GrowNYC Farm Beginnings
Introduction to Farm Business Planning

About

GrowNYC Farm Beginnings is an high-participation foundations course for experienced farm workers to build their own farm businesses. Participants will apply their learnings through developing a farm business concept and will learn in community with peers and experienced farmer-owners. This program has provided training for many farm businesses who feed New York, and we are excited to welcome the next cohort.

Course format

Our course includes 10 class sessions that culminates in a business plan presentation at the graduation ceremony.

• Farm Beginnings (English) and La Nueva Siembra (Spanish) run concurrently, with 10 participants in each language group.

• In-person workshops integrate both groups for a bilingual learning experience (with interpretation).

• Virtual classes will be monolingual.

• We use a popular education approach for collective learning between participants and across languages.

→ View Course Schedule 

Cohort Size

5-10 participants

Course fee

Free (for accepted applicants)  

Who this program is for

• Field workers, farm crew, and farm managers with at least 1 season of full-time farming experience

• Farmer-owners in early stages of their business

• Immigrants with production agriculture experience from their home countries 

→ View Eligibility

*Production agriculture involves the growing and selling of plants and livestock at scale (at least .5 acres). 

What this program is not for

• This course does not provide training in agricultural production.

• This course is not for people without farming experience who want to start a farm.

• Please see Eligibility and FAQ for more detail.

Farm business plan

This presentation will be publicly presented at the course graduation, where you will discuss your learnings, refined goals and ideas for your business, plans for immediate next steps, and a high level roadmap of your future journey.

Community of support

Classes will include panels of farmer-owners, who will serve as valuable network connections in your journey. 

You will gain a group of like-minded peers to learn and grow with beyond the course.

Participatory engagement
Sessions will provide substantive material, discussion questions, and activities for effective learning. Homework will be assigned and reviewed to expand upon the learnings from each class.

Collective learning
Time will be provided in each session for peer collaboration to explore, integrate, and process learnings together.

Equity lens interwoven and interrogated
Agriculture in the so-called United States is deeply impacted by systemic inequity and built upon the exploitation of land and people. Subject matter will be introduced through the lens of equity to acknowledge the inherent biases and structural racism that create barriers for BIPOC and historically marginalized communities. 

We will confront the complexities of building farm businesses in an inequitable food system, pursuing financial viability while feeding our own communities, and pursuing farmer livelihoods that can sustain.

3 years of technical assistance for your business from the GrowNYC Farmer Assistance team

Farm Business Plan Presentation
Prepare and present a farm business plan at graduation

Attend at least 7 of 10 classes

Openness to using computers
Comfort and openness to using computers will support success in this program. We will be meeting virtually and sharing working documents through Google classroom. Fluency with computers is not a requirement, but openness to learning is expected (and will be supportive of your entrepreneurial journey). 

Openness to verbal and written communication
Course material includes reading and writing to learn, communicate, and develop ideas. Comfort with writing in at least 4th grade level English will support success in this program. Fluency with writing in English is not a requirement, but openness to learning is expected.

Committed attendance
If 2 or more no-communication absences occur for classes or workshops, students will be disqualified from graduation. 

This is a free course with limited space, and students unsure of their ability to attend or participate should provide space for students who are confident in their commitment to participate. This course occurs annually, and we encourage students to take this course when they are available to focus and commit to their farm goals.

Experience

• You have at least 1 full season of production farming experience. 

Directional clarity

• You have a clear sense of the type of farm business you want to workshop throughout this course.

• You have a sense of short-term and long-term goals for your farm business.

• Have a desire to develop a business idea that pursues financial viability (for profit, not for profit).

Program goal alignment

• You want to start a farm business in the GrowNYC Greenmarket Producer region (~200 mile radius from Poughkeepsie).

• You want to start a land-based farm business that grows food and products on farmland for communities in the Northeast.

Our program provides training, resources, and technical assistance to a limited scope of enterprises. Priority will be given to businesses that focus on the categories we are best resourced and equipped to support. Priority will also be given to enterprises who are aligned with GrowNYC Food and Agriculture’s mission to keep farmland in production in our region (~200 miles from Poughkeepsie) and provide food to New Yorkers.

Enterprises we are resourced to support:

• Food, herbs, and flowers for communities in the Northeast.

• Land-based by-products (such as honey, maple syrup, cheese)

• Aquaculture (such as oysters, kelp)
  
  

Enterprises we are not resourced to support:

• • • Non-food by-products (fibers)

    • Indoor/rooftop urban agriculture businesses

  • Cannabis farms

  • Majority fundraising-dependent organizations

• Therapeutic farms

• Vermiculture/compost businesses

  • • Hydroponics/aquaponics

(We suggest → Oko Farms, Farm School Public Course)

• • • Farms focused primarily on education as opposed to production

(We suggest → GrowNYC Green Space)

• • • Value-added businesses for producers that are not using farmland/plants/fungi/animals/insects/sea life to produce their own products

(We suggest → Hot Bread Kitchen)

The following variables will be the main determining factors in application evaluation:

• Regional relevancy (within 200 mile radius to Poughkeepsie)

• Course participation commitment and availability

• Sufficient farming experience

• Clarity about business direction and goals

• Eligibility of enterprise

• Commitment to farming path

• Openness to learning

If our program sounds like the right fit for you, we welcome your application and look forward to meeting you! 

• Mon, Sept 2: Applications open 

• Sunday, Nov 3: Applications close 

• Friday, Nov 15: Notification of admission decisions

• Friday, Nov 22:  Offer acceptance due 

• Saturday, Jan 11: Course begins