Small farm business and marketing presentations for beginning farmers archived

Jim Isleib, Michigan State University Extension -

Presentations on a variety of marketing options and business basics for people new to agriculture are available online and free for viewing.

Want to learn about small farm marketing opportunities and business basics? Your choices may involve selling at farmers markets, schools and institutions, community supported agriculture (CSA) farming, marketing direct to customers or wholesale, hobby farm rules, tax management, record keeping and business planning. These topics and more are included at the Michigan State University Extension Beginning Farmer Webinar Series website.

The series has been on-going since 2012 and a total of 36 educational programs have since been recorded and are available for online viewing. The seven selections below deal specifically with marketing and business topics. Each program is a “stand-alone” educational seminar presented by one or more MSU staff.

  1. Getting started with selling to restaurants, Jan. 27, 2014, by Michelle Walk
  2. Getting started with selling to schools and hospitals, Feb. 10, 2014, by Kendra Wills, Garret Ziegler
  3. Getting started with CSA (community supported agriculture) farming, March 3, 2014, by Beth Clawson
  4. Getting started with basic farm business records - Part 1 and Getting started with basic farm business records - Part 2, March 24, 2014, by Warren Schauer
  5. Getting started with value added agriculture, Feb. 18, 2015, by Brenda Reau
  6. Getting started with marketing, March 23, 2015, by Ron Goldy
  7. Getting started with direct marketing, March 30, 2015, by Michelle Walk, Julia Darnton, Beth Clawson

A new series of 23 MSU Extension Beginning Farmer Webinars for 2016 is planned for January through April. There will be a $10 fee for each program, or you may register for all 23 and get a 50 percent discount. Registration for the new series is at the 2016 Beginning Farmer Webinar Series Registration page.

Contact me at isleibj@anr.msu.edu or 906-387-2530 with any questions.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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