Farm Financial Fitness Workshop in Michigan
Michigan Farmer Field School 2016 – Farm Financial Fitness
Helping cultivate viability for new and beginning farmers
Join us for a year of hands-on, field-based, farmer-led workshops.
Farm Financial Fitness: Business Planning and Managing for Profit – 2 Day Workshop – Must attend Both Days
Sat., February 20 8am – 5pm and Sat., March 12 8am – 5pm
Cost: $225 for 1 person, $60 for 2nd person from same farm
Location: Student Organic Farm – 3291 College Rd. Holt, MI 48842
This two-day farm financial fitness workshop will focus on planning, running, monitoring and revising your farm business for profit. Presenters will cover business planning including values and visioning for your farm business, your goals, objectives and sound strategies for getting there. Operations management, production planning, labor, asset analysis, business structures, taxes, and marketing will be covered as they relate to development of a sound and profitable business, including looking at the future and planning for your retirement or exit strategy. The workshop will emphasize financial management tools for understanding, calculating and utilizing key financial metrics (cash flow, balance sheet, partial budget analysis, enterprise budgets, return on investment, etc.) and will look at computer and web tools for financial management and record keeping that allow you to get a clearer picture of what is working and what needs changing to improve your bottom line.
ADDITIONAL WORKSHOPS IN 2016
Do It Yourself Infrastructure, Equipment and Maintenance – April – $150 for 1 person ($40 additional for a 2nd person from the same farm)
SUMMER WORKSHOPS
Planting and Planning: Successful Crop Establishment and Scheduling for Direct Seeded and Transplanted Crops – July – $150 for 1 person ($40 additional for a 2nd person from the same farm)
Summer Fruiting Crops in High Tunnels (Tomatoes and more) – July/August – $150 for 1 person ($40 additional for a 2nd person from the same farm)
FALL WORKSHOPS
Communications & Marketing – Aug/September – $150 for 1 person ($40 additional for a 2ndperson from the same farm)
Scaling Up (or Maybe Down): Finding and Getting to the Right Scale for Your Farm – Oct./Nov. – Oct./Nov. $150 for 1 person ($40 additional for a 2nd person from the same farm)
Farm Labor: Getting, Managing, and Keeping Good Labor for Your Farm – November – $150 for 1 person ($40 additional for a 2nd person from the same farm)
Register here – https://www.msuorganicfarm.org/farmer-field-school.html
Farmer Field School list (receive emails with updates and announcements about the Farmer Field School) – https://eepurl.com/bz40TX
Tom Cary – Farmer Field School Program Manager carythom@msu.edu or 616-916-9823
ABOUT THE FARMER FIELD SCHOOL
The MSU Farmer Field School is comprised of intensive one and two day hands-on workshops. They are tailored to deliver in-depth, practical information building on the decade of farmer training on-going at the MSU Student Organic Farm and the wealth of knowledge in Michigan’s farming community.
Experienced farmers and premier agriculture educators from our region are teaming up to co-lead and deliver workshops in the Farmer Field School. Each workshop also includes group-based learning processes where diverse approaches to farming challenges can be shared and discussed by both participants and workshop presenters and demonstrated at host farm sites. For the current cycle, workshops will take place on select farms in southern Michigan with a goal of expanding the workshops to other regions of the state as the program develops.
With an emphasis on vegetable production, the Field School is designed to help improve the profitability of diversified, sustainable, Michigan farmers in their first 10 years of farming who serve local and regional markets. The Field School is part of a broader vision and collaboration among statewide organizations including the MSU Center forRegional Food Systems and Michigan Food and Farming Systems to help increase new farm success by working to make farming a more prosperous, secure, and sustainable career choice for the many beginning as well as future farmers here in Michigan– to keep farmers farming, farmland in production, and food local and regional.
The Farmer Field School is organized through the collaboration of MSU Student Organic Farm, Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS). and the Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS).To learn more, visit www.msuorganicfarm.com.
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2015-70017-22856.
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