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029: Anton Burkett on Strategically Managing Dramatic Growth

8/27/2015

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Anton Burkett started Early Morning Farm in 1999 with three acres, three friends, and a rototiller. Since that time, this farm in the Finger Lake region of upstate New York has grown to 100 acres and 1,500 CSA shares. Anton and Chris talk about how he has managed this rapid growth year over year. Anton has a thoughtful approach to issues of scale, and we talk about how he’s leveraged his CSA to solve the land-access problem, his approach to personnel management and hiring, and how he’s strategically managed machinery investments and reinvestments as his farm has grown.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

Audible: Discover the world of audio-books, and absorb yourself in the latest in business management texts, farming essays, or just a dramatic retelling of the Star Wars saga. Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/farmertofarmer.

Quotes from the Show

“There’s no reason to get frustrated with [an unhappy worker] because it is really hard work, and it’s underpaid and undervalued by society.”

“All the better if you aren’t taking [your business plan] to the bank, because now you can tell the truth.”

“There’s no reason to mess with [your business model] unless you have a reason to mess with it.”

“I recommend making more money not being a reason to grow. I think a reason to grow should be that you want to serve the community in a different way.”

“I think that any business you’re in, if you can… think about what’s the service and how you’re going to  help the world out first, I think that’s the thing.”

Show Links

Early Morning Farm uses Farmigo to manage their CSA member signup, harvest, and delivery.

The last book Anton read was Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

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028: Adam and Mel Millsap on Four Season Urban Farming

8/20/2015

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Adam and Mel Millsap own Urban Roots Farm, a four season micro farm set in the West Central neighborhood of Springfield, Missouri. We talk about their family and neighborhood involvement as they grow about a third of an acre of intensive produce, including three mobile high tunnels. Adam and Mel share their experiences managing the extremely wet weather in southern Missouri this summer, and how they care for the natural landscape in their urban environment.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

Audible: Discover the world of audio-books, and absorb yourself in the latest in business management texts, farming essays, or just a dramatic retelling of the Star Wars saga. Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/farmertofarmer.

Show Links

Duck bill anchors – the ones that Adam and Mel started with, but eventually moved away from.  Here are some pictures of the homemade versions they went to using:
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Adam cited Eliot Coleman as the source for everything he and Mel do with the high tunnels. See the New Organic Grower and the Winter Harvest Handbook for two excellent resources for high tunnel production.

The last book that Adam read is The Soil Will Save Us.  He’s also very excited about JM Fortier’s The Market Gardener. 

And here’s an overhead photo of Urban Roots Farm:
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027: Vern Grubinger on Finding Solutions that Work on Your Farm

8/13/2015

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University of Vermont Extension Professor Vern Grubinger does not fit the conventional extension agent mode. For twenty-five years, Vern has worked to develop a co-learning community among the professional vegetable- and berry-growers of Vermont. In this episode, we talk about the challenges facing Vermont vegetable farmers, from soil fertility basics and phytophthora to human resources, food safety certification, and costs of production – and about how a healthy food system, from marketing to education, is all about relationships.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

Audible: Discover the world of audio-books, and absorb yourself in the latest in business management texts, farming essays, or just a dramatic retelling of the Star Wars saga. Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/farmertofarmer.

Show Links

Sustainable Vegetable Production from Startup to Market is filled with great basic information about what you need to know to get started in vegetable farming. I read this when I had been in business for several years.  Vern co-authored Food, Farms, and Community: Exploring Food Systems with Lisa Chase.

Vern also authored With an Ear to the Ground: Essays on Sustainable Agriculture, essays that he originally as part of a public radio series.

You can sign up for Vern’s amazing Vermont Vegetable and Berry Newsletter, and read back issues, at http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/newsletter/welcomemain.htm - this is the newsletter Vern publishes to share news from growers in Vermont with other growers.

Vegetable Insect Management: With Emphasis on the Midwest is a practical guide to integrated pest management (IPM) that Vern recommends for its specific information about pest scouting techniques.

Vern talked about the Vermont Community Accreditation for Produce Safety program  as a way to proactively manage customer expectations for food safety verification.

Vern also sent along a link to a list of slideshows that he’s given recently. http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/GrubingerSlideShows.html

The 1938 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, Soils and Men, is available as a free download here. http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/IND50000140/PDF

Vern recently read Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food, and Community by Tom Lyson, about the history of the transformation of the food system and the re-localization of the food production system.
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026: Dan Kaplan on Shared Risk and Shared Loss at Brookfield Farm

8/6/2015

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Dan Kaplan has managed Brookfield Farm in Amherst, Massachusetts, since 1994. Brookfield Farm was one of the first CSAs in the United States, and currently supports 525 shares of produce, plus an additional 200 winter shares. Our conversation reflected on the growth of CSA and local foods from Brookfield Farm’s founding in 1984 to now, including how Brookfield has embraced a contemporary way of looking at its CSA shares without losing the core of its CSA community. Dan reflects at length on shared risk – and shared loss – as the core value of the CSA concept, binding the producer and consumer in a way that no other marketing model does. We also discuss Dan’s popular crop-planning spreadsheets, and his aspiration to time travel.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

Audible: Discover the world of audio-books, and absorb yourself in the latest in business management texts, farming essays, or just a dramatic retelling of the Star Wars saga. Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/farmertofarmer.

Show Links

Dan Kaplan’s crop planning spreadsheets help him run his farm with nothing more than addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division – plus a little attention to order of operations.
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