How to Write an Urban Farm Business Plan

An urban farm is considered a micro-enterprise or small business. Like any other small business, it is important to research and plan by writing a business plan for an urban agriculture venture. There are a lot of resources out there to help you guide through the process.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Define the farm. An urban farm is an ever-evolving process. Still, it’s important to the focus of the business plan to decide what kind of urban farm you will be developing. The business plan is not concrete. It can be revised and updated as the farm grows.

2. Ask yourself a few questions. Are you interested in raising chickens? Or are you just interested in organic or pesticide-free vegetable farming? Are you going to grow vegetables in a bio-intensive manner to get more yield per garden plot? Or are you going to garden in the traditional manner? Are you looking for a niche market? Do you plan on selling to specialty stores or do you want to deal directly with the people who will eat your produce? Or are you going to only raise red wiggler worms and market their byproducts?

3. Research the Internet. It’s important to research the different kinds of urban farming opportunities. Your research should be done before even beginning the business plan process. What fits you and your resources the best? There are several government and private agencies that provide assistance to small scale agriculture. The Gateway Farm website provides an online template and tutorial for those interested in Alpaca farming. The template was very adoptable and the tutorial informative for farming. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has an entire online agriculture library dedicated to Alternative Farming. This library includes resources on business planning and loans.

4. Take an urban farm business plan course. There are some very good farm business plan courses available. The Growing Power courses are specifically designed for the urban farmers. They are located in Wisconsin. They are worth the investment to travel and participate in their weekend or multi-day courses. They not only teach you about business planning, but also different types of profitable urban farming techniques that include composting, gardening, vermiculture and aquaculture.

5. Find a mentor farmer. The best way to learn is by being an apprentice. Find another urban, organic, or traditional farmer to learn from. Farmers can always use another pair of hands. Time spent working on a fully functioning farm will provide an enormous amount of information that can never be found just on the internet or in books. Also, your mentor can save you the time and energy of learning from your own mistakes. Plus, the support this relationship will give you over the years is invaluable.

6. Review traditional farm business plans. Excellent guides are business plans that have already been created. Most business plans available on line are for traditional farms. Urban farming does not require all the equipment and the scale is smaller. Nevertheless, it is good to review these plans to get ideas on what should be included in yours. The Wikianswers website has a good list of online farm business plans under the question, “Where can you find examples of a farm business plan?” Also, ask your mentor to review their business plan. Also, contact the Farm Beginnings Program in Minnesota for possible plans to review.

7. Get free or low cost one-on-one counseling. Contact your local county extension agent (the same people who run the local 4-H programs). Often, they are available to assist you in the business plan process. They are also a wealth of information of other resources in your area, including other farmers.

8. Contact your local community garden network. Often, the local community garden network also has a program for urban farming. These programs are organically developed from the community gardeners wishing to sell their surplus vegetables to increase their household income. They might have a business plan course you may attend or other resources that can help you.

9. Purchase software. There are several different types of farm business software or templates on the market. Some are designed specifically for the type of farm, such as a goat or hydroponics farm. Others are general business plan software that the user adopted for farm business planning. Planmagic Farm Business Plan software claims to be user friendly and adoptable to all types of farmers needs.

Tips & Warnings

• Consumer research is one of the most important parts of a successful business plan. Who are your customers?

Resources

• Growing Power Website

[WriterGig]

on 12/20/2007 Excellent, in-depth article! Thanks for the ideas. I would love to start a hobby farm, just need more land.