Struggling to price your products at the farmers market? It’s a balancing act between attracting customers and ensuring profitability. From calculating your costs to understanding market trends and perceived value, this post breaks down key steps to help you set the perfect price. Ready to optimize your pricing strategy? Read on for tips that will boost your sales and sustain your business!
With the uncertainty of USDA contracts and funding while federal programs are being reviewed by the new administration and some programs being canceled, it is important for producers and organizations to understand their rights and key timelines. Farm Commons has recently published a resource aimed at helping producers navigate this situation. Key points from this resource are summarized in this post.
Starting or growing a business is an exciting journey filled with opportunities and challenges. Whether you’re launching a startup, expanding an existing operation, or simply rethinking your strategies, it’s always helpful to have a well-thought-out business plan. This document isn’t just a formality—it’s a foundational step that can turn your vision into reality while ensuring you stay on track to achieve your goals.
The USDA’s Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program is a cornerstone for farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers who wish to diversify their operations and expand their value-added products. For the current 2025 cycle and future cycles, there are some significant changes that you need to know if you’re interested in applying.
“What happens to the family farm?” is a question that commonly comes up after an unfortunate accident or death, which can add stress and tension to an already difficult situation. However, it’s ideal to create a plan early so the farm can pass more smoothly to the next generation. In this post, we discuss initial questions to consider and the best first steps to take when beginning the process of succession planning.
We have all felt the increase in our bills at the grocery store this year, but what does that mean for farmers? The difference between retail prices of food and farm-level prices includes costs of distribution, processing, marketing, packaging, retailing, and more. Buying directly from farmers and supporting local food suppliers helps bring more of the food dollar back to the farm.
Farmers purchase crop insurance to protect their crops from things like natural disasters, diseases, insects and market pricing drops. There are many myths about crop insurance, including that it’s too expensive and it’s only for “big” farms, which we’ve debunked in this post.
With apple picking and pumpkin patch seasons right around the corner, many seasonal Kentucky agritourism operations are gearing up for their busy seasons. At KCARD, we’ve been seeing a wide variety of agriculture operations adding elements of tourism and education to their farms, including u-pick berry farms, farm stays, hands-on workshops, Airbnbs, and more. In this post, we discuss five things to consider before adding agritourism to your farming operation.
Owning a business can be tough and paying employees can be confusing. Some businesses will prefer a local bookkeeper they can meet with face-to-face, but as more services move online, businesses are becoming more comfortable with online professional service providers for assistance with payroll and taxes. Before choosing an online payroll provider, it’s important to consider your business’s needs to see which option is right for you.
In order to diversify and increase profits, many farms are adding value-added products to their lists of offerings. For produce farmers, “value-added” refers to processing their fruits and vegetables into another product of higher value, such as jam, salsa, or pre-cut/ready-to-cook vegetables. While this can help bring extra revenue to the farm, it’s important to consider the extra time and money that will go into launching a new value-added product. If you’re thinking about introducing value-added products, start by considering these questions.
Your online presence is a key part of your marketing plan. You can use your social media pages to build your brand awareness, develop relationships with customers, and even to make sales. Though each social media network is different and has a specific algorithm, here are three tips to maximize your social media presence across your platforms.
Many KCARD clients sell their products at their local farmers markets, so we've compiled some tips to help you have the best possible experience when visiting the farmers market. Remember that when you shop at your local farmers market, you are paying for a fresher, tastier product that benefits your local economy by keeping every food dollar local.
In May 2020, KCARD launched the Kentucky Local Food System Expansion Initiative through support from an USDA Local Food Promotion Program grant. The goal of the Initiative is to increase local food sales for Kentucky producers by developing sales connections with buyers such as retail stores, institutions, restaurants, schools, and distributors. At 24 months into the Initiative, we wanted to provide a quick glimpse at producers who have been assisted thus far.
We get asked all the time how to get “free money” in the form of grants for on-farm projects. The answer is pretty simple: there is no free money. While grants can be a helpful way to fund worthwhile projects on the farm, there is a lot of work that goes into receiving a grant. In this post, we discuss some of the key steps of the grant application process.
The Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development is a non-profit organization established to facilitate agricultural and rural businesses in Kentucky. We are supported primarily through grants provided by the USDA Rural Cooperative Development Program and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board. Additional support is provided through our work with partners around the state and through fees charged for select client services.
