Michigan State University Extension to Host Planning for Profit Workshop for Farmers

Dec 04, 2024

By Steve Whittington

Michigan State University Extension has partnered with Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s ValleyHUB to host a unique and free two-day workshop focusing on maximizing profit and evaluating market channels for agricultural producers. This workshop will be held Jan. 24 and Jan. 31, 2025, at the Kalamazoo Community College Culinary and Allied Health Building Room CAH223, 418 E. Walnut Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49007. This workshop is for any producer who would like to take a more in-depth look at their farm products in areas of profitability and market channels.

This workshop will focus on maximizing producer profits through enterprise budgeting and marketing strategies, as well as other tools to maximize success. Producers will learn about economic tools to maximize their profits by analyzing crops and farm products that work best for their farm in terms of profitability. Enterprise budgets allow a producer to evaluate the profitability of farm products produced by increasing the knowledge of budgeting, costs of production and through knowledge of production economic principles to achieve success.

Marketing tools and fundamentals will also be discussed in-depth. Marketing fundamentals like analyzing markets, evaluating direct and wholesale market channels, choosing the right mix of market channels and marketing strategies will all be covered. A panel of Michigan farmers will be featured to showcase a diverse approach to achieve success in producing and marketing farm products.

The desired end-goal of this workshop is to increase producer’s understanding of the costs and revenue generated through their farm enterprises, and to evaluate which market channels and strategies can be employed in order to make informed decisions on pricing and where to sell their products.

Tentative workshop schedule

January 24, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

9-9:20 a.m. Registration
9:20 a.m. Welcome/Introductions
9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Enterprise Budget Presentation and Workshop
12-1 p.m. Lunch and Conversation
1-3 p.m. Local Food Marketing 101

January 31, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

9-10 a.m. Welcome, check-in and optional individual consultations
10-11 a.m. Pricing for Different Markets
11-11:30 a.m. Introduction to Market Channel Analysis (video)
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Lunch and Conversation
12:30-2 p.m. Farmer Marketing Panel Discussion and Wrap-up
2-3 p.m. Optional Food Innovation Center tour

Source : msu.edu

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