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