Learn how to turn what you already grow and make into a scalable, income-generating side business with practical tools and guidance Turn your backyard skills into real income. Homestead to Side Hustle is a practical class designed for folks who want to make money from what they already grow, raise, or create. Whether you’re selling eggs, preserves, [...]
Join us as we walk through the process of evaluating farm business performance at the midpoint of the year. Participants will review financial records, production data, and key performance indicators to assess progress toward annual goals. This course focuses on organizing and interpreting mid-year data to identify strengths, address challenges, and support informed decision-making for [...]
Mushrooms can be a powerful way to diversify farm revenue—but success depends on choosing a model that aligns with your farm’s scale, infrastructure, and market realities. This hands-on workshop focuses on the business and operational considerations of adding mushrooms to an existing farm. We’ll explore scalable production models, space and infrastructure requirements, startup and operating [...]
Hidden Hollow Hemp & Herb Farm is a small mountain farming operation that is adapting and diversifying its income stream and growing techniques to include agritourism, herbalism and regenerative farming. The aim is to tap into not only season extension and efficiency, but shifting to growing on steep, heavily wooded slopes with minimal forest disruption [...]
Twilight Farms Tours Join EMFS, and the Haywood Community College Small Business Center as we meet two Haywood farmers with Unique Market and Production Practices. Please note that farm tours are open only to owners of currently operating farms. Space is limited, and pre-registration is required. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mighty Gnome Market Garden This farm plans its CSA from [...]
Join EMFS, and the Haywood Community College Small Business Center as we meet two Haywood farmers with Unique Market and Production Practices. Please note that farm tours are open only to owners of currently operating farms. Space is limited, and pre-registration is required. Tour One - Ten Acre Farm The Ten Acre Garden offers visitors the chance to [...]
June 2015 -- Over the past four years, NC State Horticulture Science PhD student Drew Marticorena has been studying the "Local Multiplier Effect", the economic ripple effect that occurs within a community when consumers spend their money at independent, locally-owned businesses. While there are databases that contain standard multipliers used by economic developers across [...]
March 2015 - On March 2 at the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, approximately 20 North Carolina growers and buyers sat across tables from each other, in a kind of business development speed-dating. They had eight minutes to decide if they were potentially a good fit for each others' business. Attendees included produce farmers from all [...]
February 2015 - This spring NC Growing Together, NC State University, and the Cooperative Extension Service are partnering to offer Post-Harvest Handling for Enhanced Shelf Life workshops for small and mid-sized growers. Half-day workshops will be held April 14 in Duplin County and May 21 in Catawba County. An advanced, full-day workshop will be held June 2 in [...]
February 2015 - Food distributor Cornucopia Cheese & Specialty Foods Company was founded in 1980 in the back of a community grocery store in rural Alamance County. It is now one of the leading cheese and specialty food suppliers in the Southeast, providing over 1,000 products to customers in North Carolina, Virginia and surrounding states. Working [...]
