Supporting Farmers in their Start-Up and Establishing Years
Penn State Extension is supporting new and beginning farmers by offering online courses, programs, webinars, articles, short informational videos, and a newsletter covering a wide range of topics. We understand that new and beginning farmers probably have off-farm jobs and may not be able to sustain the operation and family in the start-up years without supplemental income.
Online courses
The online courses cover retail farm marketing, orchard site planning, an introduction to value-added dairy, developing a feasibility study to determine if farming is right for you, and developing a business plan. These are basic courses and will assist with your decision making and providing the basic information needed to begin a possible farming operation.
The online courses are:
- Introduction to Value-Added Dairy
- Orchard Management: Site Planning and PreparationÂ
- Retail Farm Market School Â
- Starting a Farm: Is Farming Right for You?Â
- Starting a Farm: Business Planning.
Webinars
There are several recorded webinars covering risk management (one in Spanish), and one covering enterprise budgeting. These are free to view and will provide in-depth information on the covered topic. You can access these webinars online. There will be more offerings in the future.
Articles
There are over 200 articles covering most aspects of beginning a farming operation or enterprise. The articles cover introductory information for beginning farmers so they can begin exploring their topics of interest. The categories covered by the articles are:
- Exploring Farming
- Starting a BusinessÂ
- Introduction to AgronomyÂ
- Introduction to Horticulture
- Introduction to Livestock
These topic areas include articles as well as the short informational videos offered in each category. Many of these articles include resources for additional information. There are also some calculators or tools that are used to determine the profitability of types of crops and production methods, even one for urban farmers.
After reviewing these articles, beginning farmers should then explore in-depth information contained in the program area sites on the main Extension website.
Newsletter
The New and Beginning Farmer Team also offers a bi-monthly newsletter which is free if you complete the sign-up process. To receive the newsletter:
- Visit the Penn State Extension website and complete the registration if you have not done so.
- Under Contact Preferences, select "General News and Updates" to receive newsletters.
- You should also select "Products and Promotions" and "Events and Workshops."
- By completing the Area of Interest portion of the sign-up process, any future information will be sent directly to your inbox.
