Tag Archives: Farm Business Management

2019 B.C. Business Mentorship Network – Apply Now!

Posted by Kristen Nammour on October 05, 2018

Ready to Grow Your Farm Business? Are you a young (or young at heart) animal or vegetable producer living in British Columbia? Are you operating a new farm and looking for guidance to grow your business? Young Agrarians is excited to offer a fifth season of the B.C. Business Mentorship Network! This program pairs new and seasoned farmers together to cultivate the skills for running ecologically sustainable and financially viable businesses. Mentors work with you to analyze your operations and lay the groundwork for your farm’s business growth. What You Get As a participant in this program you will receive … Continue reading 2019 B.C. Business Mentorship Network – Apply Now! →

MARCH 6 & 13: LEAN FARM MANAGEMENT WEBINARS

Posted by Kristen Nammour on February 08, 2018

Higher Profits. Less Work. Sound like your farm business goals for 2018? Join Young Agrarians and author Ben Hartman for a series of webinars focused on how lean principles of efficiency can be applied to your farm enterprise to decrease waste and increase profitability. DATES: March 6, 2018 – An Introduction to Lean Concepts for the Small Farm March 13, 2018 – Five Lean Business Management Tools to Increase Profits w/ Less Work TIME: 10:00AM – 12:00PM (PST) COST: $45 If you’re not able to join for both sessions, please contact kristen(at)youngagrarians.org for single session payment options – cost: $25/session REGISTER NOW: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3653149762140663811 Once you register on the GoToWebinar page … Continue reading MARCH 6 & 13: LEAN FARM MANAGEMENT WEBINARS →

Food For Thought | Remembering our Roots & Committing to Change!

Posted by Kristen Nammour on January 12, 2018

By Kareno Hawbolt & Kimi Hendess, Sweet Digz Farm What a year! As for all farmers around us, the wet cold spring played a huge roll in the timing of our crops, the speed at which we tried to catch up all season long, and the bumper crops of weeds that tried to take over the farm! Luckily, we had the moral support of our awesome mentors at Sea Bluff Farm – Robin Tunnicliffe and Sasha Kubicek with their combined extensive expertise in farming and financial management (respectively). Being in constant communication with them helped us realize we weren’t alone in the challenges … Continue reading Food For Thought | Remembering our Roots & Committing to Change! →

Lessons Learned: Riverside Farm

Posted by Kristen Nammour on November 28, 2017

We’re checking back in with our B.C. Business Mentorship Network participants to see how their seasons have gone and how mentorship has benefitted them. Name: Riverside Farm, run by Jenn Cline and Caroline Chiu, graduates of the Richmond Farm School Program (Kwantlen Polytechnic University). Location: Richmond, BC What were your goals for this season and how did you work to achieve those? We stepped into our second season of farming with excitement and anticipation. We decided to change our marketing outlet from Vancouver Farmers Markets to running our own CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. Our goals were to grow some … Continue reading Lessons Learned: Riverside Farm →

Lessons Learned: City Beet Farm

Posted by Kristen Nammour on November 26, 2017 1 Comment

We’re checking back in with our B.C. Business Mentorship Network participants to see how their seasons have gone and how mentorship has benefitted them. We are Elana and Maddy from City Beet Farm in Vancouver. Our goals for the 2017 season were to pay off the farm that we bought in 2016 and run our first ever successful, 60 member CSA program. We both committed entirely to making those goals a reality. We sacrificed paying ourselves and working full time on the farm in order to breakeven and not incur any debt. Long days, focus, dedication, a little help from friends and our community all … Continue reading Lessons Learned: City Beet Farm →

Lessons Learned: SOLscapes Ecological Landscaping

Posted by Kristen Nammour on November 24, 2017

We’re checking back in with our B.C. Business Mentorship Network participants to see how their seasons have gone and how mentorship has benefitted them. Hello fellow farmers and foodies! We are Stephanie Vigneux (Urban Farmer) and Jordie Bulpit (Horticulturalist) from SOLscapes collaborating with Samantha Philips and Lisa Giroday of Victory Gardens. We so deeply appreciate having had the opportunity to be a part of the Young Agrarians Business Mentorship network. This experience has truly nurtured our growth and development as a small business. SOLscapes is an ecologically sustainable landscaping company that services the Sea-to-Sky Corridor; you can find our edible … Continue reading Lessons Learned: SOLscapes Ecological Landscaping →

Lessons Learned: Plenty Wild Farm

Posted by Kristen Nammour on November 22, 2017

We’re checking back in with our B.C. Business Mentorship Network participants to see how their seasons have gone and how mentorship has benefitted them. The 2017 season certainly kept us on our toes! It presented a wide array of both challenges and gifts and we are incredibly grateful to have had the mentorship of Chris Bodnar, through the Young Agrarians Business Mentorship Program. Last spring we were anxiously preparing for a wave of change as we planned to make several key changes to our farm’s marketing and production plans while expecting our first child. We had decided to stop raising … Continue reading Lessons Learned: Plenty Wild Farm →

Lessons Learned: Two Roads Farm

Posted by Kristen Nammour on November 20, 2017

We’re checking back in with our B.C. Business Mentorship Network participants to see how their seasons have gone and how mentorship has benefitted them. Name, Farm, Location? Sam Croome and Emily Anderson at Two Roads Farm on Denman Island. What were your goals for this season and how did you work to achieve those? Goal 1: Increase our income (both gross and net, to allow us to pay ourselves more than a parking meter) – We worked with our mentor to identify low hanging fruit to increase efficiency and reduce expenses. We implemented some of these, like buying potting soil in bulk rather than mixing … Continue reading Lessons Learned: Two Roads Farm →

Lessons Learned: Lightfoot Farm

Posted by Kristen Nammour on November 16, 2017

We’re checking back in with our B.C. Business Mentorship Network participants to see how their seasons have gone and how mentorship has benefitted them. My name is Simon Answerth and I Farm a quarter acre of leased land under a incubator program in Kelowna, BC. My farm business is called Lightfoot Farm and I hope to expand to a half acre next year as well as recruit the help of my wife. This year my goals were to; add 3 new restaurant customers, set up a CSA program with between 5-15 members and increase public exposure with intensive advertising. My … Continue reading Lessons Learned: Lightfoot Farm →

HOW TO: Enterprise Budgets for Small Farms

Posted by Kristen Nammour on May 19, 2017

OK. So what are enterprise budgets exactly?! Good question! Enterprise budgets are a farm business management tool which project the costs and returns of a specific activity (ie: growing a vegetable crop or raising livestock) over a specified period of time (typically annually). WATCH: Enterprise Budgets Webinar (April 14, 2017) They are both a physical and financial plan for raising and selling a particular crop or livestock enterprise. As a physical plan, enterprise budgets list types and quantities of production inputs and track crop yields. From a financial perspective, they also assign costs to inputs related to producing that crop … Continue reading HOW TO: Enterprise Budgets for Small Farms →