Agricultural Technology Platforms and Software to Manage Risks

Technology exists to solve agricultural challenges and manage business risks, yet the landscape of available options can be confusing and overwhelming.  Which technology solution or software application is right for my farm?  Is the cost worth the investment?  How much time and management will I need to invest to see a return on my time or money?  Join us to gather insight into these questions through a series of 12 educational workshops featuring experienced farmers, software developers, agricultural technology companies, and agricultural service providers.  Workshops will provide risk management solutions to help address:

• legal risk (farmland access and tenure tools)
• production risk (field and yield tracking systems)
• financial risk (record-keeping, sales integration, and enterprise analysis)
• marketing risk (online sales and customer management systems)

Workshops will feature software demonstrations by leading technology platforms alongside local farmers providing user testimonials and 1:1 advising. Technology risk management decision-making tools, workshop recordings, and a fact sheet series with producer case studies will be posted here as the series unfolds. 

Register Here for the workshops.  All workshops are free, but registration is required.

Legal Risk Management Workshops

• November 11, 2021 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Legal Considerations for Expanding your Farm Business (Farm Commons and Conservation Law Foundation's Legal Food Hub - legal services and resources)
• November 18, 2021 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Financial Readiness to Acquire Farmland (Mortgage Builder Tool and and Financial Calculators)
• December 2, 2021 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Lease Building to Acquire Farmland (Build-A-Lease Tool)

Financial Risk Management Workshops

• December 9, 2021 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Tracking Financial Data (Record-keeping Tools and Software:  FarmOS, Farmbrite)
• December 16, 2021 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  From Excel to Quickbooks (Financial Software Tools and Analysis)
• January 6, 2022 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Using Point-of-Sale (POS) Data for Financial Management (Sales software and applications)

Production Risk Management Workshops

• January 13, 2022 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Keeping Production Records for Enterprise Budgeting (Record-keeping tools and software:  Tend, FarmOS)
• January 20, 2022 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Keeping Records for Soil Health and Organic Certification (Record-keeping tools and software)

Marketing Risk Management Workshops

• February 3, 2022 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Which E-Commerce Platform is Right for Me?  A farmer and Food Hub panel of practitioners sharing pro's and cons of E-Commerce platforms and experiences from the field.
• February 10, 2022 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Navigating E-Commerce Platforms:  An Introduction to GrownBy and Food4All.
• February 17, 2022 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Navigating E-Commerce Platforms:  An Introduction to Barn2Door and Local Food Marketplace.
• February 24, 2022 - 6 - 7:30 PM:  Navigating E-Commerce Platforms:  An Introduction to Forager and Farm Drop.

Upon registration, a Zoom link and pre-assessment questionnaire will be sent to join the workshop. After the workshop, a post-session assessment will be sent to help us capture results of the workshop on improving your farm business.

All workshop recordings, presenter resource materials, and fact sheets will be posted to this webpage following the workshops.

Resources

Legal Risk

• Legal Considerations for Managing Risk Workshop - LINK TO:  November 11, 2021 Zoom Recording

  • Resources:
    • Farm Commons Website – legal resources for farmers, including videos, articles, books, podcasts, and resource guides - to have all-access pass to all the amazing publications they provide, you can join as a farmer member for $99/year with a 2-week free trial
    • Legal Food Hub Website – and check out their Resource Library for additional documents and educational information
    • Pace Law School – Food and Beverage legal clinics; they also have a Farm to School Legal Toolkit for farmers in NY on their website.
    • FLAG (Farmers Legal Action Group) – a nonprofit law center that provides legal services and support to family farmers; they have a lot of resources on their website and have informative guides to disaster assistance services
    • Agricultural Mediation Programs –the USDA makes grants to state entities to support agricultural mediation services and there are agricultural mediation service available in each state.  Here is a link to a USDA fact sheet from 2018 that lists the various state programs.

• Finding and Financing Farmland Workshop - LINK TO:  November 18, 2021 Zoom Recording

  • Resources:
    • Presentation from Land For Good
      • Toolbox/Resources for Farm Seekers – a resource page for searching for farmland
      • Farm Access Methods – A Decision Guide (walks through various farm access methods)
      • Identifying Farm Search Priorities (necessary, desirable, optional)
      • New England Farmland Finder – regional listings site that posts farmland opportunities; you can subscribe to receive notifications of new properties.
      • Google My Maps – how to assess acreage of properties of interest; Land For Good developed a Google My Maps tutorial on how to develop and measure acreage maps.
      • Web Soil Survey – an online tool to determine soil types, topography/slopes, and characteristics of the land and soil.
      • UC Davis Soil Web – user-friendly online tool about soil data; Land For Good developed a tutorial on the UC Davis Soil Web.
      • Acquiring your Farm online tutorial
      • Build a Lease Tool (see our December 2 session!)
      • Guide for Landowners
    • Presentation by Mike Parker showcasing resources from National Young Farmers’ Coalition
      • Finding Farmland Course – contains 9 online lessons for finding farmland; each lessons has readings, interviews, and walk-throughs of various resources (videos), and resource links (course is available in English and Spanish)
      • Farm Real Estate Transactions Step-by-Step – guide walks through the purchasing of farmland process
      • USDA Farm Service Agency Loan Guide – discusses each of the USDA FSA loan programs including the farm and home loan program
      • Land Trust Alliance – provides links to land trusts across the country who may support farmland access
      • Land Link Directory (2019) – a guide to land linking programs across the country
      • Finding Farmland (Mortgage) Calculator – an online tool that helps walk through a purchase of farmland with built in features that explore loans, lease options, and other decision factors.
    • Suggested Business Planning Resources (from Q&A)
      • New Entry Sustainable Farming Project offers an 8-week online Farm Business Planning Course (next up in January 2022)
      • The Carrot Project offers business planning trainings and resources
      • AgPlan is an online farm business plan development tool
      • Grazecart – is an online sales platform (direct mail order e-commerce) for producers, but they also have a blog, a “Grazecast”/Podcast”, and offer business advice and online trainings.
      • CSA Innovation Network –They host a CSA Idea’s Lab to support development of CSA business models, they also have a video series and resources
      • The Farmers’ Office Online Training – offers a full lineup of video courses around running a profitable business
      • Search for a FSA Certified Borrow Training Program (there are many of them across the country – including New Entry, Carrot, and Farmers’ Office)

 

This project, titled, “Supporting Producers to Manage Risks through Online and Novel Software Technology Applications,” is based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2018-70027-28588.