Winter Business Intensive: Getting Started

Winter Business Intensive: Getting Started opens the series by helping farmers assess where their businesses stand and identify the goals, challenges, and resources shaping the months ahead.

Start Building a Stronger Farm Business

Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development Council will open its 2026-27 Winter Business Intensive Field School with Getting Started on October 6.

The opening session kicks off an eight-class series for beginning farmers, experienced producers, and other agricultural entrepreneurs who want to strengthen the business side of their operations. The Winter Business Intensive focuses on the management skills farmers need beyond production, including business planning, finances, marketing, record-keeping, production planning, and long-term decision-making.

Getting Started serves as the foundation for the sessions that follow. Participants can begin identifying where their farm businesses stand, what they want to accomplish, and which areas need additional planning or support.

For someone preparing to start a farm, those questions may involve determining whether the proposed enterprise is financially realistic. Established farmers may use the same process to evaluate expansion, diversification, or changes in how they manage the operation.

Look Beyond Production

Knowing how to grow a crop or raise livestock is only one part of operating a successful farm.

Farmers also have to make decisions about expenses, pricing, markets, taxes, insurance, infrastructure, labor, and risk. Appalachian RC&D says the Winter Field School brings in more than 20 agricultural professionals, including representatives from Extension, USDA agencies, and other agricultural organizations, along with experienced farmers who can provide practical insight from their own operations.

Participants receive tools and resources intended for immediate use on their farms rather than relying only on classroom theory.

The broader series includes sessions addressing farm visioning and resource assessment, infrastructure and natural resources, markets and marketing, business and financial management, sustainable production planning, entrepreneurship and risk management, and loans, grants and support programs.

Work Toward a Farm Business Plan

One of the central goals of the Winter Business Intensive is helping participants develop a more complete business plan for their farms.

A business plan can help a farmer clarify goals, evaluate costs and income, identify markets and prepare for conversations with lenders, grant programs or other agricultural support organizations.

The process can also expose weaknesses before a farmer makes a major investment.

For beginning producers, that may mean determining whether a proposed enterprise can realistically generate enough income to support the operation. For established farms, planning may reveal which enterprises deserve additional investment and which ones need to change.

TAEP Education Credits Available

The Winter Business Intensive is accredited by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

Farmers who successfully complete the program can qualify for up to two education credits toward the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program Producer Diversification Cost-Share Program. Appalachian RC&D says those education credits remain valid for up to three years after completion of the class.

That can make the series particularly useful for Tennessee producers considering future TAEP Producer Diversification projects, as well as farmers who simply want stronger business-management skills.

Training Designed for Regional Farmers

Appalachian RC&D developed Field School to serve farmers in Northeast Tennessee and the surrounding Appalachian region.

The organization says the program is appropriate for beginning farmers who want to learn from experienced producers and agricultural professionals as well as established farmers looking for new ideas or preparing to expand their operations.

Getting Started gives participants a place to begin that process before later sessions move into more specialized topics.

Farmers interested in participating should register through Appalachian RC&D and review the current Winter Field School information for session logistics and program requirements.

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