Small Farm Strategies

Sarah Aubrey

Meet our Columnist: Sarah Aubrey

Sarah Aubrey is the owner of Aubrey's Natural Meats, Indiana's premier source for gourmet natural beef and pork. She and her husband live in rural Indiana, where they raise beef cattle for her company.

To help farmers position themselves well for the opportunities afforded by today's market, Aubrey shares her years of research and firsthand experience in her first book Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business. It offers everything readers need to know about launching a small agricultural enterprise, from initial start-up to consumer marketing.

Begin by fine-tuning that bright idea into a viable business plan, and then learn how to go out and sell it. Secure financing, work out the legalities, follow the proper USDA guidelines, and a farming business is born. Aubrey explains every step of the process and even includes samples of the required forms.

Every small farmer must also become a skilled salesperson and marketing professional. Aubrey runs through all the selling options — from rural farmstands to Web sites to food service wholesalers — and explains the pros and cons of each. She also explains how to create and stick with an advertising budget, how to develop pricing strategies, and the importance of personal asset protection.

Aubrey brings her business advice to life with profiles of farmers successfully crafting and selling everything from small batches of wine to exotic animals such as elk and alpacas. Their stories are minicourses in successful farming, sure to inspire every reader.

Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business will bereleased by Storey Publishing in January 2008. It is the first in a series of books Aubrey has planned for small farm businesses. For more information visit http://storey.workman.com/products/9781580176972/.

Small Farm Strategies Articles

Using newsletters to keep customers interested

Mar 10, 2008 10:05 AM, By Sarah Aubrey

If winter is for planning and calving, springtime is for planting seeds. If you've started a small beef business, the seeds you'll be planting are those that lead customers and prospects to sales of your beef...

Prospecting Chefs: How to get your beef in their restaurant

Feb 25, 2008 5:12 PM, By Sarah Aubrey

If you are like many smaller cattle producers, you probably live near a suburban or metropolitan area. This source of customers can seem endless, even if there is competition from several neighbors. One such customer is the restaurant trade. . But, calling on chefs can prove difficult and be surprisingly frustrating if you're not prepared...
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