Grow Your Farm

2008 Grow Your Farm
Class Schedule

St. Joseph

Monday Evenings from

February 11—March 31, 2008

6:00-9:00 p.m.

Grow Your Farm

Have a creative farming idea? Need a little practical guidance to
emerge onto the farming landscape successfully?

If you answered yes to these questions, then the Grow Your Farm course is right for you. Grow Your Farm will help you turn your farming ideas into a successful business venture.    

COURSE SPECIFICS

The Grow Your Farm course was designed for prospective farmers, beginners with some experience and experienced farmers who want to make a "new beginning" with alternative farming methods. Instructors and experienced, innovative farmers teach the sessions.

The Grow Your Farm course  will be held in St. Joseph at the Buchannan County Extension office located at 4125 S Mitchell Ave.  The course will last 8 weeks and  meet every Monday evening beginning February 11, 2008 and continuing through March 31.  There will also be 3 farm tours scheduled.   

Pre-registration, along with a $300 course fee (per farm business for 2 people, plus $25 per additional person) is required by  February 6th. 

 For More Information Contact:
Tom Fowler - 816-279-1691
Randa Doty—660-582-8101

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Many farmers can successfully produce crops and raise animals. Information on the “how-tos” of production is relatively easy to find and use, but finding help to develop the farm as a profitable business is more difficult. With this in mind, the Grow Your Farm course is designed to assist you, the producer, in creating and planning your farm as a business venture. 

This course will help you:

· Identify and prioritize personal and family values and consider how they provide the foundation for a farm mission statement and goals.

· Learn how to “walk the farm” to assess the land and its facilities.

· Learn a process to evaluate the feasibility of particular farm enterprises.

· Understand the components of a business plan and create one of your own.

· Understand financial aspects of a business plan and review popular methods to manage financial records.

· Consider different types of agricultural marketing and draft a marketing plan.

· Become familiar with a variety of legal issues that pertain to farming enterprises.

· Network with other farmers.