The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff - and Making a Profit

by Richard Wiswall

Contrary to popular belief, a good living can be made on an organic farm. What’s required is farming smarter, not harder. In The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook , Richard Wiswall shares advice on how to make your vegetable production more efficient, better manage your employees and finances, and turn a profit. From his twenty-seven years of experience at Cate Farm in Vermont, Wiswall knows firsthand the joys of starting and operating an organic farm—as well as the challenges of making a living from one. Farming offers fundamental satisfaction from producing food, working outdoors, being one’s own boss, and working intimately with nature. But, unfortunately, many farmers avoid learning about the business end of farming; because of this, they often work harder than they need to, or quit farming altogether because of frustrating—and often avoidable—losses. In this comprehensive business kit, Wiswall A companion CD offers valuable business tools, including easy-to-use spreadsheets for projecting cash flow, a payroll calculator, comprehensive crop budgets for forty different crops, and tax planners.

Genres: Agriculture, Business, Gardening, Nonfiction, Finance, Reference

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2009

About the author

Richard Wiswall started Cate Farm in East Montpelier, Vermont, where he has farmed since 1981. Known for his work on farm profitability and appropriate business tools, Wiswall consults with other farmers, and writes and speaks frequently on organic-farm business issues. To learn more about Wiswall and Cate Farm, visit www.catefarm.com."

Reviews

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about habits one must incorporate into ones lifestyle in order to succeed at your chosen goals. It is written by the owner of an organic farming business so the author's examples are from his real life. This is what the cover emphasizes, a business handbook. There are details as minute as how to arrange your accounting files and balance a checkbook and as broad as discussing the importance of estate planning. There are very exact details of efficiencies in bed preparation by mechanical means. While not every detail applies to your organic farming operation, every concept shared does. My wife and I found this very useful as we are beginning our farming business. Reading it aloud together served as a business planning seminar that was self-guided. I believe in the long run we'll consider it time well spent.

[Emily Culver]

I won't give this a star rating because I was obviously not the intended audience of this book. I was assigned this book for a class but do not have a farm and have a background in computer science.

The book was simple but practical. The key message is measure absolutely every aspect of your business, both time and money, and use that data to evaluate where you are making and losing money. Seems pretty intuitive to me, but again, I have a CS background and work for a data driven company with regular business reviews. Also, it says it is for organic farming but it could apply to nearly any small farm or even small home business.

I think my main criticism is that it was really him saying how he does it, and less about generalizing the concept. For example, he goes into the details of the types of folders to use and the way to sort your receipts and how to keep your checkbook. My husband is a real estate agent and so I could empathize with a lot of the income and expense tracking, but I would never do it the way he does, largely because we're 12 years into the future where so much more is digitalized. However, the concepts behind them are still applicable, it's just on you as the reader to interpret what that is from the specific example.

Reading the production efficiencies chapter was probably the most interesting part for me because I obviously don't farm but just have a casual garden. It made me think of how a lot of the things I actually enjoy doing would become such a pain at that scale and it was cool to see some of the simple, inventive tools there are to optimize it, and not the mega, mortgage incurring machines I've seen on documentaries of the huge farms.

Overall, some pretty practical, straightforward advice on how to make sure you're doing the right things to actually make money while farming. Even as a non farmer it was an enjoyable and quick read.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really informative book about organic farm financing and business. I planned to skim through most of it, but I ended up reading it cover-to-cover because it’s actually quite absorbing and often witty. The materials in the accompanying CD will be useful in the future I am sure, and I appreciate Richard Wiswall’s exhaustive handling of the subject matter. Granted, this is the first I’m learning about many of these topics: my background is in the plant side of farming, not the business side. But I will keep all that I learned in this book in mind when I start my own farm business. This book has forced me to transform my thinking for my future farm and has moved the farm from the realm of “dreams” into that of “plans”. I question many of Wiswall’s points on efficiency, as I believe the only truly sustainable farms for our burning world will be those that don’t rely on irrigation, off-farm amendments, seed companies, fossil fuels, or plastics to grow food. But I recognize the importance of meeting financial targets in the near-term for a business to be viable while preparing for the worst the climate has in store in the decades to come.

[Eileen]

No star rating because I skimmed rather than read.

This looks like a good primer about organic farming as a business. No-dig folks might not like the tractor-y bits. (Someone penciled, You don't have to do this. No dig is better and easier' into my library copy.) Wiswall helps readers focus on profitability, not production. There's a big-picture talk about values informing our goals and quite a bit of drilled down information about tracking labor costs and preparing for taxes, documenting what sells and what doesn't, etc. This book might be the reality check needed to sort the farmers from the gardeners. Or maybe you find a business partner who loves this stuff and say, "Here's what I want you to work on while I'm growing things." I liked his advice on keeping track of things borrowed (and lost or stolen) from your farm. It's also worth thinking about how farming as a married couple or in a family business might impact relationships. Some forethought and ongoing communication about roles is needed! My main take away is that I don't want to start a farm business. I just want to grow food for my family.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are just finishing up the second season of our farm. This book has a lot of great insights on how to manage certain tasks on the farm and in the office. A lot of stuff we were already doing, but it was nice to see the value of those tasks fully explained. It also helped us a lot with our attitude/burnout. Maybe it is just cause the season started winding down, but it really has us excited and ready to improve next year. There is so much to learn in this business and I think this book has a lot of gems. We actually got it from the library but decided to buy it.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good basic advice about actually growing food as a business instead of just being a hippie, that seems pretty obvious to me- oh wait I forgot I actually did collect a business degree along the way, (who knows ask 20 year old me why that seemed like a good idea). The spreadsheets are also a useful resource, though I tend to find it's the process of actually building them that's the most insightful so I still craft my own.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has really struggled, and still is struggling, to learn the impossible business of making a business out of a small start-up farm, I'll say that this book has been incredibly helpful. There are a number of useful worksheets in addition to clear explanations about various aspects of the financials and practicalities of starting up a farm business. I appreciate his emphasis on learning how to be efficient and the importance of prioritizing tasks - two things desperately needed as a farmer and two things I find very difficult in the context of starting my own farm. This book has really helped me - on a daily basis - to ask myself, "how will spending my time this way make itself worthwhile?" and "can I do this more efficiently another way?" Unfortunately, being a start up, sometimes I just don't have the resources to do everything the way I'd like but at least I have a better idea of how to formulate how to get to being more efficient. Highly recommend this book and I anticipate rereading this several times over the next several years as I work through my business plan.

[Philip Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information but it's not about organic farming

I bought this book at a pretty high price looking for some advice about profitability unique to organic farming. Unfortunately the title is misleading in that regard. The book is about the business aspect of farming in general and the author throws in the word organic now and then. For example, I would like to know about the costs specific to purchasing OMRI approved products for pest and disease control, none of which were mentioned.
The author goes a little far afield in writing of accounting methods, investing and estate planning. Useful to know but there are plenty of really good books on those subjects.
The book has some useful pearls but nothing unique.
It's well written and a good read but it's not the best resource for somebody looking to start an organic farm.
And the Amazon price is much higher than that for comparable books, especially when you buy the kindle version and don't get the companion CD.

[Chloe Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me a pretty clear picture of what it takes to maintain a farm from the business perspective - legally, practically, etc. The material isn't as dull as it could be, and it's easy to follow and understand. I wish there were more about marketing and finding/maintaining sales avenues, but that aside, it was pretty good.

I'm glad I have it - it will be an excellent reference when doing taxes, writing up a business plan (which it has a full chapter on!), and bringing on employees.

It is just "business" stuff...and it's easy to lose sight of the human, heart, and real reason for it all. So I like that the book started with goal and priority setting and ended with the reminder to "Be the farmer you want to be."

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, practical guide for farmers to increase their profitability. I work with farmers and many of them think of that as an ugly word. All of them work very hard but many of them don't realize the fruits of their labors because they put many other values ahead of finances. But many of them then can't continue farming because they can't afford to. Wiswall lays out excellent arguments and actionable procedures to allow farmers to keep doing what they love and put themselves in their families in a better position than just scraping by.

[Brigid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the newer edition which comes with a cd rom containing many different spreadsheets for helping with organizing everything on the farm. The writing style is plain, with good sense and bit of humor. I highly reccomned this book to anyone who is looking into farming as a career or is already farming. The author has some great thoughts on changing the readers way of thinking about farming.

[Levi Wooden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though "complete" might be a bit of a stretch, it does have a lot of very helpful planning and record keeping tips for the inexperienced (like myself). The worksheets included on the CD especially seem like they will be helpful.

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful book - more so than most others of this type that I've read.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

full of great info. and tips. Great reference source!

[Batman]

i juat want to have a look

[Spencer Leung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical farming 101

A very down to earth practical farm management book for new farmers. That is if you are dependent to your farm in earning adequate income for your family.

[Alida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful, well-written, simple and easy to understand, and great information!