Women in Agriculture (WAgN)

Fall is a great time to pull together all that information you collected this summer but didn't have the time to do anything with--the planting schedules, harvest records, labor records, equipment logs, market receipts--and get started updating (or developing) your enterprise budgets for next year.

An enterprise budget is a tool that is used by farmers to evaluate the efficiency and profitability of a particular enterprise. There are many places on the internet where you can get templates for enterprise budgets and see examples of budgets completed by others.

Here are a couple of my favorite sites to get you started:

CIAS Enterprise Budgets

Rutgers Enterprise Budgets

Saturday's rain did not dampen the spirits of the 12 individuals that completed the 18-hour Growing Places class in Middlebury, VT. These individuals came together to explore the feasibility of starting or expanding an agricultural business. The class, which addresses topics such as goal-setting, decision-making, resource evaluation, financial planning, and marketing is offered several times each year in both classroom settings and in an online format. To learn more about Growing Places go to the Women's Agricultural Network website and follow the links for Growing Places.

The highlight of the Middlebury class was a farm visit to Orb Weaver Farm in New Haven.

Marjorie answers questions from prospective farmers about the realities of owning and operating a farm.

In addition to a farmstead cheese, Orb Weaver is also a certified organic vegetable farm producing a variety of vegetables for the Addison County region. Most of the vegetables are sold through the Middlebury Coop.

The cheese cave at Orb Weaver Farm where some of the farmstead cheese produced by Majorie and Marian goes to be aged.

Check out the attached brochure from NRCS to learn about EQIP eligibility and the application process. The program provides resources that can help you implement important environmental stewardship practices on your farm. Oh, and the flower pictures have nothing to do with anything -- I'm just so in love with my flower garden this year I can't resist.
EQIP Eligibility Guidelines