Voices of Experience Videos: Good Advice for New Farmers
Visit our collection of articles for new farmers too
Meet the Farmers | Lessons from Experience | Getting $tarted | Grants | Setting Goals
Marketing | Evaluating Land and Facilities | Choosing an Enterprise |
Taking Care of the Land | Profitability | Regulations, Taxes, and Insurance
Love of Farming
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Meet the Farmers
(8:50) Meet the twelve NY farmers featured in this series. They're located all over the state, and represent a range of age, experience, farm types, management styles, sizes, and goals. What they have in common is that they've all been there and done it. (See a list of their names and locations with a photo of each farmer)
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Wondering who's who? See a list of their names and locations with a photo of each farmer.
Lessons From Experience
(5:19) Our featured farmers share mistakes they've made, so you can learn from them.
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Getting $tarted
(4:36) Funding is often the biggest hurdle to getting the farm started. Here you can find inspiration in stories of the creative strategies others used to overcome this challenge.
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Wondering who's who? See a list of their names and locations with a photo of each farmer.
Grants
(1:38) Advice from experienced farmers about the ever-elusive grant money.
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Setting Goals
(3:55) If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there? After watching this video if you'd like to work on your farm goals, visit Unit 1: Goals, Skills and Resources
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Wondering who's who? See a list of their names and locations with a photo of each farmer.
Marketing
(12:00) Your farm will not last long without thorough attention to where and how you will market your products. Don't miss any of the subsections in this slightly longer video: Market Venues, Getting the Word Out, Customer Relations, and Setting Yourself Apart. To work on your marketing plan, visit Unit 2: Marketing What You Produce
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Evaluating Land and Facilities
(4:55) It's critical to know types of farming your land can support, or what kind of land you need to buy/lease for the farm you have in mind. To work through this question for your farm, visit Unit 3: Evaluating Land and Facilities
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Wondering who's who? See a list of their names and locations with a photo of each farmer.
Choosing an Enterprise
(4:14) Not sure what to produce? As you'll see below, there will likely be an element of passion in your decision. But it's a good idea to consider your goals, land and facilities, and markets too. Unit 4: Choosing an Enterprise will walk you through this decision.
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Taking Care of the Land
(5:30) Good stewardship is essential to keeping your farm's resource base healthy for years to come. Unit 5: Good Stewardship is Good Business offers some food for thought and examples of conservation practices you can explore.
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Wondering who's who? See a list of their names and locations with a photo of each farmer.
Profitability
(17:50) This important video is the longest in our series, with subsections on: Making a Living, Labor, Pricing Your Product, Keeping Records, Growing Your Enterprise, and Measures of Success. Many new farmers resist thinking of their farm as a business, and therefore neglect to consider profitability. Even if you have outside income that allows you to farm on the side, for long-term sustainability of your efforts and to be fair to farmers for whom this is a business, it's a good idea to examine your profitability. SeeUnit 6: What Will it Take to be Profitable to learn more about how to get your farm in the black and keep it there.
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Regulations, Taxes and Insurance
(4:06) Farmers are faced with the challenge of needing to be experts in production, marketing, customer relations, bookkeeping, planning, land management, and more. Learning the ins and outs of insurance, regulatory compliance, and taxes just adds to the pile. After you've watched the video below, please check out Unit 7: Regulations, Taxes and Legal Issues for answers to your questions about these important issues. Fact sheets in this Unit come from the award-winning Guide to Farming in NY: What Every Ag Entrepreneur Needs to Know
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Wondering who's who? See a list of their names and locations with a photo of each farmer.
Love of Farming
In the end, it is a deeply held love and passion that keeps farmers getting out of bed every morning and slogging through all the challenges they encounter.
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Please note: the opinions provided in these videos are those of the farmers themselves, and may or may not reflect the policy or stance of Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension staff and faculty.
