Farm Wisdom: Managing Risk Video Series


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Farm Wisdom: Managing Risk on Small Farms Video Series

A diverse set of small-scale producers served as farm hosts for WSDA's 2009-2011 mobile workshops aimed at helping farmers reduce risk in their businesses. Production practices, direct marketing strategies, business planning, energy conservation practices, regulations for raw and processed products are all featured in this video series. More than 100 Washington farmers participated in nine workshops and found the information to be so useful, that we began filming them in order to reach more farmers with this invaluable, practical information.

While Washington has 39,000 farms and ranches, and all face multiple business and production risks ranging from rapidly changing markets to increasing occurrences of natural disasters, it's the small-scale farms and ranches that are more likely to face additional challenges to being profitable.

The farmers featured in this series are leaders in utilizing innovative and viable business and production practices to manage risk, and to build and maintain sustainable small-scale farms.

Farm Wisdom Video Series

Microdairy Production and Marketing:

Always wanted to start a farm business? And stay in business? Maximize your dream and minimize your risk by getting the tour at Wild Harvest Creamery to see how their mission, business and finance plans daily shape and define their production and marketing decisions. These farmers spent more than two years carefully planning how to open commercially without debt. See how they re-purposed materials, made low-cost equipment selections, and put a unique barn design to work for them. Learning from and adopting elements from their operation can save you time and money and let you do more of the things you love - like milk goats, make and sell cheese without the worry! 

4 min 35 sec 

Producción y mercadeo de productos lácteos a pequeña escala

¿Siempre ha querido empezar su propio negocio de granja y permanecer en el mercado? Realice su sueño y reduzca los riesgos con un recorrido por la fábrica de productos lácteos Wild Harvest Cremery, para arrojar una mirada a como su misión, planificación de negocios y finanzas ayudan a dar forma y definir diariamente su producción y decisiones de mercadeo. Estos granjeros emplearon más de dos años planificando cuidadosamente cómo abrir sus puertas comercialmente sin adquirir deudas. Observe cómo readaptadaron materiales, seleccionaron equipos a bajo costo y como colocaron un diseño de establo único que funciona para ellos. Aprender y tomar ideas de cómo ellos ejecutan sus operaciones, puede ahorrarle tiempo y dinero, que le permitirá realizar más actividades que a usted le gusta hacer, como ordeñar cabras, fabricar y vender quesos ¡sin tener que preocuparse! 

5 min 16 sec

Direct Marketing, a bilingual production in English and Spanish

Direct Marketing/Mercadeo Directo, a bilingual production in English and Spanish Have you always wanted to set your own prices for your fruit? Visit Barrett Orchards and learn how they have shifted from wholesaling their fruit to selling direct to the consumer from their own farm store. Technical details on crop selection, researching and understanding the market, finding the right location, infrastructure requirements, u-pick tips, and on-site marketing strategies can help you transition to a successful direct marketing business.

5 min 8 sec

Mercadeo Directo, una producción bilingüe en inglés y español

¿Usted ha querido siempre poder poner sus propios precios a su fruta? Visite Barrett Orchards y aprenda como ellos han cambiado de vender su fruta al mayoreo para venderla directamente al consumidor desde su tienda en el campo. Detalles técnicos en la selección de la cosecha, investigación y entendimiento del mercado, localización del sitio correcto, requisitos de infraestructura, sugerencias sobre los productos colectados en la granja por el consumidor mismo, y estrategias para el mercadeo local le puede ayudar a hacer una transición exitosa de su negocio hacia al mercadeo directo. 

5 min 8 sec

Alternative Energy on the Farm

“Better for the animal, better for the environment, better for you” is the motto of Crown S Ranch. From simple 1930’s extension wisdom, to high-tech prototypes walk through the full circle of this farm’s innovative energy and input savings. Essential energy savings are realized in this pastured beef, pork, chicken and turkey operation through unique systems like a passive walk-through flytrap for their beef cattle, rotational grazing aided by solar powered chicken trains, solar powered fencing and hen house doors, composting, and gray water catchment from their poultry processing facility. 

4 min 30 sec

Solar Hot Water System in a Microdairy

Contemplating a solar hot water heating system or gray water catchment system on your farm? Join Sunny Pine Farms and see their water resource systems at work. Used daily in their micro dairy and cheese making operation, specifics include weather requirements, equipment investments, pay-back period and cost savings estimates. 

3 min 2 sec

Alternative Energy on the Farm 

Take a look at the ways Pine Stump Farms, a diversified farm complete with timber and goat micro dairy, conserves and uses renewable energy. Highlights include a passive solar cheese making room, gray water collection for irrigation, solar powered electric fencing with chargers, battery and fence transported on a lawnmower spool, methane gas production via aWSU pilot small-scale bio-digester, movable passive solar chicken houses. Their innovative solutions abound! 

4 min 26 sec

WSDA Licensed Poultry Processing Facilities 

Kummer Farms and G & H Pastured Poultry. What does it take to be a small-scale commercial poultry producer and processor? Two farms share the business planning that led them to build the licensed food processing facilities where they process and package poultry for retail markets. Each farm has a unique set of practices that will inform your own enterprise planning. 

4 min 42 sec

Poultry Processing Rental Equipment

Colin Barricklow, Kirsop Farm in Tumwater, WA shares his diversified farm’s practices for cultivating row crops and small-scale poultry production for direct to consumer sales of up to 1,000 birds allowed for in the WSDA Special Poultry Permit. Food safety, animal husbandry, and predator control are essential components of Kirsop’s whole farm system. 

Kirsten Workman of WSU Mason County Extension walks tour participants through on-farm poultry processing including how to use rental killing cones, scalder, and plucker that Kirsop uses in their commercial production. 

Al Kowitz of the Community Agriculture Development Center (CADC) and poultry farmer Cheryl Templeton present the Mobile Poultry Processing Unit (MPPU) operated by CADC out of Colville, WA that meets WSDA poultry processing facility licensing requirements for processing up to 19,999 birds annually.

5 min 01 sec

Small-Scale USDA Inspected Meat Processing

Scott Meyer of Sweetgrass Farm on Lopez Island, WA is able to market his Wagyu Beef direct to consumers by using the USDA inspected Island Grown Farmers Cooperative (IGFC) Mobile Meat Processing Unit (MPU). Scott shows us the unique MPU-compatible site he designed and built on his farm. See his innovative farm management and animal handling practices that his customers value and have come to expect. Did you know the IGFC was the first mobile slaughter unit in the U.S., beginning operations in 2002?

2 min 16 sec

Small-Scale USDA Inspected Meat Processing

Colville, WA is fortunate to have a dedicated USDA cut & wrap facility in Smokey Ridge Meats. Smokey Ridge works closely with Community Agriculture Development Center’s (CADC) USDA-inspected Meat Processing Unit (MPU) that serves small-scale producers of beef, pork, lamb and goat. This facility combination makes direct and retail markets accessible to small-scale regional red meat producers. 

Brent Olsen of Olsen Farms shares how and why he began using the USDA cut & wrap facility, and how valuable it has been to his business and to the community to have access to a local USDA-inspected MPU. 

4 min 25 sec

USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) Programs

How do you minimize business risk on your farm? Join Dave Paul, RMA’s NW Regional Director, as he introduces this agency’s varied services, and highlights Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite (AGR-Lite), one of the best insurance programs available to owners of diversified small farms. Formerly the Federal Crop Insurance Agency, RMA now works with private insurance companies to offer products that support farmers’ economic viability over time. 

4 min 59 sec

Programas de la Agencia de Manejo de Riesgos (RMA) del Departamento de Agricultura de Los Estados Unidos (USDA)

¿Cómo reducir los riesgos empresariales en su graja? Únase a Dave Paul, Director de la Agencia de Manejo de Riesgos en la Región Noreste, en la presentación de los diversos servicios que ofrece la agencia y donde destaca el Ingreso Bruto Ajustado Lite, uno de los mejores programas de seguros disponibles para los propietarios de pequeñas granjas diversificadas. Anteriormente conocida como la Agencia de Seguros Federales Agrícolas, actualmente la Agencia de Manejo de Riesgos trabaja con las compañías privadas de seguros para ofrecer productos que respalden la viabilidad económica a través del tiempo de los productores.

4 min 58 sec

Flood Preparation and Recovery 

Are you farming in a flood plain? “Assume it will happen every year”, even if it’s called a hundred-year event. This is the advice given by farmer Jennifer Belknap of Rising River Farm in Rochester, WA after having been through several major floods on her farm. The aftermath can be less damaging to your farm’s bottom line if you have adequate flood insurance and a well laid-out plan that includes creating storage for equipment, livestock, and crops that will protect them from floodwaters. 

4 min 56 sec

Getting Started on a Cottage Food Permit

In 2011 the Washington State legislature passed the Cottage Food Operations law to ensure the continued quality for products made in a home kitchen. The law requires that a Cottage Food permit be obtained in order to sell low risk, non-potentially hazardous food products which are made in their home kitchen and sold directly to consumers. 

7 min 54 sec

Empezando con un permiso de alimentos caseros

En 2011, la legislatura estatal de Washington aprobó la ley de alimentos caseros para garantizar la calidad constante de productos fabricados en una cocina de hogar. La ley requiere que el permiso/registro de alimentos caseros que se obtienen por todos los que venden de bajo riesgo, productos de alimentos sin peligro potencial que se hacen en la cocina de sus casas y venden directamente a los clientes. 

8 min 42 sec

Bridging the GAPs

Good Agricultural Practices 
To continue addressing concerns and barriers about GAPS, WSDA is launching a new initiative; bridging the GAPS. A project providing GAPS auditors training about small, mid-sized and diversified farming operations and providing education and outreach to growers about examples of good agricultural practices for these types of farms. 

8 min 16 sec

Reduciendo las brechas 

Buenas Prácticas agrícolas (GPA, por sus siglas en inglés) 
Para continuar atendiendo a las preocupaciones y dificultades relacionadas con la certificación GAP, el Departamento de Agricultura del Estado de Washington (WSDA), esta inaugurando una nueva iniciativa: reduciendo la brecha. Un proyecto en el que se le provee entrenamiento a los auditores GAP acerca de las operaciones de granjas de pequeña y mediana escala, así como también de producción diversificada, proveyendo así educación y extensión a los productores dándoles ejemplos de buena prácticas agrícolas para este tipo de granjas. 

8 min 16 sec

GAP, FSMA and On-Farm Food Safety Planning

The WSDA encourages all farms, including small to mid-size farms, to follow good agricultural practices and start to document the procedures that they follow, which should help to prepare for the upcoming required Food Safety Modernization Act rules.

7 min 55 sec

GAP, FSMA y Planificación de la Seguridad Alimenticia en la Granja 
 

El WSDA estimula a todas las granjas, incluyendo a las pequeñas y las medianas, a seguir una buena práctica agrícola y que comiencen a documentar los procesos que ellos siguen, lo cual debe ayudar para prepararse para las reglas de la Ley de Modernización de la Seguridad Alimenticia que viene.

7 min 55 sec

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This project was made possible by a USDA Risk Management Agency
Community Outreach and Partnership Assistance Grant
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