MY STEP UP EXPERIENCE

Arden Esqueda

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Duck Creek Farm•

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Duck Creek Farm

Mentors - John Wilcox and Sue Earle

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The 2012 Duck Creek Farm Team4

Duck Creek FarmGreenhouse #1 and lower plot Inside greenhouse #1

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Duck Creek FarmGreenhouse #2 Our ‘Cafeteria’

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Duck Creek Farm

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Duck Creek Farm

Objectives• Objective #1: Business Management Practices

• If business management is an important success factor for farming operations, to what extent are these business management practices being implements?

• Objective #2: Goals of the farm operation • If farmers’ decisions are not always or ever necessarily aimed at

the unique goal of profit, what other goals influence decisions making at the farm-level?

• How do we account for them when analyzing farm businesses?

• Objective #3: Role of Small Farms• Small and medium farms represent only a small percentage of

agricultural production in Canada, what is the role of small and medium farms in modern agriculture?

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Source: FMC – 2020 Planning for the Business Management Needs of Canadian Farmers

Business management is an important success factor for farming operations

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Farm Business Management

Business Assessment

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Marketing

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Succession and Business Agreements

Human Resources

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Food Safety and Biosecurity

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Environment

Key Findings• Regardless of size, all farms are faced with the same farm

management issues and challenges, however, large farms can specialize and/or call on external experts for help.

• These expertise can be cost prohibitive for small farms.• Given their limited time and resources, small and medium

farms struggle to meet/address all of the farm management issues on their farm.

• Farmers’ have a broad set of goals that motivate the business management decisions made on the farm.

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Other Lesson Learned……

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Community Involvement

Generosity

Vast Network

Food Security

Farm-level Innovation

Permaculture

Friendship

Retirement/Lifestyle Farming

Environmental Stewardship

Consumer Education

Compassion

Product InnovationOrganic Farming

Preservation of Genetic DiversityRepurposing

Minimizing Environmental Footprint

Providers of public good

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Thank You!