Excerpted from Homemade For Sale by Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko   As a small CFO, you don’t need to spin wheels and spend lots of money to figure out the value and sales viability of your product. Depending on your products, options to connect with your customers and garner actionable information may include: • Follow-up e-mails […]

Excerpted from Homemade For Sale by Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko   Every business must both attract customers and retain customers. Once you have customers, maintaining records about them can help you sustain and grow your enterprise. From tracking your customer orders and preferences to capturing useful information like birth dates and anniversaries for relationship-building marketing […]

Excerpted from Homemade For Sale by Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko   Everyone’s business and food products could make a great topic for an article. But what’s your hook and news angle to get free media coverage? The following ten steps will help increase the likelihood of receiving the media exposure you deserve.   Step 1: […]

Excerpted from The Farm to Market Handbook by Janet Hurst. Putting the Plan to Work Review your marketing plan with your team. It is important to have everyone on board and moving in the same direction. After the plan is written, there will be a document to go to, to assist in decision-making processes. Although […]

Excerpted from The Farm to Market Handbook by Janet Hurst. Find a newsletter template online. Start with a one-page (front and back) format. Create a header with your farm name, logo, and contact information. Write the newsletter with the current season in mind. Include details about your farm but don’t get too personal. Write about […]

Excerpted from The Farm to Market Handbook by Janet Hurst. Brokers can assist the farmer in accessing a broad range of clients. They have made the inroads with chefs, restaurants, food suppliers, and other markets. Their business is to help you sell your products, for a fee. Some brokers add their fee on top of […]

Excerpted from Bioshelter Market Garden by Darrell Frey   Many people get started in market gardening by selling excess produce from their home garden. This is a reflection of the origin of traditional farming around the world. In traditional economies, the farm household produced many products for home use. Excess crops were sold or traded for […]

Excerpted from Bioshelter Market Garden by Darrell Frey Marketing Farm Products Market gardening is two interwoven businesses; growing produce and selling produce. Writing in their book Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken, Hunter Lovins and Amory Lovins, show that farmers’ income represent less than one percent of the gross domestic product of the US. However, “those who sell to […]