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Your Successful Farm Business: Production, Profit, Pleasure - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Your Successful Farm Business: Production, Profit, Pleasure

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Twenty years ago Joel Salatin wrote You Can Farm, which has launched thousands of farm entrepreneurs around the world. With another 20 years of experience under his belt, bringing him to the half-century mark as a full-time farmer, he decided to build on that foundation with a sequel, a graduate level curriculum.

Everyone who reads and enjoys that previous work will benefit from this additional information. In those 20 years, Polyface Farm progressed from a small family operation to a 20-person, 6,000-customer, 50-restaurant business, all without sales targets, government grants, or an off-farm nest egg.

As a germination tray for new farmers ready to take over the 50 percent of America's agricultural equity that will become available over the next two decades, Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley stands as a beacon of hope in a food and farming system floundering in dysfunction: toxicity, pathogenicity, nutrient deficiency, bankruptcy, geezers, and erosion. Speaking into that fear and confusion, Salatin offers a pathway to success, with production, profit, and pleasure thrown in for good measure.

ISBN-13: 9780963810984

Media Type: Paperback(New Edition)

Publisher: Polyface

Publication Date: 08-15-2017

Pages: 300

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

Joel Salatin and his family own and operate Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The farm produces pastured beef, pork, chicken, eggs, turkeys, rabbits, lamb and ducks, servicing roughly 6,000 families and 50 restaurants in the farm’s bioregion. He has written 14 books to date, is editor of Stockman Grass Farmer Magazine, and lectures around the world on land healing and local food systems. Polyface Farm operates a formal apprenticeship program and conducts many educational workshops and events.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

Foreword xiv

Introduction xvii

Chapter 1 Working Landscapes 2

Domicile 10

Access 11

Fences 14

Water 16

Buildings 18

Vegetation cutting 19

Chapter 2 Eclectic Awareness 22

The local daily newspaper 29

Tribal magazines 30

Books 31

The opposition 31

Chapter 3 Live Frugally 36

Chapter 4 Can Do Entrepreneurial Spirit 56

The Fears: Knowledge 65

Acquiring land 66

Finances 67

Labor 68

Marketing 68

Business 69

Optimism 71

Chapter 5 Assemble a Team 72

Starter vs. finisher 78

Messy vs. cleany 78

Spender vs. saver 79

Introvert vs. extrovert 80

Team Development: Micromanagement 84

Team Development: Working hard vs. free time 85

Chapter 6 Direct Marketing - Why 92

Self promoting 94

Emotionally vested 97

Hard work 97

Peer dependency 97

Community economy 103

Attracts the best and brightest 104

Customers will move with you 105

Emotional support 106

Polyface in Photos 108

Chapter 7 Direct Marketing - Where 126

Big supermarkets 126

Small independent grocers/supermarkets 130

Food co-op 131

Farmer's markets 132

Electronic aggregators 135

Restaurants 139

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) 141

On-farm sales/store 143

Metropolitan Buying Club (MBC) 145

Food trucks, kitchens 148

Chapter 8 Direct Marketing - How 150

Diversified portfolio 150

Differentiation 153

Customer friendly 156

Delivery is a separate business 159

Everyone food 162

Find your fit 163

Cash flow 164

Gateway products 165

Chapter 9 Gross Margin Analysis 168

Chapter 10 Multi-Enterprise 186

Chapter 11 Stay Nimble 202

Mobile farms 204

Modular 213

Management intensive 216

Chapter 12 Time & Motion Studies 224

Set benchmarks 231

Go loaded and come loaded 239

Make lists 244

Chapter 13 Getting Started (or Starting Over) 248

Mid-lifers 248

Young professionals 254

Youth and 20 somethings 256

Chapter 14 Distractions 262

Bank barns 262

Horse 264

Off-farm recreation 265

Heritage genetics 266

Certifications 268

Government agencies 271

Social media 272

Unscheduled visitors 276

Failure to cull 277

PVC construction 279

Cheap infrastructure 281

Chapter 15 New Opportunities 284

Agri-tourism 284

Edu-tainment 287

Urban custom farmers 289

Agri-community 290

Therapy farms 293

Elder-care farms 296

Farm schools 299

Camp farms 301

Summary 304

Index 308