Do you need a business plan for your farm?  Do you have an idea for a new venture, but aren't sure if it will work? This program is for you!

This course is designed for existing farm businesses or those planning to undertake a new farm business venture. Students will work with their farm's data, and the goal of the class is for participants to have a draft of a written business plan for a specific business venture.  Because this is an on-line course, to participate you must have access to reliable internet and a computer.

During the course, you will learn to:

• Assess whether or not a business idea is a good fit for you.
• Develop a marketing strategy to make a profit
• Use financial tools to evaluate if your business has the potential to be profitable

This online course meets from January 7-March 4, 2025.  All course content is available online so you can work on it at your own pace.  There will be weekly webinars where you can meet other students and interact directly with the instructor on the content.  These webinars will be recorded. 

Unit 1: Introduction to Business Planning and the Business Plan (Liz Higgins)

Many farms struggle to write effective business plans because they haven't clearly articulated what they plan to do and how they plan to get there.  In this unit we will help guide you through the process of choosing a viable path so you can move your business idea forward.  An important part of this is project management - doing the work of figuring out how you will acquire and deploy resources to move your farm business venture forward.

At the end of this three-week unit, participants will be able to:

• Understand the importance of grounding a vision in reality
• Include time and resource availability into project planning and goal setting
• Develop a preliminary budget for their enterprise and use it to evaluate a project's viability
• Understand the difference between internal business planning and external business plans.
• Identify and use resources for writing a business plan.

Sessions for this Unit

• January 7, Session 1: The 30,000-foot view, what are you trying to accomplish? What resources do you have?
• January 14, Session 2: Introduction to Project Management
• January 21, Session 3: How Business Planning Becomes a Business Plan

Unit 2: Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Farm (Bonnie Nelsen)

A well-designed marketing plan is an essential component every farm's overall business strategy and an important part of a business plan.  A marketing plan helps farmers and ranchers identify target customers, understand the current market, build brand identity and awareness, and align your marketing activities with business goals.  An effective marketing plan becomes a roadmap for gaining more customers and improving your farm's success. 

At the end of this three-week unit, participants will be able to:

• Understand the importance of a good marketing plan
• List the key components of a marketing plan and its details
• Develop your own strategic marketing plan 
• Align your marketing plan with your overall business plan

Sessions for this Unit

• January 28, Session 4: Your Market and Your Competition
• February 4, Session 5:  Revenue and Product Mix to Achieve Your Goals
• February 11, Session 6: Marketing Plan and Evaluation of Marketing Efforts

Unit 3: Developing a Financial Plan for Your Farm Business (Steve Hadcock)

Your farm's financial information is a powerful tool to assess your performance, evaluate your enterprises and share information with investors and lenders as part of your business plan.  Learn to use this tool more effectively and combine it with other data to make more informed business decisions.

At the end of this three-week unit, participants will be able to:

• prepare and read farm financial statements
• make financial projections and develop farm budgets
• use financial statements and other data to evaluate a farm enterprise
• project need for credit and make informed borrowing decisions

Sessions for this Unit

• February 18, Session 7: The Basics of Financial Statements
• February 25, Session 8: Enhancing Confidence in Your Numbers
• March 4, Session 9: Using Financial Statements and Financial Information to Plan and Evaluate an Enterprise