The Farm Business and Market Place

by Laura Tourte

UC Cooperative Extension would like to announce a new website resource for agricultural operations along the Central Coast.  The Farm Business and Market Place was specially designed to provide a ‘one stop place’ where owners and managers of small to mid-scale farms can access a wide variety of research based information to assist with business and marketing decisions and success.  Please visit the website at:

http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/farmbusinessandmarketplace

The website features information from UC, as well as links to downloadable materials from universities across the country.  All of the materials were selected with Central Coast farmers, crops, and conditions in mind.  Two major categories, ‘Planning and Management’ and ‘Marketing’ have a number of subcategories that contain information on, for example, business and marketing plans, budgeting, marketing channels and strategies, and conducting market research.

 

The website also has easy-to-access links to government agencies and offices.  For example, if you want to find the Agricultural Commissioner’s contact information, it is located under the main category ‘Government Programs’, then ‘County’.  If you want to find other University of California programs and services, it is located on ‘Government Programs’, then ‘California’.  There you will first see a listing of California’s regulatory agencies, and, after scrolling down the page, a number of UC website links.  There are a substantial number of national websites listed under the ‘United States’.  

We will be adding more resources to the website in the future, including online presentations for various topics under the planning and management and marketing headings.  That way, you can choose to download and read any number of publications or, if you prefer, view educational programs online, at your convenience.  Also planned for the future are Spanish language publications and online presentations.  So please visit the website from time to time to see what is new!  We welcome comments you might have about the website’s content and also any suggestions for improvement.  We hope you will find the website a valuable resource, as well as the ‘one stop place’ for your farm business and marketing needs.

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Laura Tourte is Farm Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties. She is also the County Director for UC Cooperative
Extension in Santa Cruz County.