Farm Management

New from best-selling author Mark Shepard! Written as a companion to the best seller Restoration Agriculture, this book will help farmers capture water in areas they want to and avoid having water flow immediately to the low point. The result? Less water expense, healthier crops and livestock, and less erosion...just to name a few.

Many farm folks work hard at producing great crops and caring for livestock, but when it comes to communicating their deepest desires for the future of the farm, they get stuck. Building Your Farm Legacy: Tools to Empower Family is a useful toolbox created by a farm woman, partner, and mother to a successor.  

On April 10, 1966, a crowd of 10,000 farm workers and supporters gathered at the California state capitol to celebrate victory in one of the most significant strikes in American history - one that made Cesar Chavez famous as leader of the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Marshall Ganz tells the story of the UFW's ground-breaking victory, drawing out larger lessons from this dramatic tale.

In Never Bet the Farm two leading entrepreneurs, Anthony Iaquinto and Stephen Spinelli, turn much of the so-called expert advice for entrepreneurs on its head. They show that by preparing for setbacks and using a framework that can help reduce risks and simplify decision making, entrepreneurs can increase their probability for success. They refute the idea that there is an ideal entrepreneurial "type", and show that luck can be as important as a business plan in many enterprises.

When he first envisioned becoming a farmer, author Emmet Van Driesche never imagined his main crop would be Christmas trees, nor that such a tree farm could be more of a managed forest than the conventional grid of perfectly sheared trees. Carving Out a Living on the Land tells the story of how Van Driesche navigated changing life circumstances, took advantage of unexpected opportunities, and leveraged new and old skills to piece together an economically viable living, while at the same time respecting the land’s complex ecological relationships.

How Stella Saved the Farm is a simple parable about making innovation happen. Written by the authors of the New York Times best-selling Reverse Innovation: Create Far from Home, Win Everywhere, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, the story resonates in organizations of all types - public sector, private sector, and social sector, from mammoth corporations to small organizations employing just a few dozen people.

Farming’s number one mental barrier is entitlement. We inherit farms from our grandparents and just assume we’ll gift it to our grandchildren. Just because your family had a successful farm 10 years ago doesn’t mean you’ll still be farming in 10 years. In order to still be farming in 2040, you’ve got to assume that you are the underdog! Armed with this mindset and the three tools in this book, your family can implement radical changes that gives you the competitive edge that bulletproofs your farm against anything. 

Honeybees have 10 rules that they live by. And these rules, when applied to your life, will make you smart with money and a great investor! Discovered by accident, the authors learned that many of the rules are similar to those of great investors such as Warren Buffet, Benjamin Graham, and Mohnish Pabrai.

More than a practical guide, Backyard Beekeeping for Profit is a powerful call to action for anyone who aspires to earn a living on an ancient, natural and environmentally sustainable practice.

This qualitative research focuses on risk management in the supply chain of industrial entomology companies that are mass-rearing insects for human food or for feed for farmed animals. This research presents answers to such questions as what are the risks related especially to the entomology industry, what are the reasons behind the risks, and finally how the risks can be mitigated.

In their effort to build the world's first and largest commercial green rooftop farm, the founders of Brooklyn Grange learned a lot about building and sustaining a business while never losing sight of their mission: to serve their community by providing delicious organic food and changing the way people think about what they eat. But their story is about more than just farming. It serves as an inspirational and instructional guide for anyone looking to start a business that is successful while making a positive impact.

I spent all my formative years at work, growing up as a farmhand to farmers. It does not matter what age you are, what stage in life you are, what career you are in. These lessons apply. I wish everyone could have worked on the farm for at least one summer. It was life-changing. But since many of you did not, you can get a little taste of the experience, laugh a little, cry a little, but through it all learn the lessons, apply the lessons, and share them with others.

This meticulously researched book tells the story of Midwestern agriculture during a period of epochal change in farm technology, farm management, and farm life. The hard work, tight communities, and values that had characterized the family farm were replaced by large corporate enterprises with massive acreages, high-tech methods, and global outlooks. While many decry this change as loss, Nordin and Scott find a net gain. This is their richly detailed account of one of the great transformations in American life. 

The philosophy found in this work is the product of a childhood on a tobacco and cattle farm in central Kentucky, education at various schools, and a three-decade career in the US Navy while simultaneously contributing as a husband, father, and grandfather. The remainder of this book will be separated into phases reflective of the major changes in my life: the farm, schooling, and a navy career continuum from junior officer through flag officer. The lessons learned in earlier phases were often exported and applied later.