Agriculture is one of the most lucrative businesses in the world today. Sustainable farming business entails inventive strategies to produce and sell agricultural products. Today, there is a paradigm shift in the structure of agriculture as more entrepreneurs are now embracing farming as a business. While starting a farming business, you don’t necessarily need a large piece of land; you can always start small.
Everything you need to help start a farming business
The first thing you have to do is create a plan. When starting any business, it’s important to think through every aspect of the business so that you can be prepared for whatever may come your way. Farmers are busy people, so this plan needs to be simple enough to remember, but detailed enough to provide you with all the information you need.
Plan of Action for Starting a Farming Business
• What is your motivation for starting this business?
• Who are the customers?
• Will you be farming organically or conventionally? Why?
• How will you gain access to land on which to farm?
• How will you finance the business (loans, savings, investors)?
• What are your long-term goals?
• How will you advertise your products? Will they be marketed locally or regionally? Nationwide? World-wide?
• What is your farming philosophy and how will that affect day to day operations?
• What is your business focus (e.g., production, retail sales, processing, delivery)?
• How will you handle customers’ questions and complaints?
• What employee policies will you have in place to ensure a safe work environment?
Below are some of the steps to undertake while starting a farming business:
1. Identify Your Niche
Although you might be sure of the type of farming you want to venture into, diving headfirst into just doing it is not advisable. The most important thing to do is identify your target market, location, and taste, and preference. This will prevent you from going in the wrong direction. For instance, assume you start the apple fruit farm in your home state in Miami. Just when you are about to harvest the first batch, you realize there is no market for Apple fruits in Miami, but all the demand is in Florida. Even though you can maneuver to get to Florida, you will be forced to be out of the business by just one yield because you didn’t understand your niche.
2. Conduct Market Research
If you plan to start a farming business, market research is a step you can’t afford to skip. The significant benefit of market research is that it helps you understand what you want to grow, your potential buyers, the exact market to sell your product, how you will do this, and the level of competition in the market. If you are not conversant with the formal market, you can carry out your research by getting to know more about your customers, the distribution channels, and how to go about the farming process.
3. Find the Right Land
After identifying your niche and conducting thorough market and farm research, it is time to find suitable land for your produce. Decide whether to buy a land or lease it. Although purchasing land gives you total control over it, all the financial risks are transferred to you. If you are starting a farming business for the first time, it is imperative to lease the land as this minimizes financial risks and requires small startup capital.
4. Get Financed
If you are starting your farming business on leased land, finding the money to start the farm will be fundamental to your go-to-market strategy. Funding options can include loans from financial institutions, including self-financing options.
4. Develop a Business Plan
Like any other business, a business plan is critical in the first phase of a business, and a farm is no exception to this rule. Developing a business plan will help you determine what you want while venturing into the business and the plans you have in order to achieve the desired goals. In case you do not have sufficient funds, this planning assists you in developing a funding plan to help the business take off. If you do not know how to write a business plan, AgriLabourAustralia.Com.Au can rapidly find a professional to help you write a business plan to enhance productivity and cost-efficiency.
5. Market and Sell your Products
There are numerous ways to market your products apart from using the farmer’s markets. You can take them directly to the market or sell your products through Community Support Agriculture (CSA). You can also identify local growers’ cooperative that permits you to join with other producers to sell your products under a united brand. However, these are not the only channels. You can use other channels such as online communities, farming magazines, publishing houses, among others.
Autobiography
Eric Reyes is a passionate thought leader having been featured in 50 distinguished online and offline platforms. His passion and knowledge in Finance and Business made him a sought-after contributor providing valuable insights to his readers. You can find him reading a book and discussing current events in his spare time.
