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Open House Replays
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinReplay any of our Open Houses here, in the Open House Replay area which is under the BYR Programs tab in the top tool bar. Stay tuned for Member Meetups where you can pick the brains of standout SPIN farmers around the world, as well as Instant Learning sessions...
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Ring Up Holiday Sales
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Wally S., Wally's Market Garden, Saskatoon SK If you are in a year round farmers market like I am, you have the opportunity to fill your stocking with some extra Christmas cash. Markets have gotten much more sophisticated about attracting additional shoppers at this time of year,...
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How Good A Boss Are You?
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinAmong the top reasons people become backyard SPIN farmers is they want to be their own boss. But that doesn’t mean they are good ones. Managing yourself requires a different skill set from managing employees, but it’s a skill set just the same. What are the signs that you’re...
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A New Role Model for Urban Farms
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA Bruce Manns says, “It’s not a bad thing to be a business person in the inner city.” He doesn’t sound like your typical urban farmer do-gooder, and he isn’t. Sure, his York Fresh Food Farms shares the same mission as other non-profit farms,...
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Learning the Lesson of Sustainability
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Roxanne C, Philadelphia PA The biggest challenge to sustainability has been defining what it means and developing practices to achieve it. Big Food is starting to make big progress. Rather than just giving lip service to an abstract moral imperative, companies are starting to operate differently, by...
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Sustainable Farmer
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA When a consumer demands, and a farmer claims, that a farm is sustainable, what do they mean? Lots of ink has been spilled, research funded, and advocacy groups formed over the last forty years to answer that question. Garth Youngberg and Richard Harwood...
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Payoff from Consumer Conundrum
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA Love it or hate it, the government is getting good at identifying food safety problems and notifying the public when illnesses occur. Here is the latest. But it still lacks the ability to trace and identify the producers who caused the health threat....
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Local Flower Business Pops Up
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA How do you break into the cut flower business? By setting up a pop up florist shop inside a retailer that's looking to establish its local cred. This is SPIN farmer Lourdes Casañares' display inside a fruit market she frequents in Manitoba. She hopes...
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Farmers Market Reality Check
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA One the most frequently debated topics in the SPIN online support group is our usually fraught relationships with our farmers markets. They're the highlight of our weeks, and the most fulfilling part of what we do, where we feel the appreciation and trust...
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Beautifully Easy Economics
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Wally S., Wally's Market Garden. Saskatoon SK There’s an easy way to get into the habit of tracking and covering your cost of doing business. Itemize your expenses, like gas, seed costs, farm stand fees, plot rental, sales bags, and then figure out how many units of...
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# 1 Success Factor No One Talks About
Share This:FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedinCourtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA Soil building. Sustainable growing practices. Eliminating waste. These are what new farmers obsess about. They’re overlooking something that has a far more important impact on their business. No matter how good a grower you are, your farm’s success is dictated by something you...
