The Profitable Hobby Farm

Sarah Beth Aubrey

Description

Turn your hobby farm into a successful business

No experience in farming? No problem! The Profitable Hobby Farm gives you all the tools you need to launch a thriving hobby farm business. Based on the author's expert guidance and the motivating experiences of other small farmers, it shows you how to blend strategy, marketing, and money management in order to prosper.

The Profitable Hobby Farm provides sound, friendly start-up advice on a variety of topics essential to making an initial foray into a local foods venture.

• A must-read book for raising and selling local, sustainable foods
• Includes sample business plan, grant application, marketing and advertising plan, and other forms
• Lengthy resources section directs you to additional reading
• Also by Aubrey: Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm BusinessWhether it's growing heirloom tomatoes, raising free-range chickens for their eggs, or making organic wine or cheese, this book shows you how to turn your hobby into a profit.

Acknowledgments v

Introduction vi

Part One: Creation and Veraison

1 The Case for Small-Scale Farming and Local Foods Ventures 2

2 From Idea to Inventory: Planning and Assessing the Market 24

3 Funding Assistance 41

4 Rules, Regulations, and Legalese 65

Part Two: Fresh Business Ideas

5 Creating a Cooperative 88

6 Agritourism: Recreation as a Business 103

Part Three: Selling, Marketing, and Prospecting

7 Wholesale and Retail Pricing Strategies 124

8 Where and How to Sell 149

9 Marketing Ideas  174

10 Keeping (and Keeping Track of) Customers 198

Part Four: The First Year of Your Journey

11 The Lifestyle Change and First-Year Transition Tips 224

Finale: The Prints You Leave Behind 247

Resources 248

Sample Business Documents 255

Index 269
About the Author 275
Photo Credits 276

Sujets

• Agronomie
• Agronomy for Sustainable Development
• Agriculture
• Engineering
• Technology
• Sciences et techniques

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 02 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781118495902
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Copyright © 2010 by Sarah Beth Aubrey. All rights reserved.
Howell Book House
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Aubrey, Sarah Beth.
The profitable hobby farm : how to build a sustainable local foods business / Sarah Beth Aubrey.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-43209-9
ISBN-10: 0-470-43209-8

1. Farms, Small. 2. Part-time farming. 3. Sustainable agriculture. 4. Food industry and trade. I. Title.
HD1476.A3A93 2010
630.68–dc222009034006

Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Edited by Beth Adelman
Book design by Lissa Auciello-Brogan
Book production by Wiley Publishing, Inc. Composition Services
The Profitable Hobby Farm: How to Build a Sustainable Local Foods Business

Table of Contents
Creation and Veraison
The Case for Small-Scale Farming and Local Foods Ventures
Creation and Veraison
What Are the Trends?
Jeannie Ralston, an Unlikely Small Farmer
How Big Is This Market?
Farmers Markets
Food and Agricultural Cooperatives
Natural and Organic Foods
The Local Foods/Slow Foods Movement
Agritourism
Trends in Suppliers
Trade Associations and Conferences
Urban and Suburban Transplants
The Human Reasons for All This Growth
Who Is Driving the Demand?
Who Is Meeting the Demand?
Making the Transition
Summing Up My Case for Small Farms
From Idea to Inventory: Planning and Assessing the Market
Getting Started
Planning
Business Plan Basics
Plan for Growing Seasons
Plan for the Changing of Seasons
Planning for Seasonal Cash Flow
Transportation and Distribution
Labor
Evaluating the Market
Peruse the Market
Do Your Own Research
Just Get Started
Funding Assistance
Be Creative
My Own Funding Story
How It Worked Out
Why Air My Dirty Laundry?
What Funding Is Available?
Borrowing from the Bank
Using Your Credit Cards
Offering Shares or Partial Ownership
Using Venture Capital
Using Personal Assets
Federal Programs
EQIP
CRP
Wildlife and Wetlands Programs
State Programs
Trade Group Programs
Grants
What Is a Grant?
Examples of Grant Programs
Tips for Applying for a Grant
A Combination Approach
Rules, Regulations, and Legalese
Freedom Isn’t Exactly Free
You Have an Edge
Types of Business Entities
Partnerships
Corporations
Accounting Basics You Need to Know
Five Key Questions for Your Accountant
Legal Considerations
Four Key Questions for Your Attorney
Liability Insurance
Why Little Old Me?
Five Key Questions for Your Insurance Agent
Regulations to Investigate
Sanitation and Food Safety
Food Processing
Labeling and Label Claims
Packaging, Weights, and Measures
Permit Types
Fresh Business Ideas
Creating a Cooperative
What’s Old Is Also New
What Is a Cooperative?
What Is Community Supported Agriculture?
Do the Differences Matter?
What a Co-op Is Not
The Basics of Starting a Cooperative
Membership Structure
Pitfalls to Avoid
Marketing for Co-ops
Bring a Cool Head to a Conundrum
Agritourism: Recreation as a Business
Cashing In on a Lifestyle as You Live It
The Pros and Cons of Working from Home
What Is Agritourism?
Agritourism Trends
Business Ideas
Just Tourism
Agritourism Around a Theme
Agritourism Around a Season
Partnering with Other Farms and Communities
Happy Trails
Fairs and Festivals
Tips for Keeping It Your Farm
Special Considerations for Agritourism
Places for Help, Support, and More Ideas
Be a Joiner
Selling, Marketing, and Prospecting
Wholesale and Retail Pricing Strategies
Meeting Your Public and Making Money
The Five Pillars of Small Farm Business
So What Is the Price?
Why Is Pricing So Important?
Wholesale Pricing
How Much Less Is Wholesale Pricing?
Working with Distributors
Retail Pricing
Being Your Own Distributor
Comparing Wholesale and Retail
Combining Wholesale and Retail
Establishing Your Break-Even Point
Factors to Include in Your Break-Even Analysis
Pricing Strategies
How Much Pricing Information Should You Publish?
Sales and Discounts
Raising Prices
Where and How to Sell
Sales and Marketing Intertwine
Places to Sell
Finding Selling Venues
Farmers Markets
Farm Stores
Retail Stores
Selling on Consignment
Home Delivery
Internet and Phone Sales
Choosing Your Selling Venues
Think Locally
Questions to Ask About Each Selling Venue
Combining Selling Venues to Maximize Customer Contact
Managing Labor
Live-in Labor
It’s All About You!
Marketing Ideas
Marketing Small Farm and Food Businesses
What Is Marketing?
How to Develop a Marketing Plan
Target
Message
Timing
Cost
Delivery
Feedback/Analysis
How Often Should Marketing Plans Change?
Marketing Ideas
Logos
Local Sponsorships
Gifts and Favors
Marketing Ideas That Are Free!
Volunteer
Piggybacking
E-mail Newsletters
Blogging
Media Coverage
Prospecting Local Retailers
Preparing Your Presentation
Making the Prospecting Call
Meeting the Customers
Prospecting Chefs
Preparing Your Presentation
Making the Prospecting Call
Timing Chef Prospecting Calls
Setting Up Payment
Customer Service for Chefs
Stay on Task Even if You’re Flooded with Tasks
Keeping (and Keeping Track of) Customers
Customers Are Your Most Important Business Asset
Your Customer Base Is Different from Other Assets
How Do You Protect Your Customer Assets?
How to Create a Customer Database
Organizing Your Customer Database
Storing Your Customer Database
Using Your New Customer Database
Retaining Customers
Coupons
Discounts
Preseason Orders
Free Gifts
Publishing Photos
Open Houses and Special Events
Members-Only Concepts
Reoccurring Credit Card Orders
Using Customer Feedback for Promotion
Customer Communications Tools
Newsletters
Press Releases
Handling Customer Problems
Customer Returns, Exchanges, and Refunds
Customer Complaints
Managing Customer Expectations
So How Do You Keep the Farm?
The First Year of Your Journey
The Lifestyle Change and First-Year Transition Tips
Of Rural Living, Food, and Farm
Lifestyle Adjustment
Lifestyle Changes to Ponder
Fewer Conveniences
Greater Responsibilities
Trial and Error, and Error, and Error
Weather
What If You’re Not Moving to the Country?
Becoming Aware of Food and Farming
First-Year Tips
Success Factors for First-Year Survival
Financial Preparedness
Wean Off Other Sources of Income
Pay Down Debts—Even Good Debts
Manageability of Your Business Design
Pacing and Planning Your Progress
Conscious Learning
Get Organized!
The Prints You Leave Behind
Finding Your Stride and Yourself
Resources
Sample Business Documents
About the Author



I fondly dedicate this work to my grandma, Dorothy Willard.

Acknowledgments
This book could not have been possible without the introduction to Wiley Publishing from Megan Saur (fellow Artist’s Vineyard wi