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Educational
Sessions
Below
you will find information on short courses offered at Southern SAWG's
previous annual conference. If these presentations pique your
interest, then you should consider attending Southern SAWG's upcoming Practical
Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference. This annual conference offers the opportunity to participate in
workshops led by experienced farmers, connect with technical assistance
and resource providers, and get the latest information and tools to
improve the success of your farm operation.
Short Courses
On-Farm Exchange
Pricing and Profits:
Making the Right Financial Decisions for Small-Scale Farmers
2009 Annual Conference
Couldn’t make it to the 1 ½ day “Pricing and Profits: Making the Right Decisions for Small-Scale Farmers” finance short course during the 2009 Southern SAWG conference? Now have the next best thing — three crucial presentations from this course are now available on our website. Jim Munsch and Alex Hitt took participants through a step-by-step process in order to make better informed financial decisions. The three presentations — The Beef Cost Model, The Vegetable Cost Model, and Figuring the Cost to Own and Operate Farm Machinery — presented the critical first step in developing a complete farm financial plan.
While it is not as good as actually being in the session, these presentations will help guide you through the steps to make better decisions based on systematic cost analysis.
This course and materials were developed, in large part, through support from the USDA RMA Small Sessions program.
The Beef Cost Model
This Jim Munsch presentation presents a costing model appropriate to all meat, egg, and milk product enterprises. Examples are provided for determining the costs of different production systems (cow/calf, stockers, finishing) working back from Carcass Yields and Cuts to estimating costs for producing and selling an individual calf. The budgeting process enables producers to make decisions about where to attack costs, how to price an animal, whether to buy or raise replacements, make or buy hay, renting additional land, and hiring labor.
The presentation also discusses costing of logistics, sale, and marketing in addition to examining cost effective ways of gathering the data. Resources for additional information are also provided.
Click here to download the Beef Cost Model.
The Vegetable Cost Model
Jim Munsch presents his model for costing of vegetable production. The model is appropriate for vegetable, fruit, or flower operations selling to CSAs, direct marketing, or wholesale. The presentation shows how to design a cost model which will allow one to determine profitability by channel, crop profitability before overhead expenses, and estimating costs to grow and costs to harvest, clean, and pack. The different analyses allow a producer to determine what crop to produce, whether or not to harvest a crop, what channels should be emphasized, and what price to set.
Resources for additional information are also provided.
Click here to download the Vegetable Cost Model.
Figuring the Cost to Own and Operate Farm Machinery
This presentation, developed by Paul Dietmann of the University of Wisconsin Extension Service goes through the steps of calculating the costs of operating farm machinery. These include not only the costs of operating machinery (repair and maintenance, fuel and oil, labor) but also the cost of ownership. The presentation examines several methods of determining whether to purchase equipment or not — breakeven analysis and net present value. Two examples are used — purchasing and operating a Massey Ferguson tractor, and purchasing and operating a flame weeder. It also considers hiring or sharing equipment as other options.
Resources for additional information are also provided.
Click here to download Figuring the Cost to Own and Operate Farm Machinery.
Management
Intensive
Grazing
2007 SSAWG Conference Short Course Resources
These materials provide an overview and practical information and
considerations for implementing a management intensive grazing
enterprise.
Proceedings from 2007 Short
Course
Bill Hodge Presentations:
LeVonna and Tony Uekman
Presentations:
Organic
Vegetable Production and Marketing
2007 SSAWG Conference Short Course Resources
These materials on developing an Organic Vegetable enterprise are
geared toward those who already have basic organic vegetable production
knowledge and some production experience. They are provided
by experienced producers and expert resource providers.
2007
Conference Proceedings
Alex Hitt Presentation:
Organic
Vegetable Production and Marketing Presentation
Debbie Roos Presentation:
Organic
Insect and Disease Management
Cut
Flower Production and Marketing
2007 SSAWG Conference Short Course Resources
These materials provide overview of principles and practices from the
perspective of successful cut flower producers.
Proceedings from 2007 Short
Course
Frank and Pamela Arnosky Presentations:
Goat
Production and
Marketing
2007 SSAWG Conference Short Course Resources
These materials provide overview of principles and practices from the
perspective of sustainable goat production professionals.
Proceedings from 2007 Short
Course
Dr. Gregg Rentfrow Presentation:
The
Carnivores Guide to Goat Carcasses and Adding Value to YOUR Operation
by Capturing the Ethnic Market
Dr. Ken Andries Presentation:
Sustainable
Goat Production: Basic concepts, issues, and ideas
Pastured
Turkey
Production and Marketing
2007 SSAWG Conference Short Course Resources
These materials provide overview of principles and practices from the
perspective of successful pastured turkey producers and professional
resource providers.
Proceedings from 2007 Short Course
Holly Born and Mike Walters Presentations:
Jeannette Beranger Presentation:
Saving Heritage Turkeys
Pastured
Broiler
Production and Marketing
2007 SSAWG Conference Short Course Resources
These materials provide overview of principles and practices from the
perspective of successful pastured broiler producers and professional
resource providers.
Proceedings from 2007 Short
Course
Seed Saving
2007 SSAWG Conference Short Course Resources
These materials provide overview of principles and practices associated
with farm seed saving.
Proceedings from 2007 Short
Course
Cricket Rakita Presentation:
Seed
Production and Saving for Small Scale Producers
On-Farm Exchange for Experienced Organic Farmers
2007 SSAWG Conference Resources
The Experienced Organic Vegetable Farmer On-Farm
Exchange provided a day of unique learning and sharing experience for
growers with the advanced knowledge and expertise that comes with
creating a successful, sustainable farming operation over a period of
ten years or more. This event took place on January 28, 2007, in
conjunction with Southern SAWG’s 16th Annual Practical Tools and
Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference. Twelve participants
gathered at Elmwood Stock Farm, in Georgetown, KY, and spent the day
touring the farm and sharing their amazing collective knowledge of
production and marketing, as well as ways they are dealing with a
variety of business and life issues. As one participant put it,
“There’s just no other way to get this information.
It’s not in books. It can only come from each other.”
Join them and learn through the following:
Funding for these educational sessions and proceedings was provided by
the USDA's Risk Management Agency.
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