Starting, running and growing a farm or food business on sound footing.
Meat needs a federal mark, poultry exemptions stop at the line, eggs and produce follow flock size and sales, and raw milk never travels. What the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program changes, how to pack a cold box, and how to price shipping honestly.
What USDA organic certification actually costs, how the three-year transition and the organic system plan work, what the inspector checks, what the Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule changed, where the cost-share program stands in 2026, and when certification is not worth it.
January is when a farm decides who it will sell to, and the cheapest customer is the one who already bought. How to build a list at the stand, what to send, how to segment CSA and bundle buyers, and how to measure repeat rates.
A grocery chain or a hospital kitchen wants forty cases a week, every week. No single small farm can promise that. A producer cooperative can. How one is formed and governed, how patronage and capital work, and the failure modes to design against.
Regenerative Organic Certified, Land to Market, Regenified, Certified Regenerative by AGW: what each seal requires, what the audit costs, practice-based versus outcome-based verification, who actually asks for the label, and when a farm is better off with its own transparency.
The Winter Fancy Food Show opens in Las Vegas later this month, and every growing farm brand faces four questions: when to hand production to a co-packer, how to vet one, what a distributor's margin does to your price, and where the cash goes.
Sole proprietorship, LLC or cooperative: what each structure does for liability, taxes, succession and lenders, when a small farm should change, the paperwork that must stay current, and the beneficial ownership report due January 1, 2025.
The first wholesale buyer who asks whether you are GAP certified is the gate to a bigger market. What the USDA audit checks, what it costs at the 2024 rate, how GroupGAP spreads the bill, where cost share is open, and when to say no.
A one-week winter routine for a small farm: review the season's numbers, write a holistic goal with everyone who has a stake, set targets, plan crops and grazing, test and order seed, note the tax and program dates, then draw the calendar.
A glut of August tomatoes is the classic start of a farm sauce line. Here is what sits between the kettle and the shelf: the math, recipe scaling, the process authority letter, labels, and the choice between your own kitchen and a co-packer.
What is a Grass Fed-Beef Farming? Grass-fed beef farming to put it simply is raising beef cattle on grass pastures. This means these beef cows have a diet that consists of grass and forage, the cow's natural diet. The grass-fed beef cattle...
If you're looking to start a Farm & Agriculture business, the first step is to have a well-crafted business plan. Business planning is essential for anyone who wants to set up a successful farm business. It's especially important...
