Young Agrarians is celebrating the eleventh year of the Business Mentorship Network (BMN) program in BC and the third year of the program in the Prairies! The BMN offers farm business mentorship to a diverse array of new and young farmers. The mentorship is offered over the course of a year. Through one-on-one mentorship, peer networks and online workshops new farmers develop the skills necessary to operate ecologically sustainable and financially viable farm businesses.
The deadline for Mentee applications for the 2025 cohort has been extended to Nov 15th, 2024.
Mentees Apply here!
Mentor applications (paid position) are accepted year-round.
Mentors Apply here!
Check out the Business Mentorship Network page for more information!
Check out one Mentee’s story below and how the BMN made a contribution to the success of their farm. Want more? Head over to our BMN Blog for more mentorship stories.
Meet a Mentee: Krysten and Devon of The Farm Next Door
We are Krysten and Devon of The Farm Next Door in Cranbrook, BC, the traditional and unceded territory of the Ktunaxa, the Kinbasket (Secwepemc), Syilx, and Sinixt Peoples, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla , Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis and Ĩyãħé Nakón mąkóce (Stoney) people. Our mentors were Emma & Scott of Bent Plow Farm.
What were your goals for this season and did you achieve them?
Our main goals and activities for the season included developing a strong system for record keeping & organization. We chose the bookkeeping software WAVE that we use to upload receipts from our phone as we make purchases throughout the season. We can then provide reports from the app for bookkeeping/taxation purposes at the end of the season. We also created some record keeping documents prior to the season, such as egg quantity tracker, harvest tracker, and chicken feed log. We set up a record keeping method for a packing station but we ran out of time to create this and so the packaging of our vegetables was a big challenge again this year. We also found that selling vegetables at our farmstand was a challenge for several reasons and something we likely will not pursue next year.
We also set out to develop a marketing plan for the farm stand/farmer’s market. We did some market research into competitors and sales channels including the Cranbrook Farmers Market, engaged in a SWOT analysis and considered our competitive advantage and potential for value added products. We also created a social media schedule. We set up a budget for the Farmer’s Market and created a system for packaging and taking payments.
Finally we wanted to create a greenhouse plan with the goal of reducing disease and increasing yield. We ordered disease resistant varieties for the greenhouse and researched specific information about the ideal growing situation for each type of vegetable. Unfortunately our greenhouse plants succumbed to pest and disease pressure again this year because we were too busy to exercise proper preventative measures.
What were your best sales channels/avenues?
We advertise on the Cranbrook City Facebook page, our farm Facebook page and Instagram account and then sell from our farmstand and run an egg subscription program.
Why do your customers buy from you?
Our customers buy from us because they taste the difference in our product which makes going out of their way to shop with us worthwhile. I think a lot of them also believe in supporting local small farms within the community. The best piece of feedback that we got is hearing that people’s children are eating veggies that they bought from us, when normally they won’t touch that item (lettuce, kale). Also, when someone says this is the best (fill in the blank) I have ever had, thank you so so much for the hard work you put in to grow this!! Hearing those comments is so uplifting!
How did Young Agrarians Farm Business Mentorship impact your business?
The BMN impacted our business by connecting us with other farmers, both new and experienced, that we could connect with and get ideas, support and guidance from. Having our mentor Emma share ideas about issues that I brought up was very helpful. She also was able to share knowledge about funding, crop planning, and product pricing which was very helpful. Also, just personal reassurance that it is as hard for other farmers as it is for us goes a long way for me.
It also provided us with foundational information regarding how to run a business that increases our chance of success. I got a lot of value from the weekly webinar series that happened at the beginning of the mentorship and it’s wonderful that we have access to the recordings to review anytime. The mentorship helped me develop skills relating to crop planning, bookkeeping, record keeping, and marketing.
What were one or two big, hard lessons this season you would want to share with other farmers?
A big hard lesson is that establishing infrastructure while trying to produce food within that space is a big challenge and a good recipe for burnout. We also learnt that, once you reach a certain point in the season (maybe April?) all plans that you had for building, expanding, etc are out the window for that growing season and we are in survival mode. Any major changes and infrastructure need to happen before that point or wait until postseason.
What were one or two additional victories, small or large, that you had this season?
This season we increased our laying hen flock by 350% and always sold out of eggs!
What future plans and goals do you have for your farm and how will you achieve these?
We plan to expand our laying hen flock further and we are breeding our sheep this fall for the first time to see if that is an avenue that we want to go down. We will achieve these goals by continuing to do what is working and putting a halt on what isn’t.
Next year we are likely stepping away from selling vegetables altogether and focusing solely on our chickens and sheep. We plan to double our laying hen flock and likely do a batch of around 50 broiler chickens. For the broilers, we will keep very accurate and detailed records of the cost to raise them and the amount of time to process them so that we can decide if that is a viable business venture for us. We will also have a more realistic expectation of what we can accomplish as far as infrastructure.
Share a story of something interesting that happened on your farm this season.
Something interesting that I learnt this year is that, when “little gem” lettuce is allowed to grow to full size, it becomes the most gorgeous romaine you have ever seen! Too big to even fit in a produce bag!
What are you most looking forward to this winter?
Looking forward to baking sourdough and putting more effort into meals, spending more time with my kids, and planning for next year!
Where can we find you online?
FACEBOOK @Thefarmnextdoor
Instagram @farmnextdoorbc