Online Courses
For Aspiring, New, & Experienced Farmers
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- Interactive 5- to 7-week courses connect you to the information and people you need to start a successful farm business or diversify your farm.
- Led by experienced educators and farmers
- Take a single course or start at the beginning and work your way through the courses in order.
- Courses help you establish clear goals, assess personal resources, plan marketing, create budgets, set up record-keeping, navigate regulations, choose the right equipment, improve soil, get organically certified, write a business plan, and learn how to raise veggies, berries and chickens.
- Primarily targeted to those farming (or planning to farm) in the Northeastern US, though most of our courses are appropriate and have a few spaces reserved for those outside this region.
Visit the course calendar or course descriptions to see the offerings of all our courses organized by season:
Registration is closed for all courses currently, and will re-open for Fall registration in early August 2012.
- BF 101: Square One – Building a Farm that Matches Your Values, Goals, Skills, and Resources
- BF 102: Markets and Profits – Exploring the Feasibility of Your Farming Ideas (designed to follow BF 101)
- BF 103: Taking Care of Business – Understanding the Business, Regulatory, and Tax Implications of Your Farm
- BF 104: Financial Records – Setting up Systems to Track Your Profitability
- BF 105: Machinery and Equipment – Evaluating What’s Right for Your Operation
- BF 106: Organic Certification – What, How, and Why (or Why Not)
- BF 110: Soil Health – Investing in the Vitality of Your Farm
- BF 120: Veggie Farming – From Planning to Planting
- BF 121: Veggie Farming 2 – From Season-Long Care to Market
- BF 122: Berry Production – Getting Started with Growing and Marketing
- BF 130: Pastured Poultry – Profiting from Layers, Broilers, Turkeys, and Ducks
- BF 201: Making Money – Pricing, Positioning in the Market, and Guerrilla Marketing
- BF 202: Planning to Stay in Business: Writing Your Business Plan
Choosing Courses
How to decide which are best for you:
If you are: |
We recommend: |
| Just exploring farming, not yet sure if it’s right for you. You may (or may not) own land, but have not yet taken any steps to develop an agricultural business. | BF 101: Square One and BF 102: Market and Profits are good places to begin articulating your resources and goals and exploring enterprise possibilities. Also, the Exploring the Small Farm Dream course (NOT online) offered by the New England Small Farm Institute. If you can’t find a course offered near you, you can still do the work independently through the “Explorer” book sold in their online bookstore. |
| Committed to starting a farm in the next two years but haven’t yet begun production. You have rudimentary knowledge, but seek more information about production, marketing and business management practices. |
BF 101: Square One BF 102: Markets and Profits BF 103: Taking Care of Business BF 104: Financial Records BF 105: Machinery and Equipment BF 106: Organic Certification BF 120 and 121: Veggie Farming BF 122: Berry Production BF 130: Poultry Production BF 202: Planning to Stay in Business |
| Already farming for 1 to 3 years, still exploring and learning what is and isn’t going to work for your particular operation. |
BF 103: Taking Care of Business BF 104: Financial Records BF 105: Machinery and Equipment BF 106: Organic Certification BF 110: Building Soil Health BF 120 & 121: Veggie Farming BF 122: Berry Production BF 130: Poultry Production BF 201: Making Money BF 202: Planning to Stay in Business |
| Farming 4-10 years, growing and maturing your farming systems |
BF 104: Financial Records if you haven’t yet set up record-keeping systems BF 201: Making Money and BF 202: Planning to Stay in Business These courses will help you write your full marketing or business plan if you haven’t already. These plans are great tools to guide your decisions and help you secure loans or grants to expand your farm. BF 110: Building Soil Health to make sure you’re using the best regenerative practices for long-term productivity BF 106: Organic Certification if you are considering organic certification but haven’t yet explored what it would mean for your farm. |
