Anyone that has worked in the agriculture industry for more than six-minutes will tell you there is a multitude of limitations and complications that make success a hard-fought-for dream. And that’s for those that are already established, so imagine the uphill battle you’ll face when trying to start a successful farm business.
But uphill does not mean impossible, which is why we have pulled together a list of strategies that will help you launch your new business with the best chance possible. Good luck.
- Plan Everything
It doesn’t matter what sort of venture you are starting, if there is one piece of essential advice you need adhere to it’s the business plan. It’s the only way to get everything in order in the build-up and keep everything on track after your launch.
- Location Is Life
Every product needs a slightly different location in order to thrive, which is why you need to take your location into consideration. The type of soil, the weather, the space you have, the type of farming you want to engage in, it all needs considering. Our advice: use an agronomy service like MKC Coop to make sure you have the best chance at success. Planning is everything.
- Spend Your Capital Correctly
Every business needs to budget their funds accurately in order to succeed, but none more so than the world of agriculture where capital is required to make massive purchases, whether that be livestock, equipment, land or buildings. These are not purchases you can take lightly, and neither is the way in which you go about financing them.
- Time For Training
This doesn’t just mean training your farm workers, employees or managers, it means putting yourself into training and small business programmes that will help you better understand the basic issues underlying emerging farming systems in your area. That could be to do with the produce, how you market yourself or how you process your operations. It all matters.
- Position Yourself Perfectly
Another thing you need to sit down and work out is how you will position yourself in the market. You need to consider whether your idea is practical and whether you can fulfill a need, what the competition in your niche is, what USP and advantages you offer over the competition, how you can offer better value and what sort of demand you can meet. Knowing all this will help you work out where to position yourself.
- Financing Your Farm
This is another hugely critical aspect of farming that you need to consider and that’s because you need the sort of financial strength that will allow you to constantly support our routine production cycle. You might do this through leasing instead of buying, get backing from your local Land Bank or seek funding for agricultural entrepreneurship. It might even be beneficial to start off as part of a syndicate to get your processes underway before trying to stand on your own two-feet. The point is: there are options. Work out which is best for you.