AMES, Iowa -- A business-planning program designed for farm businesses and people who are interested in raising specialty livestock, poultry, vegetables, herbs, flowers or prairie and native grass seed will be held at Iowa State University beginning Jan. 15.
"Grow Your Small Market Farm" is sponsored by the Iowa Small Business Development Center, an outreach unit of Iowa State's College of Business. Cost is $395 per business.
Participants will write a business plan, learn about the specialty food industry, use Quick Books Pro and develop business-marketing materials.
The three-phase program begins with Saturday classes, 9 a.m. to noon, Jan. 15 - April 23. In the summer, program staff will visit each farm business. And, in the fall, participants will attend a statewide networking conference.
Penny Brown Huber, program manager, said the key to the program is "lots of hands-on support and learning from fellow students with similar interests and ideas."
Past program participants Denise O'Brien and Larry Harris, both of Atlantic, said the program provided them with a set of skills that enabled them to look at their farm as a business, as well as a way of life.
For more information, contact Penny Brown Huber, (515) 289-0238, BrownPennyL@aol.com, or Sherry Shafer, (515) 331-8954, sshafer@iastate.edu. Online registration is available at http://www.iowasbdc.org/workshops/dsm.
"Grow Your Small Market Farm" also is sponsored by the Drake University Agricultural Law Center, Iowa Agricultural Development Authority, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa State University Extension, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and Iowa State's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.