The aim of this project was to help beginning farmers achieve record keeping and financial management capabilities. To achieve this aim we conducted a series of workshops that ranged from cost of production to cash flow/budgeting. These workshops were attended by aspiring farmers who attended the beginning farmer training program and start-up farmers (year 1 to 5) who were part of our incubator program and our program alumni who were farming. We also organized one on one quick books training sessions, primarily for our incubator farmers. We also partially covered the cost of QB software for our incubator farmers. The activities helped beginning farmers assess the financial health of their farms, which helped to not only minimize risk but also maximize their profit.
The farmers who attended the session spoke highly of the value it brought to their enterprises and taught them fiscal discipline, or at the least set them on the path to achieve it . Many of the attendees expressed the wish to conduct regular refresher workshops on the same topics as it will help them improve their financial risk management capabilities.