Farmers are stressed about SO MANY DETAILS. You wear SO MANY HATS. Let’s look at how diversifying can hinder, rather than help you do any one thing super well.

Ellen Polishuk will walk you through the basics of Enterprise analysis: getting costs and incomes by enterprise (flowers versus vegetables versus events for example). Then, how do we think about Overhead (hey, what’s that?) and how to spread it across your enterprises.  We will consider factors such as what enterprises bring in the most income (cash flow!), Net income (hey, let’s make a profit!), as well as resource use, climate stability and markets. And, we won’t forget to address which enterprises bring you joy or sorrow, and other lenses through which to analyze how worthwhile an enterprise is to your farm. This is part one of a two part session.

Do you track your income and expenses by enterprise? Email cassie@efao.ca if you would like Ellen to use your farm as a working model for this session, and receive live coaching and support from a farm business expert. This opportunity is first come, first served.

If you are a farmer or aspiring farmer in the north, please use code ENTN26 to register for free!

This webinar is supported by funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario.

About Ellen Polishuk

Ellen is a biological farm consultant and teacher. Ellen worked for 25 years as one of three owners of Potomac Vegetable Farms (PVF). She managed the Loudoun County location where they cultivated 20 acres of land using organic practices: 10 acres of vegetables and herbs, 10 acres of soil building crops. PVF in total attended six farmers markets, had two roadside stands and served a 550 member CSA in the Washington DC metropolitan area. In 2010, while still farming, Ellen started her consulting business, working with local growers and land owners to develop fertility and production systems. She retired from farming in mid-2017 and now coaches farmers on production practices, labor management, soil testing and fertilizer recommendations, and marketing. She also works with families and non-profits to assess their land resources for possible agricultural enterprises.

For many years she has presented workshops at conferences and meetings around the country on numerous agricultural topics including: composting, marketing, weed control, farm business management, soils and fertility, and labor. She has worked closely with the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG) to develop and present Growing Farm Profits, a two day intensive workshop to educate growers and service providers on how to keep records, how to use them to analyze farm profitability, and how to change management strategies to increase farm profits. You can learn more about her at Plant to Profit.