For Aspiring, New, & Experienced Farmers
“The expertise and resources presented and available in the course are awesome and arm me with the information needed to make better decisions”
- Interactive 5-7-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
- While most courses can be taken by people anywhere in the world, check the course description to confirm whether your course is targeted to those farming (or planning to farm) in the Northeastern US
Visit the course calendar or course descriptions to see the offerings of all our courses organized by season.
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. |
| Actively planning to start a farm within the next two years. 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 106: Organic Certification BF 110: Soil Health BF 120 and 121: Vegetable Farming BF 122: Berry Production BF 130: Poultry Production BF 140: Small-Scale Organic Grain Production BF 150: Farm-Scale Mushroom Production BF 151: Intro to Maple Syrup 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 106: Organic Certification BF 110: Soil Health BF 120 and 121: Vegetable Farming BF 122: Berry Production BF 130: Poultry Production BF 140: Small-Scale Organic Grain Production BF 150: Farm-Scale Mushroom Production BF 151: Intro to Maple Syrup Production BF 201: Effective Marketing BF 202: Planning to Stay in Business BF 203: Holistic Financial Planning BF 204: QuickBooks for FarmersBF 220: Season Extension with High Tunnels BF 231: Grazing Management |
| Farming 4-10 years, maturing your farming systems and possibly still diversifying |
BF 104: Financial Records if you haven’t yet set up record-keeping systems. BF 106: Organic Certification if you’re considering certification, and BF 110: Soil Health to learn how to incorporate practices to ensure the long-term viability of your most important resource. BF 201: Effective Marketing, BF 202: Planning to Stay in Business, BF 203: Holistic Financial Planning, and BF 204: QuickBooks for Farmers These courses will help you write or revise your marketing, financial, and business plans and financial record-keeping systems to improve your bottom line. These plans are great tools to guide your decisions and help you secure loans or grants to expand your farm. Any of our production-oriented courses may help you explore adding a new enterprise to your operation: BF 120: Vegetable Farming, BF 122: Berry Production, BF 130: Poultry Production, or BF 140: Growing Small-scale Organic Grains, BF 150: Farm-Scale Mushroom Production, BF 151: Intro to Maple Syrup Production, BF 220: Season Extension with High Tunnels, and BF 231: Grazing Management |