Managing for Success on Your Small Farm-RGV

Build legal, financial, and business skills to strengthen your business.

Are you a small-scale farmer, rancher, or cottage food producer? Join the Council for Healthy Food Systems (the educational arm of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance), University of Texas-RGV Texas Rural Cooperative Center, and Foodshed Investors for a day that will boost your business.

By learning about laws governing opportunities as diverse as produce, meat, dairy, eggs, value-added products, and agritourism, attendees can evaluate whether and how to diversify operations and diversify market risk.

On Thursday, Sept. 19, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (includes a working lunch), the focus will be on:

• Federal and state laws governing small-scale agricultural activities, food production, and sales (including the Food Safety Modernization Act, cottage food laws, meat processing, and more).
• Liability and insurance issues, including Whole Farm Revenue Protection and agritourism and product liability.
• Business issues, including legal structure/entities.

The 2-5 p.m. Thursday session is presented by Foodshed Investors and covers such topics as:

• When and how to pursue outside capital.
• Record-keeping and reporting.
• Government and private funding sources for small farmers.

For those interested in an in-depth, small-group consultation/Q&A with our experts, you can also register to meet with the presenter on legal and liability issues on Friday, Sept. 20, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Lunch is also included for this session.