Starting a Farm in Alachua County – Education opportunities

Agricultural Entrepreneurship

If you are interested in further developing your entrepreneurial skills for your agricultural business, we will offer again a series of short-courses for aspiring and beginner farmers related to agricultural entrepreneurship in 2023. You are encouraged to attend one or more events to get the most out of the content of the workshops. Courses are posted on the IFAS catalog HERE. Request a promotion coupon after your first enrollment to get a discount on other courses in the series (athearn@ufl.edu or tatiana.sanchez@ufledu). These are hybrid courses where you will have access to the class materials for two weeks before attending a live meeting either in-person or through Zoom.

These short courses are offered in a partnership between UF/IFAS Extension, and Farm Credit of Florida. Dates for the 2023 cycle will be posted on March, 2023.

Workshop 1: Starting a Farm – Online access starting on 6/16 and live meeting on 6/30.
Course online access for two weeks followed by a Zoom class.

Articulate your vision and goals; assess your resources; evaluate the suitability and feasibility of farm enterprises; and learn about business structures, registration, and regulations.

Workshop 2: Farm Business Planning – Online access starting on 8/10 and live meeting on 8/24.
Course online access for two weeks followed by a Zoom class.

Conduct market research and a SWOT analysis. Develop a mission statement, marketing plan, operations plan, human resource plan, financial plan, and risk management plan.

Workshop 3: Marketing for your small farm – October date TBD.
Online access for two weeks followed by a Zoom meeting.

Define a marketing strategy and competitive advantage, create promotional support, evaluate pros and cons of different types of market channels, take orders and accept payment online, selling through CSAs, farmers’ markets, roadside stands, u-pick/agritourism, farm-to-school, and wholesale.

You can request to join our Ag Business listserv by emailing alachua@ifas.ufl.edu to be informed about future classes for beginner farmers. Please include in the email subject: Please add to Ag Business listserv.

Hands-on at NFREC-SV in Live Oak

For hands-on courses available on specific topics consult the Small Farms Academy website. You can also request to get added to their listserv by sending an email to Kimberly Glasscock at kglasscock@ufl.edu or follow us on social through Facebook and Twitter.

Online options

Learning center by SARE – https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center
IFAS Catalog – https://ifas.catalog.instructure.com/