Business and Marketing

Farms and ranches are businesses. In order to operate a sustainable farming and ranching operation, you will have to understand the many components of running a business.

This includes planning, financial management, recordkeeping, marketing, legal considerations, and more.

Here you will find practical resources that provide guidance on business and marketing. From whole-farm planning, financial management, accessing new markets, and other farm-business topics.   

Marty Holman works the computer in his outdoor office on Holman’s Harvest Farms in Loxahatchee Groves, Florida, February 25, 2021. Holman raises chickens, cattle, vegetable, and tropical fruit on his 15 acres. USDA/FPAC photo by Preston Keres

Featured Topics

AGRITOURISM

A customer picks blackberries at a u-pick farm.

CROP INSURANCE

Close up of a Montana farm field

DISASTER

Black Angus in a flooded Montana field

FARM LAW

farmer standing in field, from back

FARMERS MARKETS

people walking on a street between farmers market stands

FINANCING

farmers looking at a document

GRANT PROGRAMS

Dew drops sit on leaves

RISK MANAGEMENT

An aerial view of farmland

VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURE

ATTRA’s Business and Marketing Resources

Figure 1 showing biomass pyrolysis

Payments for Ecosystem Services. Part 2. Carbon Markets and Credit Stacking

This webinar, hosted by NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist…
young man holding freshly harvested leekUSDA photo by Christophe Paul

Payments for Ecosystem Services. Part 1

Since the 1960s, there has been discussion among academics about…
Colin Mitchell

Payments for Ecosystem Services

By Colin Mitchell, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist My…
Cool-season forage cover-crop mixture

A Listening Session to Help Shape Future Innovation in U.S. Agriculture

This virtual listening session aims to help shape agricultural…

Episode 157. Pandemic Adaptation

In this episode of Voices from the Field, Martin Guerena, a sustainable…

Weekly Wednesday Workshop. Value-Added Products

Felicia Bell, an NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist at the…
Beyond Fresh co-authors Mike Morris and Sue Beckwith

Beyond Fresh: Exploring Value-Added Food Enterprises

By Mike Morris, Director of NCAT's Southwest Regional Office A…
tomatoesUSDA photo by Lance Cheung

Customer Pickup: COVID and Sustainable Ag

NCAT’s ATTRA Agriculture Specialists are producing short videos…
Jeff Schahczenski

Rethinking Crop Insurance in the Time of Pandemic: Risk and Uncertainty

By Jeff Schahczenski, NCAT Agricultural and Natural Resource…

Farmers on COVID 19: Let’s Learn from Each Other

On March, 30, 2020 The Virginia Association for Biological Farming…
Dave and Jenny Scott at Montana Highland Lamb

Episode 128. Direct Marketing Meat with Dave and Jenny Scott, Part 1

This episode is the first of an occasional ATTRA Voices from…
Dave and Jenny Scott at Montana Highland Lamb

Episode 129. Direct Marketing Meat with Dave and Jenny Scott, Part 2: Processing

Today’s episode is the second in an ATTRA Voices from the Field…
A person cuts sections of beefCanva Pro

Episode 137. Direct Marketing Meat with Dave and Jenny Scott, Part 4: FAQs

Today's episode of Voices from the Field – Part 4 of our "Direct…