1. Putting It All Together Where do I go from here? The next steps in evaluating an alternative agricultural enterprise Cinda William, UI Extension 2005 Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching

2. Financial considerations  Dig deeper  Develop a farm business plan

3. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Developing a business plan  Nx Level’s Ag Entrepreneurship “Tilling the Soil of Opportunity”  BC Ministry of Agriculture – “Planning for Profit” enterprise series  “Planning your Business” – UI Agriculture Alternative Series (CIS 978)

4. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Starting your farm business  Start small – try new things a little at a time.  Figure out your production and marketing on a small volume – then think about expanding.

5. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Keep good records  You can only assess and improve how well your crops, animals and finances are doing if you know how they have been doing over time.  Read “Developing and Improving your Farm Records” U of Maryland, 1991

6. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Production Records  Expenses for inputs, building repairs, etc.  Timing of planting, fertilizing, harvesting  Hours of labor involved in production  Volume or amounts of seed, fertilizer, etc. Also record and assess the hidden costs or savings of doing one practice instead of another.

7. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Marketing Records  Record costs and receipts allocated to each of your different marketing strategies.  Allocate your time and labor according to different marketing venues  Only way to evaluate effectiveness of your marketing strategy.

8. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Research  Always attempt to answer your questions by field trials or marketing tests. Try your tests on a small scale.  UI publication “ Conduct Your Own Garden Research”  SARE brochure “How to Conduct Research on your Farm or Ranch”

9. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Monitor your progress  Financial records will help you assess how you are doing

10. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Monitor your progress  Assessing environmental aspects of your resources is based on soil tests and observations, presence of erosion, compaction, water quality, crop quality, animal health and more

11. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Monitor your progress  Holistic Management is an approach to ranching and farming that has a built in monitoring approach.  Read more about Holistic Management at http://www.holisticmanagement.org/

12. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching Continue to LEARN  Go to conferences  Join a farmer association or network  Visit other farms

13. Sustainable Small Acreage Farming & Ranching