Download all planning task three worksheets using the link above.
This planning task is, perhaps, the most enjoyable of those in-cluded in the Planner. It offers an opportunity to dream—to imagine your future and develop goals for the farm business. The work you do in this planning task will help you complete the business overview, mission statement and goals sections of your business plan.
Future Vision
Begin crafting your future vision by describing what going organic means to you. Try answering these fundamental questions:
- Why are we transitioning?
- What will our farm or farm business look like during transition?
- When will we become certified and for which fields?
- What crops will we include in our rotation or what will we process?
- Who will be doing which tasks?
- What will we be doing after certification; will the farm look different?
- Where will we market certified organic crops, livestock and other products?
- What kind of debt will we carry during transition? How will this change after certification?
Use Worksheet 3T.1: Preparing a Future Vision to begin envisioning your future. See the story panels for examples of future visions from the Walters and Kerkaerts. If you prefer pictures to words, use the work space provided to draw a map of your farm as it looks now, during transition and after certification. If you choose to use visuals, depict buffers and describe which conservation practices might benefit your farm. This map can be useful when preparing an OSP or OSPH
future vision
It is the year 2035. Walter Dairy is one hundred years old and run by Levi with his father, Nate, helping out wherever needed. There are 120 cows and more than 400 acres. The new tractor purchased in 2015 has 8,000 hours on it. Levi is considering building a 240-cow barn with robots and purchasing 320 acres across the road. Angie and Laureen enjoy running the farm store—first opened in 2014. Laureen’s husband drives some tractors for us. Our grandkids enjoy helping feed the calves. We can finally say, “We did it. Let’s take a two-day vacation!”
In five years Kerkaert Organic Farm will have obtained long-term leases for all rental land with an option to buy approximately 480 acres. In 15 years we will own/farm enough land to start incorporating our three sons into the operation, if they desire.
Mission Statement
Next, begin drafting a mission statement for your certified organic farm business. A mis-sion statement “describes the fundamental purpose of your business, what you do, why you do it, and for whom you do it. It identifies your products, services and customers.” Your mission statement might be personal in nature—intended to guide your own management—or a more formal statement to future customers. See the story panels for mission statement examples.
Use Worksheet 3T.2: Farm Business Mission Statement to record your mission statement.
Mission Statement
I believe I was born to farm. I will do what is in my power to see that this dairy farm fulfills another generation’s dreams; to show that a family farm can still exist and that plenty of food can be grown using organic methods.
The mission of Bubbly Jen’s Farm is to serve a community of people living in the NJ/NY region who are interested in eating diverse, nutritious, organically grown/prepared food to improve their health and quality of life.
Goals
Finally, wrap up Planning Task Three: Vision, Mission and Goals by drafting goals for your farm business. Goals are statements that reflect the “what” and “who” pieces of your future vision; they describe what your farm will look like after transition and who will be involved in the day-to-day operations. Goals do not describe the “how” components of your future business—you will address these in Planning Task Four: Strategic Planning. See the story panel for an example of a goal statement.
Goals
Our long-term goal is to own enough tillable acres to have a self-sustaining farm operation that will be a source of retirement income for us and a resource to pass down our children for their financial security.
As you draft short- and long-term goals for the farm business using Worksheet 3T.3: Goals, it is a good idea to include supporting documentation for your goals. For example, if your goal is to market organic beef, it would not hurt to include a few statements explaining why you are excited and optimistic about this goal: “Organic beef sales have been up 15 percent at grocery stores in our region over the past two years. Based on reports from farm publications, we expect demand for organic beef to keep growing, and therefore we see organic beef as a good opportunity. We see ourselves adding this enterprise to the farm mix within three years.”
Dig deeper
You identified personal and farm business goals in this planning task. It is also a good idea to ask other members of your planning team to do the same. Ask family and other planning team members to set short- and long-term goals for the farm business. Then sit down and compare notes! Do you share the same goals? Would you prioritize your goals differently? Worksheet 3.5: Prioritizing Goals is available on page 95 in the Guide to help with this task.
Put it in writing
When ready, record brief vision, mission and goal statements in the sections provided in the Executive Summary of AgPlan or using a word processing program. The executive summary should communicate to lenders, business partners or other readers (including your family) where you are headed with the farm business and what it will look like in the short term (during transition) and long term (after certification). You may find it necessary to revisit and revise your mission statement or goals after finishing your business strategies in Planning Task Four: Strategic Planning.