WBJOURNAL.COM EXCLUSIVE: Biz Plans Come To Mass. Farms
The fact that a U.S. Department of Agriculture census recently showed that agriculture sales had increased by 27 percent in Massachusetts between 2002 and 2007 came as no surprise to Richard M. Chandler, teacher and coordinator with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.
"A few years ago, we began to adjust the department to not only the changing nature of existing agriculture in Massachusetts, but also to the many new enterprises that were emerging in this sector," Chandler told the WBJ in an e-mail.
"I could have told you then how the 2007 census would turn out in New England, and particularly in Massachusetts," he said.
Chandler and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs credit the business education and training programs that Chandler has been teaching and overseeing for the last eight years with the sales increase
Money In The Till
Over those eight years, more than 250 operating farms have completed the "Tilling The Soil of Opportunity" course offered by the DAR's agricultural business training program.
Participants in the TTS course complete a business plan, which they present at graduation. The program also offers post-graduation technical assistance. Farmers used the business plans they write in the course for internal management, product development, family understanding and finding lending and grant opportunities, among other things, Chandler said.
When he first began teaching the course, Chandler didn't expect much participation from larger farms that generated revenues in the millions of dollars.
"I figured that they already knew how to organize their businesses," he said. But folks from those larger farms told Chandler the course prompted them to finally take a fresh look at their businesses after putting it off for too long.
The TTS course is currently underway in Greenfield and Taunton. One of the participants is Kate Canney of The Neighborhood Farm in Needham.
The Neighborhood Farm isn't a farm in the traditional sense. Canney has reached agreements with several property owners in and around Needham that allow her to plant gardens in their yards. The 2008 growing season was the first for the Neighborhood Farm and Canney had six participating property owners.
"They get some of the produce each week and I get to sell the rest," Canney said. "You really can grow a ton of food in a very small space." The growing plots that are part of the Neighborhood farm range in size from 400 square feet to 5,000 square feet.
Even as the proprietor of such an unusual farming operation, Canney is already seeing the benefits of the TTS program.
Local Angle
For Canney, who had worked on farms before starting the Neighborhood Farm, the financials do add up. "I thought it would be fairly low-key, maybe an intense hobby, but it really took off," she said. "It's not going to make me a millionaire, but I'm optimistic. People are really starting to think about the source of their food. People have been talking about organic for years, and now they're thinking about local food. It might not be certified organic, but it came from right down the street. They're really excited about it."
The USDA census seems to confirm Canney's assertions.
Income generated from tourists visiting farms in Massachusetts jumped from $665,000 in 2002 to $5.3 million in 2007, according to the USDA census.
Between 2002 and 2007, the number of farms in Massachusetts increased from 6,075 to 7,691. The market value of the products of those farms increased from $384 million to $490 million over the same period.
Sales of organic products increased from $7.8 million in 2002 to $17.5 million in 2007.
A Bird In The Hand
As in almost any business, consumer trends present farmers with business opportunities. Cathy Harragian, owner of Organic Garden Design, a landscaping business in Sterling, is hoping to capitalize on some of those opportunities once she completes the TTS program. Her Bird in the Hand Farm will be the result of the rejuvenation of a 3-acre apple orchard in Sterling on which she intends to grow organic apples, and later, medicinal crops.
If her business plan pans out, she said, she can either transition from the landscaping business to working the orchard full time, or take a shot at running both businesses.
For her, the TTS program has been an eye-opener.
"Even that you can budget for a farm, I didn't think you could hammer that kind of information out," she said. "The focus of writing a business plan for a farm is a great combination. The concept of it was a surprise to me. You learn a lot about farming and what is going on in farming and what things are changing very rapidly."
The marketing lessons she's gotten in the TTS program will also prove valuable, she said.
"The local food movement is exploding. I won't have apples until the fall of '09 and 2010, and there are customers waiting to buy these. They're asking for them."
Harragian said the orchard will seek to tap into people's desire to eat healthier and environmental concerns that prompt people to find local food rather than rely on food that's shipped to the area from the far reaches of the world.
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