Success Stories: Income Opportunities in Agriculture - Indiana County

For those who have recently acquired land or are fairly inexperienced with the agriculture business, Indiana County’s March Income Opportunities in Agriculture provided participants with viable information regarding the potential of farming property.

The day began with an information session about business and financial planning. A panel of bankers and loan officers provided participants the opportunity to talk about the issues they wanted, as well as discover just what sort of prospects they were looking for. The loan officers were deemed very insightful, as many were unfamiliar with the specifics concerning loans in the agriculture industry.

Three other presentations were also provided throughout the day on the topics of organic farming, livestock and production. Speaker Patty Niener from Pennsylvania Certified Organic provided information on how to transition from conventional to organic farming. As organic farming has become significantly more influential throughout the business, Art King of Harvest Valley Farms presented his experience in marketing his personal organic vegetable farm. He shared marketing strategies and suggestions for satisfying customers with an audience very interested in the organic field.

During the Production session, the fact that there are several opportunities in farming that don’t require a large amount of acreage was enforced. Speaker David Heilman, of Heilman Family Farms, introduced participants to some of the things that they could do without an overbearing amount of labor and time, as well as the idea that not every endeavor has to be long term. One of the examples provided was pasture poultry, where chicks can be raised and ready to sell within two months, allowing one to continue to pursue the field or try something else in a moderate amount of time.

Attendees were pleased with the day and left the presentation eager to delve deeper into the topics. With a fairly inexperienced crowd, most of which who had other careers, this was a different type of audience for Cooperative Extension to work with. Participants received the basics and responded positively, as they would like to learn more information.

This was the second Income Opportunities in Agriculture program held in Indiana County. The planning committee of Melanie Barkley, Kevin Fry, Lynn Kime, Jon Laughner, and Lee Miller are currently in the process of reviewing evaluations to begin the planning of the next program. The goal is to continue on a yearly basis.

May, 2007