Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses

Innovative farmers and ranchers know that alternative crops and value-added products give them an edge in the marketplace. Effective planning is crucial to the long-term profitability of any new venture. Building a Sustainable Business brings the business planning process alive to help alternative and sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs transform farm-grown inspiration into profitable enterprises.

The step-by-step strategies help you develop a detailed, lender-ready business plan or map out ways to take advantage of new opportunities, such as:
Organic farming
Agri-tourism
On-farm processing
Alternative crops
Direct marketing
Adding value

Much more than a planning document, Building a Sustainable Business follows dairy farmers Dave and Florence Minar through a major transition on their Minnesota farm. The Minars’ experiences and excerpts from their sample worksheets lend a real-life perspective, illustrating how they and five other farm families set goals, researched alternatives, determined potential markets and evaluated financing options. Blank worksheets in the book help you create and organize your own plan.

Your business plan will demonstrate that you have fully researched your idea, mapped out production and marketing strategies, and that you know how to sell your product.

This publication was developed by the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture in cooperation with the Center for Farm Financial Management, with funding from the Minnesota State Legislature. This publication was co-published by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), under a cooperative agreement with USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.