Choosing and maintaining the right business structure for your farm operation lays the foundation for a stable, resilient farm business. SARE’s Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures: LLCs, Corporations, Partnerships and More, will support you throughout this process. Learn about the different types of business structures, and receive guidance on selecting the best one for your farm.

Navigating the organic certification process can feel complex and overwhelming. With multiple certifiers across the country, growers are often left wondering: What are the differences between certifiers? Which one is the best fit for my farm? This workshop will bring together representatives from CCOF, Oregon Tilth, Organic Certifiers, Real Organic Project, and Where Food Comes From for a discussion about organic certification.

This factsheet, produced by ATTRA NCAT, presents case studies of four intermediaries that source and market local food. It examines farmer relationships, wholesale readiness, and scaling-up challenges, emphasizing that successful intermediated market relationships depend on clear communication, consistent product quality, food safety certification, and mutual commitment to supporting local agriculture.

Organic certification requires producers to maintain detailed records from seed to sale. While these records are essential for certification and inspections, they are equally valuable tools for any farm, providing important insights into a farming operation and helping fine tune farm businesses. This workshop introduces farmers to practical recordkeeping strategies that work for both certified and noncertified operations.

This publication, produced by ATTRA NCAT, contains 13 tip sheets, each of which describes a particular marketing channel. The tip sheets include tips for selling through CSAs, farmers markets, roadside stands, online, and provide guidance for selling to restaurants, grocery stores, institutional markets, aggregators, wholesale buyers, and more.

This workshop highlights two Western SARE research projects aimed at enhancing sustainable agriculture in California. Jesse Trace of Traceland Ranch (Cayucos, CA) will discuss his work on implementing rehydration/restoration practices to increase water infiltration and crop production, and Alex Palmerlee of Far View Ranch (Bangor, CA) will talk about how grazing management can aid in natural oak recruitment as a landscape-scale solution.

This factsheet, produced by ATTRA NCAT, outlines selling to agricultural aggregators and grower marketing cooperatives — businesses that consolidate and distribute products from multiple farms to local and regional markets. It outlines advantages including retained farm identity, technical support, and reduced marketing costs, alongside key considerations such as volume expectations, food safety requirements, packing standards, and cooperative participation commitments.

Growing organic citrus and avocados requires a strategic approach to soil health, irrigation, and pest management—especially in subtropical coastal regions. This workshop covers best organic practices to maintain tree health while reducing the risk of pests and diseases.

This guidebook, produced by ATTRA NCAT, provides an overview of direct marketing strategies for farm operations. It covers farmers markets, CSAs, farm-to-school and institution sales, agritourism, restaurants, food hubs, and cooperatives, while addressing marketing plan development, pricing strategies, branding, liability insurance, food safety considerations, and online promotional tools.

Cover cropping is an excellent soil health practice that improves water infiltration, builds organic matter and soil structure and provides nutrients to crops. Join the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) to learn about the best practices for planting a cover crop, and how to optimize the use of planting equipment in your management system to grow successful cover crops.

Many different market channels exist for your organic product, but not all channels will align with your goals, values, product line, and personality. This tool will help you select the perfect channel for your business, with an emphasis on finding the right avenue for your end consumers.

Join the Midwest Organic Center team for a comprehensive overview of using cover crops in a row crop system. This webinar will cover some benefits and challenges of using cover crops and dive into some basics like planting, termination, and equipment. We will also discuss selecting species for a diverse mixture, livestock grazing, and share relevant data from the MOC’s Diverse Systems Trial.