Farmers can attend workshops on recordkeeping to boost their direct farm marketing business Posted: Wednesday, March 7, 2012 7:52 am
What should I grow? What price should I ask? Am I likely to make a profit?
These are all questions farmers who market their products directly to consumers ask themselves. Whether they market through farmers’ markets, on-farm retail centers, pick-your-own operations or Community Supported Agriculture enterprises, many farm marketers find answering these questions difficult.
Answers can be even more elusive if the farmer has kept incomplete production and financial records, or if the records are not well organized or nonexistent.
Challenges in keeping and using records will be addressed in workshops offered by University of Tennessee Extension’s Center for Profitable Agriculture in cooperation with the Tennessee Farm Fresh program. The workshops — Using Computer Records to Boost Your Business — will be held in five locations this month. These will be the fifth annual offering of “Direct Farm Marketing for Success Workshops.”
“The basis of good decision-making comes from having accurate information. These workshops will focus on methods to maintain and use records to make business decisions,” says Megan Bruch, marketing specialist with the Center for Profitable Agriculture.
UT Extension Area Farm Management Specialists Alice Rhea, David Bilderback and John Campbell will demonstrate the use of Quicken® software and assist participants in using a laptop and software to work through an example.
Workshops will be held Wednesday in White Pine, Thursday in Cookeville, March 14 in Spring Hill, March 15 in Jackson and March 22 in Monteagle. Pre-registration is required as the number of participants is limited. Registration is $25 per person and includes workshop materials, use of a laptop computer and software for the session and lunch. Participants should have basic computer skills.
The events will fulfill the workshop requirement of the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program (TAEP) administered by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for agritourism operators seeking the master level of cost-share funding.
Additional information about locations and registration forms are available online at the Center for Profitable Agriculture’s website http://cpa.utk.edu or by calling (931) 486-2777.
Tennessee Farm Fresh is a joint effort of the Tennessee Farm Bureau and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to promote the sale of Tennessee farm products directly from the farm to the consumer.
Learn more about the program or where to find fresh and local products at www.TnFarmFresh.com. Learn more about the TAEP at http://www.state.tn.us/agriculture/enhancement/. Published in The Messenger 3.6.12 , | 
