Category: On The Farm - Purple Pitchfork

Farm Labor: Systems for Efficiency and Accountability

12/1/2014

Title
Systems for Accountability and Efficiency on the Market Farm

Overview
Whether you manage one seasonal worker or a large year-round crew, good management can make the difference between making headway on your farm's work, or just creating headaches. Chris Blanchard has worked with farmers throughout the Midwest to develop systems that make it easy to achieve reliable results throughout your farming operation. He'll share what he’s learned about making it easy for employees to get the right things done at the right time and in the right way, without needing a manager looking over their shoulders all the time.

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Labor, Management, Systems

Audience
All Farmers

Length
45 - 90 minutes

Farm Labor: Tools for Motivating Employees

11/30/2014

Title
Run Your Team: Tools for Managing and Motivating Employees on the Farm

Overview
Employees make it possible to get more done, but managing workers and their work takes dedicated time, energy and processes. Whether you manage one seasonal worker or a large year-round crew, good management can make the difference between making headway on your farm's work or just creating headaches. Chris Blanchard will discuss how to create a productive, positive work environment by communicating clear expectations and implementing systems for efficiency and accountability. This workshop will cover systems for removing emotion from management decisions and actions, implementing effective leadership, practical tools to increase employee satisfaction and productivity, employee recruitment and dismissal, and how to collect and use labor information to make operational and investment decisions.

Outline
1. What are employees for?
2. Leadership through inspiration, accountability, authority & support
3. Using systems to remove emotion from management
4. Creating pathways to accountability and efficiency
5. Specific tools to achieve workplace satisfaction and productivity for all

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Labor, Management, Systems

Audience
All Farmers

Length
120 - 240 minutes

Farm Finances: Evaluating Investments and Operational Changes

11/28/2014

Title
Evaluating Investments and Operational Changes

Overview
Want to purchase new equipment? Thinking of expanding your operation? This workshop shows you the tools you need to evaluate your options. You’ll get a down-to-earth approach to help you better understand the economic and other impacts of investments and operational changes, including a look at practical tools like partial budget analysis and investment analysis, as well as considerations for quality of life and business development.

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Finances, Risk Management, Scaling Up

Audience
All Farmers

Length
45 - 90 minutes

Market Farming: Making Your Farm Work For You

11/26/2014

Title
Making Your Market Farm Work For You

Overview
Your market farm should work for you, in addition to you working for your farm – and that requires you to take care of your vegetables and your business, as well as your life. Learn how you can put it all together, from the market farming fundamentals of weed control, irrigation, post-harvest handling, and marketing, to the management of your farming systems, employees, and finances. From big ideas down to practical examples, consultant, educator, and veteran farmer Chris Blanchard draws on 25 years of farming experience around the country at a wide variety scales to provide this engaging session that will help you understand and control the factors that lead to a profitable market farm that won’t drive you and your family crazy.

Outline
1. Context
2. Market Farming Fundamentals
3. Management
4. Managing Yourself
5. Managing the Farm
6. Managing the Money
7. Managing the Employees
8. Wrapping Up

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Finances, Management, Marketing, Production, Scaling Up

Audience
Beginning Farmers

Length
4 - 6 hours

Farm Records: Practical GAPs Compliance Techniques

11/21/2014

Title
Practical GAPs Compliance for Organic Farmers

Overview
From restaurants to college dining halls, wholesale buyers have begun demanding food safety assurances, and now the Food Safety Modernization Act has opened the door for FDA regulation of the production and handling of fresh vegetables and produce. Chris Blanchard will present a review of post-harvest handling practices, and the methods developed at Rock Spring Farm for meeting the documentation and records management requirements of the GAPs audit process in a way that flows with the work on the farm, rather than existing as a separate set of tasks and requirements.

Outline
1. Easy Steps to Safer Produce
2. Understanding the GAPs Audit Verification System
3. Writing Your Food Safety Plan
4. Record Keeping
5. Trace back
6. More Paperwork (or not)
7. Where Does the Info Go?
8. Wrapping Up

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Food Safety, Records Management, Risk Management

Audience
All Farmers

Length
45 - 90 minutes

Farm Finances: Setting Up and Managing Your Financials

11/20/2014

Title
Fearless Farm Finances

Overview
Chris Blanchard provides insights into developing a robust business model for your farming operation. Chris will review the financial and management systems you need to grow a profitable farm, with information about making and monitoring a budget, creating and understanding financial statements, improving profitability, and avoiding financial train wrecks.

Outline
1. Goals
2. Think (about getting) Big
3. Capacity
4. Invest in Systems
5. Invest in People
6. Budgeting
7. Monitoring
8. Financial Statements
9. Balance Sheet
10. Income Statement
11. Statement of Cash Flows
12. Ratios and Analysis
13. Solvency
14. Am I Making Money?
15. Improving Profitability

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Finances, Records Management, Risk Management, Systems

Audience
All Farmers

Length
180 minutes

Farm Records: Capturing and Organizing Data

11/16/2014

Title
Capturing and Organizing Data for GAPs, Organic Certification, and Other Endeavors

Overview
Paperwork can be the bane of the certified-organic, GAPs-audited, and financially-aware farmer. Learn how to capture information, get on top of your paperwork, and wow your inspector, auditor, and banker. Chris Blanchard will provide an overview of the basic techniques he and his crew used to gather information and keep it organized for easy access with a minimum of effort.

Outline
1. Best Practices
2. What We Track
3. Outflows
4. Inflows
5. Money
6. Accounts
7. Class
8. Items
9. Customers
10. Collect
11. Process
12. Data Entry and Storage
13. Actions and Time
14. Where Does the Info Go?

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Finance, Food Safety, Records Management, Risk Management

Audience
All Farmers

Length
60 - 180 minutes

Farm Labor: Systems and Tools

11/14/2014

Title
Systems and Tools for Managing Employees on the Farm

Overview
Employees make it possible to get more done, but managing workers and their work takes dedicated time, energy, and processes. Whether you manage one seasonal worker or a large year-round crew, good management can make the difference between making headway on your farm's work, or just creating headaches. Chris Blanchard will show you how to create a productive, positive work environment by communicating clear expectations and implementing systems for efficiency and accountability.

Outline
1. Thoughts on Labor
2. Capacity
3. Invest in People
4. Strength in the Workplace
5. Employee Manuals
6. Hiring and Firing
7. Timekeeping and Payroll
8. Systems for Accountability and Efficiency
9. Invest in Systems
10. Safe and Healthy
11. Automation

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Labor, Management, Systems

Audience
All Farmers

Length
120 - 300 minutes

Market Farming: Ten Things to Consider Before You Start

11/13/2014

Title
Ten Things to Consider About Starting a Market Farm

Overview
Getting started in market farming means more than just growing vegetables. It means taking on the responsibilities of owning a business, managing markets, grappling with philosophies, and managing a labor force. Chris Blanchard will discuss ten things to think about as you prepare the ground for starting your market farm, or as you seek to expand your market farm into a significant income-generator for yourself and your family

Outline
1. Goals
2. Scale
3. Local Food Lies
4. Capacity
5. Invest in Systems
6. Invest in People
7. Regulations and Image
8. Plan for Change
9. Keep Perspective

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Finances

Audience
Beginning Farmers

Length
45 - 90 minutes

Market Farming: Growing and Adapting to Change

11/10/2014

Title
Growing and Adapting to a Changing Market: 15 Years of Organic Vegetable Farming

Overview
After fifteen years of organic vegetable farming in Iowa, Chris Blanchard paused to reflect on his experiences growing a market farm and what he had learned. From developing a market and riding the crest of the local foods wave to employee management and the growing pains of a small business, Chris Blanchard shares the joys and the pain of owning and operating a small organic market farm.

Outline
1. More Rutabagas Than You Think
2. Go Big or Go Home
3. Business School of Hard Knocks
4. Scale and Systems
5. CSA Scales
6. What I Learned From the Drought
7. What I Know

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Management

Audience
All Farmers

Length
45 - 90 minutes

Management: Time and Productivity Management for Farmers

11/4/2014

Title
Too Many Rutabagas: Time and Productivity Management for Farmers

Overview
There’s always something to do on the farm, and nobody knows it better than the farmer. Chris Blanchard will show you ways to overcome the overload of information, tasks, and projects on your farm while you keep things from falling through the cracks with time and information techniques that will improve your business and your quality of life.

Outline
1. Three Tips to Change Your Life
2. Time and Productivity Matters on the Farm
3. The Challenge and Importance of Time and Priority Management
4. Goals for a Productivity System
5. No Free Rides
6. Workflow Details
7. Tools
8. It’s All Important
9. Where to Start
10. Getting Unstuck
11. Three Things To Remember

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Business, Systems, Management

Audience
All Farmers

Length
45 - 90 minutes

Farm Labor: Saving Labor on the Market Farm

11/1/2014

Title
Saving Labor on the Market Farm

Overview
Market farming is all about moving stuff around; whether you're moving vegetables from the soil to the packing house, water from the well to your transplants, or seeds from their packet to the soil. From big ideas down to practical examples, consultant, educator, and veteran farmer Chris Blanchard draws on 25 years of farming experience around the country at a wide variety scales to provide this engaging session that will help you better understand the systems and tools for seeding crops in the field and greenhouses, transplanting sets, pruning and greenhouse crop maintenance, weeding tools, harvesters, post-harvest handling, materials handling, and record-keeping.

Outline
1. Overview
2. Capacity
3. Invest in People
4. Invest in Systems
5. Safe and Healthy
6. Automation
7. Saving Time and Work
8. Seeds and Transplants
9. Irrigation
10. Weeds
11. Picking and Packing

Series
On The Farm

Topics
Labor, Production, Systems

Audience
All Farmers

Length
90 - 180 minutes