Tiffany Henry with Appalachian Business of Farming students.
February 2017 — North Carolina’s community colleges are stepping in to fill a critical need in rural communities across the state: training farmers on the business of farming. Tiffany Henry, Director of the Small Business Center at Southwestern Community College in Sylva, says, “when we connect with farmers, it opens them up to a whole other realm of resources.” There are 58 Small Business Centers based at Community Colleges throughout North Carolina, whose mission is to support the development of new businesses and the growth of existing businesses by providing training, counseling, and resource information.
Southwestern Community College’s Appalachian Business of Farming program is now in its third year and focuses on teaching the business aspects of running a successful farm operation. The idea came from a conversation with Rob Hawk, the NC Cooperative Extension County Director for Jackson and Swain Counties. In discussing gaps in training opportunities for farmers, Hawk and Henry realized that Small Business Centers could fill a critical need for business training that complements the training and expertise offered by the statewide network of NC Cooperative Extension agents and specialists.
The program meets three hours weekly for eight weeks and typically has about 20 participants representing new as well as experienced farmers. “Our first year we had 95 years of experience in farming between the participants,” Henry says. The one thing they all had in common? A desire to become more profitable. Classes focus on practical considerations that can make the difference between a farm failing and succeeding: finances and bookkeeping, cash flow, marketing, and connecting participants to local, regional, and statewide resources. By the end of the program, each participant creates a business plan.
NC Growing Together is supporting these programs by providing access to resources and expertise. In February, NC Growing Together’s Rebecca Dunning and Laura Lauffer traveled to both Southwestern Community College and Sampson Community College in Clinton, which this year is offering a similar program for local farmers.
“Our role in visiting the classes was to share what NC Growing Together has learned about working with grocers and wholesalers, and to connect folks at the community colleges to project resources,” says NCGT Project Manager Rebecca Dunning. “Just as importantly, our trips to the classes have helped us understand what practical information the Small Business Center counselors across the state need so that they can provide support to clients interested in creating food and farming businesses,” explains Dunning.
NCGT is currently developing an agribusiness resource directory for small business counselors at both community colleges and universities. The resource directory will provide information to connect SBC counselors with resources on farm insurance, farm lending, cost-share programs, and more. SBCs also offer individual counseling and can do one-session seminars on particular topics (for example, marketing or access to capital) for farmers.
Amanda Bradshaw is the Director of the Small Business Center at Sampson Community College. Inspired by the success of Southwestern Community College’s program, she brought the curriculum to Sampson County this year. “Folks come in to the Small Business Center and say, ‘I planted four acres of pecan trees and I don’t have a market’, or people inherit land and want to do something, but they’re not sure exactly what,” she says. She knew that the SBC, in collaboration with the land grant universities and county extension personnel, could step in and provide education and resources.
According to Bradshaw, all of her program attendees’ work full time or are getting ready to retire and are looking to make supplemental income or change their lifestyle. “We want to make sure these folks have the information they need to make good business decisions for their farm,” she says.
For more information on Business of Farming courses at SBCs in North Carolina, contact your local SBC counselor.
This article originally appeared in the February 2017 NC Growing Together Newsletter.