Cultivating a Farm Business: A Training for Aspiring and New Farmers

Are you a home gardener interested in cultivating your growing skills into a small business? Have you thought about ‘getting into farming’ but don’t know where to start? This free, online introductory training will help participants This free, online introductory training will help participants develop a sustainable plan for continued growing. Whether farming to generate income or for personal consumption, this program help participants with setting financial goals, selling their products, and establishing collaborative relationships

Learning Sessions

Financial Goal Setting – Geared toward market gardeners or early stage growers, this session will introduce participants to the process for setting financial goals, help them understand how to develop a plan to reach their goal and what resources are available to assist with scaling up their business.

Selling your Products: Cultivating Market Channels – Marketing is key for every small business, including food and agriculture businesses. This session on hyper-local marketing channels will help participants understand how to enter those channels, the concerns of buyers, and the questions they’ll need to consider to develop new markets.

Collaborative Food and Ag – Collaborative approaches to marketing may be opportunities for growers to save time and resources or enter new markets. This session will introduce approaches like farmers’ markets, multi-farm CSAs, marketing cooperatives, and co-selling along with the considerations for farmers thinking about these approaches.

Join the free online training!

Saturday, December 11, 2021

9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Eastern

No cost, but registration is required.

Register Here

This training will be hosted via Zoom. Participants can join via the Zoom application on a personal computer or mobile device or by telephone.

Individuals who complete the online registration form will receive Zoom connection information via email the day prior to the event.

The training will be recorded and posted online for later viewing. Registrants will receive an email with information to access the recording.

Meet the Speakers

Christie Welch is the Direct Food and Agricultural Marketing Specialist for Ohio State University Extension where she assists Ohio’s agricultural and food producers to increase their profitability and sustainability through best marketing practices, increase marketing efficiencies, and market diversification. Ms. Welch has a strong interest in the economic development of rural Ohio and is especially interested in family farms and agribusinesses.

Hannah Scott, JD, is the program manager of the CFAES Center for Cooperatives at Ohio State where she leads the creation and implementation of programs and assistance to foster cooperative and rural business in Ohio, West Virginia, and beyond. Hannah is passionate about cooperative opportunities in agriculture and rural communities, having worked with a variety of agricultural producers to establish co-op enterprises and leading the Ohio & West Virginia Food Hub Network and the Appalachia Cooperates Initiative.

We strive to host events that are inclusive and accessible to everyone. If you require accommodations to fully participate in this activity, please reach out to Ryan Kline at kline.375@osu.edu.

CFAES provides research and related educational programs to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis. For more information, visit cfaesdiversity.osu.edu.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *