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Developing Business Plans for Agricultural Producers

Brenda Duckworth

Summary

Historically, agricultural producers have not completed business plans, and when they do, the plan rarely addresses risks facing the operation. Furthermore, most available support material was not developed specifically for agricultural producers. Recognizing the importance of business plan development and the lack of curriculum, team members of the Tomorrow’s Top Agricultural Producer, or TTAP, program began developing just such a tool. The result is the “Developing Business Plans for Agricultural Producers” curriculum. Its purpose is to provide Extension faculty and staff, as well as other paraprofessionals, with lesson plans for teaching the development of agricultural business plans. Each lesson includes a publication for reference, worksheets for completing that lesson, and a case study application. Eleven lesson plans cover these topics: Executive Summary, Business Organization, Business History, Mission Statement, Resource Inventory, SWOT Analysis, Legal and Liability Issues, Setting Goals, Production Plan, Financial Plan, and the Marketing Plan. A twelfth component of the curriculum is a completed business plan case study called TTAP Enterprises.

The curriculum was utilized during the second class of the TTAP program. Since the curriculum was completed, over 25 agricultural business plans have been developed. These plans detail agricultural operations from Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico and include row crop farms and cattle operations. This presentation will demonstrate the curriculum and how it has been used.

Details

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