online resources
  to assess how well these resources are being utilized and how
  well we’re doing in promoting these
  resources. 
• 100 TA providers participate in
  professional development webinars. We will aim to count
  unduplicated participants as many will attend all of the
  webinars.
   
• 60 technical service providers
  attend at least one of three farm
  tours 
• 75 farmers assisted with business
  planning/development by TA providers who have attended our
  webinars.