- Author: Chris M. Webb
The recent LA Times article, Farm Team: Two chefs spend a year at Windrose Farm, lending labor and know-how, and learning from the ground up is an interesting and entertaining article related to the business of farming.
Farmers are busy, multi-talented people. They must have skills in a wide variety of areas for their business to survive. As the LA Times article explains slight adjustments in operations have the potential to make a profound difference on the bottom line.
UC’s Farm Business and Market Place has many resources to help food producers strengthen their business. Including:
- Customer Service and Relationships
- Building trust with consumers
- I’m right and you’re wrong: Do’s and don’ts in customer service
- Selling strategies for local food producers
- Strategies to attract and keep customers
- Promotion & Branding
- Adding value to agriculture: Branding and certification
- Building your brand
- Creating a winning display for your farm products
- Reputation as your brand
- Budgeting
- Projecting costs and returns – enterprise budgeting
- Cost and return studies
- Determining prices for CSA share boxes
- Enterprise budgets – 100 foot rows
- Partial budgeting
- Using enterprise budgets to make decisions about your farm
- Marketing Channels & Strategies
- A guide to understanding the value chain
- Adding value to farm products: An overview
- An overview of Small Farm direct marketing
- Bringing local food to local institutions
- Community supported agriculture
- Direct marketing of farm produce and home goods
- Guide to marketing channel selection: How to sell through wholesale and direct market channels
- Marketing 101
- Marketing alternatives for fresh produce
- Marketing strategies for farmers and ranchers
- New markets for your crops (available in Spanish)
- Niche market pricing and strategies for maintaining price
- Pricing for profit
- Selling directly to restaurants and retailers
- Selling to institutions: An Iowa Farmer’s guide
- Selling to Restaurants
- Strategic marketing management: Building a foundation for your future
- Value added agriculture: Is it right for me?
- What are niche markets? What advantages do they offer?
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Biological control can be used to control pests and the damage they cause in gardens, landscapes, agricultural, range and wildlands.
What is biological control? Biological control is using natural enemies to reduce the numbers of pests. Natural enemies include: predators, parasites, pathogens and competitors. Pests include: pest insects, mites, weeds, pathogens, nematodes and vertebrate pests.
Using biological control methods can reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides and herbicides. Reducing pesticide and herbicide use is beneficial to improving water quality.
To learn more about biological control, please see UC’s Natural enemies gallery. Resources include:
- Biological control and natural enemies pest note
- Narrated presentation on biological control
- Meet the beneficials: Natural enemies of garden pests
- Descriptions and identification of many predators and parasitoids commonly found on California farms and landscapes
- And much more
Natural enemies resources in Spanish can be found towards the bottom of this page.
Most of these resources are available at no charge. However, some are priced publications. When ordering online, please use promo code PRVEN56 to receive 10% off your order, plus a portion of the purchase price will go towards supporting local programs.
Interested in learning, but not purchasing? Priced publications can be viewed in our office. Please contact us in advance to ensure publication will be available upon your arrival.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Cooperatives allow groups of people to accomplish more collectively than as individuals. This private business model is owned and controlled by the people who use its products, supplies, or services. Cooperatives vary in type and size, but all are formed to meet the objectives of their members.
UC’s Small Farm Program has a collection of online resources for those interested in learning more about cooperatives. Topics include:
- What is a Cooperative
- Starting a Cooperative
- Publications about Cooperative, most of which are available by free download. Some of the publications are available in Spanish.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The newly redesigned UC IPM Online website has many wonderful resources intended to reduce the environmental and human health impacts of pest problems and managing them. Integrated pest management (IPM) can be used to solve pest problems in urban, agricultural, and wildland or natural areas.
IPM embraces combined management approaches for the greatest effectiveness for reducing pest damage. Biological control, cultural controls, mechanical and physical controls, and chemical control work together to create effective, long-term control in a way that minimizes possible harm to people and the environment.
When chemical control is needed the Mitigating Pesticide Hazards webpage provides step by step guidelines and suggestions to reduce potential harm.
Topics include:
- Choose a pesticide from the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for the target pest
- Before an application evaluation
- After an application evaluation
- Consider water management practices that reduce pesticide movement off-site.
- Consider practices that reduce air quality problems.
Some of these resources are available in Spanish.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
A cooperation between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon State University NPIC provides consumers the most comprehensive and reliable source of pesticide information in the United States.
Their website features much information. Topics include:
- Pesticide impacts on humans, pets, and the environment
- Safety procedures for pesticide use
- Pesticide emergencies
- Reporting injuries or problems with pesticides
- General facts sheets on a variety of common, home-use pesticide ingredients
NPIC also has a toll-free number. The line is staffed by experts Monday through Friday from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm PST. Pesticide-related questions can be answered in 170 different languages.