GROWING YOUR FARM BUSINESS business planning course

MDAR has updated its business planning course (previously “Tilling the Soil of Opportunity”) to a new, hands-on course to help established farmers develop a business plan and financial projections for their farm business. The course has been updated to meet the current needs of farmers. It  will be offered once per week this winter on Wednesday evenings in early 2019 6pm – 9pm for 7 weeks:  1/23, 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, (no class 2/20) 2/27, 3/6 and 3/13 (3/20 snow date) at the Bangs Community Center in Amherst. This course covers topics including resource assessment, marketing strategy, financial management, capital planning, risk management, quality of life, and goal setting. The course is taught by professional business planners with years of experience working with Massachusetts farms and guest speakers on current topics such as succession planning and online marketing. The course is subsidized by MDAR, cost for participants is only $200 per farm, open to farmers who have been operating a farm business in Massachusetts for at least the 2 prior years.

Applications will be accepted on a first come first serve basis until January 8, 2019 or until the course is filled.

Farmers that complete a business plan by participating in the 2019 Growing Your Farm Business planning course and then apply and get accepted to the APR Improvement or Matching Enterprise Grants for Agriculture grant programs for Fiscal Year 2020 will be able to waive the business planning phase of these programs, enabling them to move to the contract phase earlier for a longer timeframe to implement their projects.

HOW TO APPLY: Applications found here, accepted on a rolling basis until course is filled:  https://www.mass.gov/service-details/agricultural-business-training-program-abtp  

For more information contact Melissa Adams at 413-548-1904 or Melissa.L.Adams@mass.gov