As we gear up for the 2025 season, effective recordkeeping is key to understanding your business's financial health and driving growth. This blog explores advanced methods, from cloud-based software to industry-specific tools, to help you track finances, analyze key metrics, and make informed decisions. Mastering recordkeeping will set your business up for success in the year ahead.
In case you missed it, check out our Recordkeeping 101 blog post to get caught up on this series.
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.
Are you headed to the Kentucky State Fair this year? Come and visit the AgVets team at our booth located in the Gourmet Gardens area in the South Wing lobby. Our team will be there on August 21st for Military Appreciation Day and August 28th for First Responders Day.
July is Kentucky Grown Cut Flower Month, so we’re celebrating with a spotlight on Eden Roots Flower Farm! Eden Roots Flower Farm is a small cut flower farm owned by Sarah Torgerson in Simpsonville, Kentucky that offers homegrown cut flowers for retail and wholesale, as well as arrangements for small events.
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.
Jericho Farmhouse is an ice cream shop and farm market in Henry County, KY owned by the Coombs Family. The Coombs family operated a dairy farm for generations until 2018 and now, Jericho Farmhouse offers ice cream, beef, a place for local farmers to sell their products, and plenty of fun farm experiences.
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.
This month, we spoke with Juan Alejo about his internship with Fox Creek Cattle Company through the Boots to Agriculture Internship. KCARD assists with this internship as part of the Kentucky AgVets Program, which helps veterans and transitioning service members who are interested in agriculture access resources, internships, and educational opportunities.
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.
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.
