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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA business plan is a document that provides a road map to clearly define your proposed farming business in detail. It helps you to decide how you will do specific things such as locate, fund, sustain and grow your venture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You will also be able to state your ambitions, and how you envisage achieving them, and when. You\u2019ll need to look at viability, the size of the market, any competitors you\u2019ll have, and the predicted future growth of the industry you\u2019re interested in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The choices are vast. It could be raising chickens, growing specialized crops, or micro-farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good business plan should be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Easy to follow<\/li>
- Realistic<\/li>
- Comprehensive<\/li>
- Detailed<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Why Do I Need a Business Plan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA well-written business plan not only increases your chances of getting additional funding, such as loans or grants but also gives you a way to ensure all your goals are being met as you go along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having a detailed document to follow as a guide helps you stay on course and provides a greater chance of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By charting an ideal course of action, you may discover things you hadn\u2019t initially thought of. These might be additional ways of making your enterprise profitable or finding potential pitfalls before you\u2019ve invested a single dime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If, for example, your farm is reliant on producing a specific crop that depends on a long growing season, you need to figure out what happens if it fails. Certain things, such as the weather, are completely out of our control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It could be that you can\u2019t rely on just growing one thing and need to grow additional crops that don\u2019t depend on the same conditions or diversify in some other way. Many small farmers increase their revenue by adding other strings to their bow and diversifying<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another consideration is, just because the market you\u2019re interested in is strong right now, it doesn\u2019t mean it will continue to be so. A business plan lets you decide what you would do if there was a dramatic drop in demand\/income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As well as planning for the worst, you\u2019ll also be able to decide what you\u2019d do if things go better than expected. Should your chosen farming idea flourish and you can\u2019t keep up with demand, what happens then? A plan would help you know how best to expand under these circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without a solid plan for your farm, you won\u2019t be able to secure any help in the form of grants or loans, and you never know when a cash injection might be needed down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Do I Write a Small Farm Business Plan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To write a successful business plan, you\u2019ll first need to do a lot of research. This involves investigating how all aspects of your project will work by looking at how it is achieved by others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to apply for grants or loans, find out precisely what information they will need before you start. That way, you won\u2019t need to do a load of extra work later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talk to professionals; this could be farming associations, other farmers in your area of interest, banks, government offices, potential customers, machine manufacturers, breed societies, anyone who can give you concrete facts about what you want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this short video, the basics of how to write a farm business plan are explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n