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crop planning resources for farmers
Posted: January 10 2017
'Tis the season for nailing down your crop plan for the Spring! (Hypothetically, this would have been on our to-do lists for early December ago, but I can't be the only one whose holidays got the better of her business agenda, right?) Is this your first time crop planning? Looking to upgrade your system? Maybe you're feeling a little lost or a little down-to-the-wire. Here's a collection of resources to make the process a little easier:
1. Penn State's guide to making plans for the season: specifically for CSA farms, but this advice is adaptable to market and whole sale farms as well. Basic, comprehensive, and
2. "Crop master” spreadsheet to model off of: comprehensive, super-logical, easy to follow, and easy to replicate-- provided you are familiar with inserting formulas into spreadsheets.
3. A template that you can edit: a template from Tom Becker of Sunseed Farm, which will potentially save first-time veggie farmers a lot of time and energy: the sheet includes already-made formulas and already input crop information. Note: will have to be adjusted to reflect individual USDA zones.
4. Collection of great links/resources on the subject: "everyone's brain works differently."