Acquiring and Managing Resources for the Farm Business

Kenneth Thomas. 2001 Ames, IA MidWest Planning Service.

This final book in a business management series focuses on the challenges of acquiring and managing resources, including land, machinery and personnel.

$9.00; 89 pages, paperback.

Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Planfor Farms and Rural Businesses

2002. Saint Paul, MN The Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture.

A guide especially designed to help alternative agriculture entrepreneurs work through the planning process and begin to develop a business plan.

$19.95; 280 pages, paperback.

Farming Alternatives

Nancy Grudens-Schuck and others. 1991. Ithaca, NY NRAES.

A user-friendly overview of enterprise selection and the development of a business plan, written for established farmsthat are considering adding a new enterprise.This guide includes worksheets, checklists, and case studies.

$9.00; 88 pages, paperback

Getting Established in Farming

Kenneth Thomas. 2002. Ames, IA MidWest Planning Service.

This fifth book in a business management series focuses on the process of deciding whether to farm and how to get started. Topics include personal and financial resource assessment, and much more.

$9.00; 79 pages, paperback.

The Legal Guide for Direct Farm Marketing

Neil Hamilton. 1999. Des Moines, IA Drake University.

The author is a successful farmer, attorney and professor of agricultural law. This comprehensive guide is essential for anyone considering direct farm marketing. Hamilton covers liability, regulations, labor law, processed foods, and meat marketing issues in layman's terms.

$20.00; 235 pages, paperback.

Making Your Small Farm Profitable

Ron Macher. 1999. North Adams, MA Storey Books.

An introductory guide for beginning farmers from the editor of Small Farm Today. This practical, step-by-step guide to operating a small farm in the new millennium examines 20 alternative farming enterprises. Learn how to target niche markets and sustain a farm's biological and economic health.

$19.95; 274 pages, paperback

Marketing on the Edge: A Marketing Guide for Progressive Farmers

Canadian Farm Business Management Council. 2002 Ottawa, ON.

A comprehensive guide to direct marketing, co-published with the North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association.

$35.00; 144 pages, paperback.

Marketing to the New Natural Consumer

Harvey Hartman and David Wright. 1999. Bellevue, WA The Hartman Group.

A summary of the Hartman Group's research into organic and lifestyle consumer trends. Understanding consumer trends in the food and natural products market can help you to succeed in this new marketplace.

$39.95; 267 pages, paperback.

The New American Farmer: Profiles in Agricultural Innovation

John Ikerd. 2001. MD Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

Profiles of working farmers and ranchers across the country, many in the Northeast, who are succeeding and thriving on family-run farming operations.

$19.00; 159 pages, paperback

Pastured Poultry Profits

Joel Salatin. 1996. Swoope, VA Polyface, Inc.

A step-by-step guide to Salatin's innovative method of raising meat birds on pasture. He provides clear descriptions and makes lavish use of photographs. A must if you want to establish a profitable small-scale broiler enterprise.

$35.00; 371 pages, paperback.

Salad Bar Beef

Joel Salatin. 1996. Swoope, VA Polyface, Inc.

Salatin brings optimism and energy to this series of essays on how he raises beef (and other livestock) on grass for direct market to urban customers. He reveals his tricks in great detail, such as the egg-mobile, the pig-aerator, electric fencing, the warm winter hay shed, and how to promote meat products. A must for anyone looking for new ideas on raising livestock.

$35.00; 368 pages, paperback.

Sharing the Harvest

Elizabeth Henderson. 1999. White River Junction, VT Chelsea Green.

Guide to starting and running a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. This book describes many problems of the current food production and distribution system and suggests that one solution is CSA. The book outlines the steps necessary to set up a CSA, discusses options and issues for each step, and includes examples from CSAs all over the US.

$24.95; 254 pages, paperback.

Small Scale Food Entrepreneurships: A Technical Guide for Food Ventures

Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship
Cornell University. 2001. Geneva, NY Cornell University Press.

Start-up guide for food processing and value-added enterprises. This book is designedto increase awareness of food processing and safety issues, and to teach basic specialty food business knowledge and vocabulary to aspiring or start-up owners and operators.

$15.00; 108 pages, paperback.

Small Scale Livestock Farming

Carol Ekarius. 2000. North Adams, MA Storey Books.

This book offers an introduction to grass-based livestock farming. Oriented toward beginners, it includes information on goal setting, business management, and production. Also included are case studies of successful farmers, nitty-gritty details on nearly every facet of livestock farming, and insights into working with nature instead of against nature.

$18.95; 217 pages, paperback.

Sustainable Vegetable Production from Start-Up to Market

 Vern Grubinger. 1999. Ithaca, NY NRAES.

Production manuals with information on marketing, grower profiles and sample enterprise budgets. A great resource for both beginning and more advanced growers.

$38.00; 268 pages, paperback.

Used Farm Equipment: Assessing Quality, Safety and Economics

Marcia Sanders, editor. 1987. Ithaca, NY NRAES.

This superbly illustrated resource offers tips on how to become a knowledgeable buyerof used agricultural equipment through logical, methodical inspection. It will help prospective buyers quickly assess the condition of equipment by looking for clues to past and future problems, and use this information to establish the worth of a machine.

$9.00; 34 pages, paperback

You Can Farm

Joel Salatin. 1998. Swoope, VA Polyface, Inc.

One of the few books written explicitly for aspiring farmers from non-farming backgrounds. This book is not designed to give you exact details about a farming enterprise - his other books do that well. This book is designed to show you that you can farm! It gives you the appropriate perspective to take when beginning a farming enterprise. He offers principles and examples that inspire vision, direction and confidence.

$35.00; 480 pages, paperback