Class Book:  “Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses” Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA).

Class Periods:  1 ½ hour class periods conducted each week.

Class overview:  Business planning is an important part of owning and managing a farm.  Producers traditionally go through the business planning process to: 

Evaluate production alternatives;

Identify new market opportunities; and

Communicate their ideas to lenders, business partners and family.

This class helps producers or beginning farmers consider innovative management practices and analyze immature markets.  Class members will develop a business plans to map out strategies for taking advantage of new  opportunities such as organic farming, on-farm processing, direct marketing and rural tourism. A series of worksheets will be used to develop a business plan which helps the students demonstrate that they have fully researched their proposed alternative; they know how to produce their product, how to sell what they produce, and how to manage financial risk.


Class Fees:  $250 plus books