Completed Project Report


Financial planning for Alaskan shellfish farmers

  • Award Amount: $35,832
  • Regional Center: Western Extension Risk Management Education Center
  • Grant Program: 2007 Competitive Grant Program
  • Project Director:
  • Email: afrlr@uaa.alaska.edu
  • Organization: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Marine Advisory Program

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Project Overview

The Alaskan shellfish farming industry has been on the verge of significant growth, providing new economic opportunities for rural Alaska. Shellfish farmers expressed the need for training in financial management to apply to their individual farm operations. The primary goal of this proposal was to educate and train Alaskan shellfish farmers with financial management skills that led to farmer developed financial management plans that are effective and sustainable. Through a stepwise training process that started with information delivery, followed by workshop participation, and completed with intensive consultation, 30 farmers developed the capacity for creating a financial management plan tailored to their individual farm sites. A follow-up survey six months after training determined that farmers were actively employing financial management information. The financial management program has led to a number of intiatives that include: development of an industry development plan, initiation of applied shellfish culture research to address some of the constraining financial problems identified by the project, mainly issues with inefficiency of labor and pursuit of cooperative relationships to reduce the cost of operations.

Number of Participants: 34

Outcomes

Project Steps

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EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

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DELIVERY AREA

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