Training and Tools for Assisting Small and Mid-Scale Producers of Horticulture Crops with Business Decisions

Training and Tools for Assisting Small and Mid-Scale Producers of Horticulture Crops with Business Decisions

Summary

Three, one-hour webinars and two, day-long trainings were developed and delivered for service providers on specific topics related to assisting small and mid-scale producers of horticultural crops. Webinar topics included: “Record Keeping for Profit Management”, “Equipment Purchase Cost-Benefit Analysis”, and “Schedule F Versus Profitability Accounting”.  The day-long trainings, held in Mobile, AL (2015) and Lexington, KY (2016), focused on key farm data, analyzing the data and making business decisions to help attain farm goals and increase profitability. Trainers used PowerPoint presentations, a role-play video and interactive classroom discussion to address the complex nature of managing a diverse farm business. 

Objectives/Performance Targets

Our overall project goal is to equip at least 80 agricultural professionals with knowledge, techniques and tools that will allow them to assist producers of horticultural crops with tracking key farm data (including revenue and expenses), analyzing the data, and making business decisions that help them attain their goals and lead to increased farm profitability. This project will target agricultural professionals who provide assistance to small and mid-scale producers of horticultural crops who are striving to become more sustainable. The target audience includes: • Extension agents with horticulture assignments • Extension small farm specialists • Extension and university personnel assisting producers with farm financial management • NGO personnel working directly with small and mid-scale horticultural producers • Beginning farm programs personnel • Lenders who advise small and mid-scale horticultural producers Objectives 1. At least 80 agricultural professionals who work with small and mid-scale producers of horticultural crops will gain a greater understanding of the key activities needed for farm owners and managers to make well-informed business decisions that can help them attain their goals and increase their farm profitability. These activities will include understanding what farm data to track, how to collect and store the data, how to analyze the data, and how to make business decisions based on key drivers of farm profitability. 2. At least 75 agricultural professionals who participate in this project will gain confidence in their ability to discuss recordkeeping techniques and business decision-making with producers who they assist, and will be able to recommend specific farmer-friendly tools and other resources that the producers can use to track important farm financial data, analyze the data, and make business decisions that lead to increased farm profitability. 3. At least 60 agricultural professionals who participate in this project will incorporate more effective assistance on recordkeeping and business decision-making into their farmer assistance. Examples of behavior change expected: • Project participants incorporate information about recordkeeping and business decision-making into production training and other education for small and mid-scale horticulture producers, with a focus on increasing farm profitability. • Project participants include more in-depth education about recordkeeping and business decision-making that leads to increased farm profitability when assisting small and mid-scale horticulture producers with loan applications, USDA program applications, or new enterprise decisions. • Project participants include education on recordkeeping and business decision-making that leads to increased farm profitability when training beginning farmers who are interested in horticultural enterprises. Our intent is to equip more assistance providers, who are often the primary information contacts for farmers, to be able to provide assistance in a whole systems way by discussing recordkeeping and business decision-making within the context of production and marketing, instead of as a separate, and often neglected, topic.

Accomplishments/Milestones

To date, project partners have developed, promoted and carried out two, day-long trainings for a total of 40 farm service providers (the majority being extension personnel).  Trainings were held in Mobile, AL and Lexington, Kentucky.  Since many extension travel budgets have been cut in recent years, a travel scholarship process was established to assist with transportation to the training that was held in Alabama and 18 individuals utilized the scholarship in assisting with their travel costs.  Participants in the trainings came from 11 different states and provided feedback to the trainers both in terms of the value of the training itself as well as what other kinds of information they could use to better assist farmers with this challenging area of farm management. 

In addition, the project team developed, promoted and delivered three one-hour webinars on specific topics that were identified as recurring issues or challenges for farmers that merited focused attention.  A total of 54 farm service providers (the majority being extension personnel) participated in at least one webinar with several participants calling in to more than one webinar. 

Southern SAWG has reworked our website to highlight our work with the “Growing Farm Profits” program and more specifically has created a space expressly designated for agricultural service providers who work with diversified horticultural producers on profitability management.  All three of the webinars and a role-play video depicting a farm advisor helping a vegetable producer think through how to better track profitability have been uploaded to this site.

We anticipate the following work to be accomplished in the coming months. 

Apr-June 2016 – SSAWG PI along with Polishuk and Munsch and project team, plan two additional webinar presentations and one additional face to face training.  SSAWG solicits feedback from the first three webinars to determine longer term impacts.  Feedback is compiled and analyzed.

July-Dec 2016 – SSAWG staff promotes webinars and training to targeted audience.  Webinars and training carried out.  Role-play video augmented to make it more user-friendly for service providers.

 Jan-Mar 2017 – SSAWG solicits feedback from the second day-long training and final webinars to determine longer term impact.  Feedback is compiled and analyzed.

Apr 2017 – SSAWG PI writes final report for SARE.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Day-long Trainings

Participants in the two, day-long trainings, were asked to complete both a pre-training survey and a post-training survey to determine if their level of confidence in assisting producers of horticultural crops had increased as a result of the training.   The surveys read as follows:

Please indicate your level of confidence in your ability to help horticultural producers:

1. Understand the guiding principles of managing a farm as a business:

Low                                                                                         High

○                              ○                              ○                              ○             

2. Identify farm data that horticultural producers need to track in order to make well-informed business decisions:

Low                                                                                         High

○                              ○                              ○                              ○

3. Identify farmer-friendly tools and other resources to help horticultural producers track and analyze data on their farms.

Low                                                                                         High

○                              ○                              ○                              ○             

4. Analyze farm data that is being tracked by horticultural producers to increase profitability:

                                Low                                                                                         High

○                              ○                              ○                              ○

5. Make business decisions based on key drivers of profitability

Low                                                                                         High

○                              ○                              ○                              ○                     

6. Manage labor for profitability

Low                                                                                         High

○                              ○                              ○                              ○

7. Consider profitability and business management whenever making any production or marketing decisions

     (conversely, not making and production or marketing decisions without also considering the ramifications on

     Profitability)

Low                                                                                         High

○                              ○                              ○                              ○

There were 37 pre-training surveys received and 33 post-training surveys received from the two day-long trainings combined.     In both trainings there was a marked improvement from the pre-training survey averages across all 7 questions.   On the post-training survey respondents were also asked:  “Did you find this training useful for your service to producers?”  All respondents answered affirmatively.

In April, 2016 Southern SAWG contracted with an independent party to do a follow-up survey with participants in the January 2015 training in Mobile, Alabama to learn if the participants had implemented anything they had learned at the training. 

16 of the 21 participants from the Mobile, AL January 2015 Growing Farm Profits Training provided feedback on ways they have implemented the knowledge and tools they received (via email and phone interviews).  Of the remaining five participants not providing feedback two are retired or no longer employed and the remaining three were unreachable.   

Of the 16 respondents, only two reported an inability to put the training into practice due to ‘other work and management needs’ and ‘limited structure and capacity to outreach with producers’.   The remainder shared a variety of ways they have implemented the training.  The following are summarized examples with the number of participants implementing the practice noted in parenthesis (many of whom are adopting multiple strategies);

• Resources are now part of participants outreach toolkit with producers: improved record-keeping strategies for tracking information, farm-accounting, cost/profit calculations, business planning (6)
• Sharing training resources/working with colleagues (5)
• Presenting resources at producer trainings and workshops (6)
• Participants working one-on-one with producers (5)
• Participants implementing the Veggie Compass with producers (2)

Challenges to implementing the training as noted by respondents include;

• Professional position has changed/transitioned and does not afford the opportunity to use the training as initially intended.
• Producers represent a diversity of situations that differ with the training such as how to work with producers who already have business tools, are computer illiterate, non-english speaking immigrants, with enterprises that do not fit.
• Tools like veggie compass require a great deal of follow up training or use by professionals to feel comfortable working with that time/conditions do not afford.

Webinars

Participants in each of the 3 webinars were given a short webinar survey at the beginning of each webinar and were asked to complete a short survey after the webinar.   The survey questions and results for each webinar are below. 

Record Keeping for Profit Management for Vegetable Growers (26 participants)

Survey questions and results:

What is your level of confidence in assisting diversified vegetable growers with the following 2 topics with 1 being low level and 4 being a high level

1. Identifying farm data that producers need to track in order to make well-informed business decisions

1     2   3   4

2. Identifying farmer friendly tools and resources to help farmers track the data they need on their farms

1   2   3   4

We experienced technical difficulties with the pre-webinar survey and are therefore unable to provide meaningful results from the survey.   On the post-webinar survey participants were also asked “Did you find this training useful for your service to producers?”  Fifteen of the sixteen participants responded affirmatively on this question.  The other respondent did not answer the question. 

Cost-Benefit Analysis for Vegetable Equipment Purchasing Decisions (14 participants)

Survey questions and results:

1. What is your confidence level in assisting  vegetable growers with accounting for tax purposes vs. accounting for farm profitability?

Low         Med         High        Very High

2. What is your confidence level in identifying useful tools to help vegetable farmers with accounting for profitability management?

Low         Med         High        Very High

There were 14 pre-training surveys received and 12 post-training surveys received.   The post-training surveys showed marked improvement on both questions from the pre-training survey responses.   On the post-webinar survey participants were also asked “Did you find this training useful for your service to producers?”  All twelve respondents replied affirmatively.

Cost-Benefit Analysis for Vegetable Equipment Purchasing Decisions (24 participants)

Survey questions and results:

1. What is your confidence level in assisting vegetable growers with accounting for tax purposes vs. accounting for farm profitability?

Low         Med         High        Very High

2. What is your confidence level in identifying useful tools to help veg farmers with accounting for profitability management?

Low         Med         High        Very High

While we experienced some technical difficulties with the video portion of this webinar it still proved valuable to the participants.  There were 17 pre-training surveys received and 15 post-training surveys received.  The post training surveys showed a marked improvement on both questions from the pre-training survey responses.  On the post-webinar survey participants were also asked “Did you find this training useful for your service to producers?”  Of the 15 respondents, 13 replied affirmatively, one replied “no” and there was one respondent did not answer the question.

Collaborators: