"Brings the business planning process alive to help today's agriculture entrepreneurs transform farm-grown inspiration into profitable enterprises. Sample worksheets illustrate how real farm families set goals, research processing alternatives, determine potential markets, and evaluate financing options. Blank worksheets offer readers the opportunity to develop their own detailed, lender-ready business plan and map out strategies" --back cover.
The UK rural economy is worth billions of pounds and rural businesses are rapidly changing and diversifying. This is a guide to best business practice in a rural context which provides a clear analysis of opportunities for diversification.
This book comes out at a very opportune time when the sector is struggling with sanitation marketing that is considered an organic next step for rural communities that have been declared open defecation free. Besides, this publication comes in to address the gaps that face the peri-urban spaces that are facing population explosion and require innovative ways of dealing with mostly non-sewered sanitation services. This guide/manual was developed as part of a training package to support business development skills training for local sanitation entrepreneurs in Kenya. Financial and technical support was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Kenya integrated water and sanitation (KIWASH) project. KIWASH was a five year (2015-2020) project implemented by the Development Alternatives Incorporation (DAI) across nine counties. One of the key goals of KIWASH was to help trigger and activate demand for low cost affordable sanitation technologies in rural and low income communities. The overall objective of this manual is to equip sanitation specialists and public resource persons with the basic concepts and tools, to facilitate entrepreneurship and financial literacy training for start-up sanitation entrepreneurs in rural communities. Specifically, this manual is designed to help participants: 1) Learn the basic concepts of entrepreneurship and characteristics of successful entrepreneurs; 2) Learn and practice essential marketing techniques for sanitation products and services; 3) Develop money management competencies necessary to succeed as a small-scale entrepreneur; 4) Build necessary leadership and management skills to grow successful sanitation enterprises. Overall, the guide/manual is useful in guiding implementation of sanitation marketing projects, and provides concise content for nurturing and building the capacity of local sanitation enterprises/entrepreneurs. Improved business performance by these businesses means timely response to demand from households. This book is a toolkit which incorporates a Training Guide/Manual as well as a Workbook for entrepreneurs.
Running your own small farm is demanding enough, but making it profitable presents a host of further challenges. In this business-savvy guide to farming on a small scale, Sarah Aubrey covers everything from financial plans and advertising budgets to web design and food service wholesalers. Learn how to isolate your target audience and craft artisanal products that will delight and amaze customers. With a solid business strategy in place, you can confidently turn your passion into a productive and profitable venture.
This report is part of a multi-volume technical report series entitled, Running a Food Hub, with this guide serving as a companion piece to other United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports by providing in-depth guidance on starting and running a food hub enterprise. In order to compile the most current information on best management and operations practices, the authors used published information on food hubs, surveyed numerous operating food hubs, and pulled from their existing experience and knowledge of working directly with food hubs across the country as an agricultural business consulting firm. The report’s main focus is on the operational issues faced by food hubs, including choosing an organizational structure, choosing a location, deciding on infrastructure and equipment, logistics and transportation, human resources, and risks. As such, the guide explores the different decision points associated with the organizational steps for starting and implementing a food hub. For some sections, sidebars provide “decision points,” which food hub managers will need to address to make key operational decisions. This illustrated guide may assist the operational staff at small businesses or third-party organizations that may provide aggregation, marketing, and distribution services from local and regional producers to assist with wholesale, retail, and institution demand at government institutions, colleges/universities, restaurants, grocery store chains, etc. Undergraduate students pursuing coursework for a bachelor of science degree in food science, or agricultural economics may be interested in this guide. Additionally, this reference work will be helpful to small businesses within the food trade discipline.
A practical, how-to guide for farmers who want to achieve and maintain financial sustainability in their businesses When you decided to become a farmer, you also became an entrepreneur and business person. In order to be ecologically and financially sustainable, you must understand the basics of accounting and bookkeeping, and learn how to manage a growing business. Author Julia Shanks distills years of teaching and business consulting with farmers into this comprehensive, accessible guide. She covers all aspects of launching, running and growing a successful farm business through effective bookkeeping and business management, providing tools to make managerial decisions, apply for a loan or other financing, and offering general business and strategy advice for growing a business. Whether you've been farming for many years or just getting started, The Farmer's Office gives you the tools needed to think like an entrepreneur and thoughtfully manage your business for success.
Updated in 2020 with new content! Originally published in 2016, this book was the first of its kind "how to" guide for learning how to develop a venue business on rural property. Since its publication, the original book helped thousands of people take their first steps into being a venue owner. And now the second edition has even more to offer! Looking at current conditions in the event industry as well as expanding key chapters, unlike the original, this book has been re-written for anyone at any stage of the wedding venue business planning process. Whether you are just dreaming of someday owning your own venue or a couple of years into venture, this book will have something you are looking for. The Second Edition Includes: The basic skills every successful entrepreneur needs An overview of the wedding venue business & operations Understanding permitting, policy development and land use codes How to perform and use market research to develop your venue features and services The essential steps and know-how for creating a powerful brand Understanding financials including how to set sales targets and your price so that you get the financial freedom you want Provable wedding venue marketing & sales strategies that get couples to say "I do" to you! Tips for putting your whole home-based wedding venue vision in actionable and effective goals Pivots and services for venues to consider in a post-pandemic environment Whether you own your own property or not, if you are looking for a great opportunity to take your real estate and turn it into a revenue-generating business, this book will show you how.
We tend to associate small town economic development with the decline of the rural United States--empty houses, shuttered shops and rusting factories. A common diagnosis of sluggish small town recovery is their lack of lifestyle amenities that attract new residents and businesses. Yet many small towns have shown progress and potential in recent years. This collection of recent articles by experts presents stories of small-town America's struggle and describes innovations and practices behind successful revivals.
This book investigates the role of wealth in achieving sustainable rural economic development. The authors define wealth as all assets net of liabilities that can contribute to well-being, and they provide examples of many forms of capital – physical, financial, human, natural, social, and others. They propose a conceptual framework for rural wealth creation that considers how multiple forms of wealth provide opportunities for rural development, and how development strategies affect the dynamics of wealth. They also provide a new accounting framework for measuring wealth stocks and flows. These conceptual frameworks are employed in case study chapters on measuring rural wealth and on rural wealth creation strategies. Rural Wealth Creation makes numerous contributions to research on sustainable rural development. Important distinctions are drawn to help guide wealth measurement, such as the difference between the wealth located within a region and the wealth owned by residents of a region, and privately owned versus publicly owned wealth. Case study chapters illustrate these distinctions and demonstrate how different forms of wealth can be measured. Several key hypotheses are proposed about the process of rural wealth creation, and these are investigated by case study chapters assessing common rural development strategies, such as promoting rural energy industries and amenity-based development. Based on these case studies, a typology of rural wealth creation strategies is proposed and an approach to mapping the potential of such strategies in different contexts is demonstrated. This book will be relevant to students, researchers, and policy makers looking at rural community development, sustainable economic development, and wealth measurement.
