Teaching Direct Marketing and Small Farm Viability: Resources for Instructors

 

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SECOND EDITION NOW AVAILABLE!

Growing crops is just one step in running a successful farm—making the farm or market garden economically viable requires another suite of skills, including finding land, planning what crops to grow, ensuring food safety, marketing the crops, and managing income, expenses, and labor.

Teaching Direct Marketing and Small Farm Viability: Resources for Instructors builds on the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems’ first training manual, Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening: Resources for Instructors. It is based on our experience
educating more than 1,500 apprentice growers in organic production, farm and business planning, direct marketing at a roadside farm stand, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) management through hands-on training.

New features of the 2nd edition include–

• Revised and expanded lecture outlines and resource sections

• New units on labor, food safety, and marketing basics

• New information on social media and on-farm events

• A new focus on business planning for building resilience

The 400-page manual is designed for instructors teaching in a variety of settings –

• beginning farmer training programs 

• farms with internship or apprenticeships

• urban farms, community gardens, and food projects with direct-marketing outlets

• colleges and universities with programs in sustainable agriculture, student farms or gardens, and on-farm education programs

Generous support from the Gaia Fund, the USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE), the Joseph and Vera Long Foundation, and the Eucalyptus Foundation funded the resource guide’s development.

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