Cooperative Extension: Agriculture

At the end of this project, each participant will have developed a personal risk management and marketing plan for their farm or ranch.

To register or to Get More Information Please Contact:
Peggy Siligato 401.640.0484 |Siligato@uri.edu
Paul Russell 508.472.2364 | pmrussell@umass.edu
Tom Smiarowski 413.320.1718 |tsmiarowski@umass.edu

There is a $25 non refundable registration fee. Pre-registration is required to participate. Please register early as space is limited.

Objective: Assist Beginning, Women and Shellfish Growers to be able to respond to and manage risk.

Participants in this virtual workshop series will:

1. Be introduced to the farm business planning process and learn how to:

• Identify and list all of their farm’s assets and their productive capacity
• Determine the current wellbeing of the farm business
• Review the feasibility of alternative enterprises
• Evaluate the risks the farm faces.
• Determine who the customers of the farm are and what utility (form, place, time, possession) these customers want.
• Make basic marketing decisions:
  • What form, grade, quality to produce.
  • When, where, how to price.
  • When, where, how to deliver.

2. Be introduced to five areas of risk (Production, Marketing, Financial, Human Resource, Legal) and learn how to identify, measure, and manage risks on their farms in these areas.

3. Understand financial management of the farm and how to use financial statements (Income Statement, Balance Sheet) and enterprise budgets to assess the performance of the farm business and make better decisions.

4. Understand marketing principles and how the elements of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People) are used to create an effective plan to manage the marketing decisions on the farm.

5.  Develop a personal risk management and marketing plan for your farm.

• Develop goals in each of the five risk areas, and in each of the five marketing areas.
• Identify specific actions you will take for each goal.
• Commit to follow through and implement the actions identified.

Individualized Study

The activities in the workshop series will build on each other with specific homework (individual study) assignments to be conducted following each workshop. Local Extension Educators will also attend the workshops and will provide assistance to the producers on an individual basis to ensure that homework assignments are completed.