Customer Reviews

The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff-and Making a Profit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wiswall's book makes a decent start, and the costing templates are pretty good. It's nicely illustrated. The writing is appropriately colloquial and flows reasonably well within chapters.

The chapter structure, however, is rather incoherent, interspersing chapters on assorted aspects of cost accounting and very simple cash flow management with others on marketing, time management, and employees. A chapter on office paper flow is followed by one that lumps together retirement planning and business spending. Then comes one on greenhouses and field production efficiencies. The next chapter discusses writing a business plan, and then a final (3-page) chapter on estate planning. Huh?

The sections on production management will be quite helpful to people who've not considered such things systematically, but they do contain some rather sloppy errors. For example, on p. 100 he talks about setting the wheel spacings on all tractors to 60 inches (which is the same as we use for our vegetable production), yet in the very next paragraph he describes large plants such as squash as being on a "6-foot spacing overall."

Similarly, his basic stuff on office organization will be helpful to growers who are currently doing little more than handing a grocery sack full of receipts to their tax person once a year. Unfortunately, his ideas on managing the flow of funds between family and farm are somewhat convoluted. Intuit's accounting programs (which he uses) have easier ways of addressing the same problem. And using the same credit card for business and family purchases is just a giant make-work project.

Wiswall is way out of his depth in regard to all he writes about capital management. Since this book is obviously written for people with little management experience, how is it that a book published in 2009 is talking about interest yields of 5% for Treasury bonds and bank CDs. Bondholders will get clobbered when interest rates rise from their current multi-generational lows; and how many *sound* banks are offering 5% on a CD? Not only that, but average long-term returns of 8% in the stock market? That simply does not happen for people who invest when market valuations (in relation to corporate income) are as high as they are now. Following such simplistic advice will be hazardous to your money.

Which brings me to the most egregious error of all. On page 95 Wiswall declares "Tax avoidance is the main reason I capitalize my farm business. If I have a less profitable year and I'm not in need of a tax advantage, any machinery I purchase must strongly increase farm profitability; that is, the machinery must pay for itself quickly by saving other costs."

Tax avoidance should have absolutely nothing to do with capital purchases. Either they make sense, or they don't. He admits he's more careful about big-ticket purchases in a weak year than in a strong one. What kind of management is that? Such thinking leads to clusters of poor capital allocation that threaten business viability over the long term.

This book is written from the perspective of someone who thinks like a production manager. The great weakness of most family farms is that the owners don't think like business owners, or even CEOs. Their management and decision-making generally remains at the level of a production manager, or perhaps a VP Operations. Wiswall's book provides no departure from that managerial framework and does not effectively address the higher-level managerial challenges faced by most family farms. He nibbles at Holistic Management with his comments on goal setting at the beginning, but thereafter offers absolutely nothing from the excellent HM decision-making model. By all means visit [...] for some vastly better guidance.

That said, if you can't pick up two hundred bucks of tips from this thirty-dollar book ... you probably shouldn't be farming. It's definitely worth the money, and the companion CD will save you many hours of attempting to build the same thing yourself. Just treat his advice on higher-level management with lots of diligent skepticism, and do not expect any sort of logical and coherent over-arching structure to the writing.

Author Richard Wiswall has been farming for over 25 years on a cool organic farm in Vermont.

He has done farmers everywhere a service with this new book on running a profitable organic farming business.

Fine writing, good examples of what he's writing about, and a workbook style approach made Wiswall's book come alive for me.

I'd say he's written the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Organic Farmers, but there are at least ten habits farmers can learn about by reading this book.

And as someone who runs a small business, I would recommend the book to anyone who wants to succeed at building a business, growing a rich life for themselves and their community.

[...]
Loved the Tale of Two Brassicas where Wiswall tells how he learned the difference between growing kale and broccoli.

This book covers a lot of ground, from basic bookkeeping to crop-specific enterprise budgets. But my favorite thing about it is that is starts by asking the reader to consider his reasons for farming, and to use the resulting answers to create a personal statement of purpose. Even if you aren't a farmer, I would recommend reading the first two chapters and going through the process of prioritizing your values.
I own a small farm, and with three years of trial and error experience now under my belt, I found this book an incredibly useful distillation of some of the lessons I've already learned as well as some great new ideas for making my farm more productive and financially sustainable.

First, the book is written for farmers (and other small business owners/wannabees) who have not felt comfortable with indepth business analysis. He keeps the business analysis at a simple, attainable level, with recommended resources for those who want to dig deeper or do more complex planning. It is written as a farmer for farmers, and as such, it is easy for us to understand, appreciate, and apply. I have been fortunate to participate in workshops led by Wiswall so much of the material is not new to me, and the need for this information is not new, but I still felt having it together in print is a worthwhile purchase. Having his notes from the management workshops, being aware of basic business management needs, and still struggling with equipment systems, the production chapter was actually my favorite.

In response to the negative review, the chapter structure read fine to me. It is a read through and then go back and do exercises book. Yes it is written from a production manager's perspective, which is why the rest of us production managers can accept and apply what he is saying. It makes sense and appears to have value as presented from a production manager to production managers. The statement that his tractor tires are on 60" centers for 6 foot beds threw me at first also, until I read in the production chapter that he overlaps the wheel tracks half width, resulting in 6 foot spacing to provide a margin of error in subsequent field operations. Not a mistake after all - just needed clarification at that point. I also felt that the level of detail in Wiswall's business planning forms and exercises was perfect for smaller farmers who have not yet adopted formal written business management practices - he makes it attainable rather than overwhelming. He keeps the financial interpretation at the appropriate level. If anything, the enterprise budgets are still beyond my information collection skills. And the complaint about bond and stock returns - Come on, farmers are not so stupid that we are not aware of current returns or would pick up the phone and call a discount broker and place an order without more research. And he tells the reader to get more indepth advice before making investments. The point he is making is that having off-farm investments can be a good thing, rather than having all your assets in the farm.

I have not managed to write down what I take to market and bring home, or how we spend our time on the vegetables. My bottom line has always been acceptable, and I can do those enterprise budgets for my livestock because I have one (clean) place where I weigh and label and write down inventory, and time inputs are repetitive, but I have not been able to track individual crops yet. Wiswall's explanation of how he does it makes it look doable, so, next year??

If you do not have a clear goal for your business (more detailed than make money or provide for the family), some sort of business plan, do not know which products are making you the most money, or just want to fine tune your operation and know you have a handle on what's going on, the book is worthwhile.

Probably the most important book I'll read this year. Why? For Sustainable Farming to be TRULY Sustainable, farmers must be able to earn a living -- and that means healthcare, retirement funds, and college funds for the kids (those are costs of production too!). This book gives you the record keeping tools to get you there. Farming is a business - treat it like one. At least for an hour a week or so...

Wiswall has earned his title as the "Uber Bean Counter of Organic Farming". This is all the UN-sexy boring stuff about Organic Farming. But, if you want to move from gardening to farming, and by that I mean earning money and scaling up, then you NEED to read this book. Why? Because of the all books on organic farming I have read, Wiswall's is the only one that tells you the hard truths. YES a business plan is important. YES itemize your receipts. DO a cash flow analysis. The difference between the a successful organic farmer and an EX-organic farmer comes down to record keeping and their knowledge and comfort with the IRS's Schedule F form. Can you make a living --and you owe it to your family to include health benefits, retirement savings and a college fund in your profit planning- I will give it a qualified YES. OF course we all know it takes massive know how on the procedure side --how to grow things well with less input- but even more so on the business side. Gardening is a hobby, farming is a BUSINESS. Not the most fun book, but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Start planning for profit, rather than making do with "what's left over".

Great book for beginner farmers and small business owners with little experience and accounting background. Easy read, lots of great ideas based on tried experiences. Methods for calculating costs with regard to labour, machine use, supplies etc. will definitely be used on my farm and these formulas were worth the price of the book.

For the beginning farmer, this book is an excellent resource. It's chock full of practical suggestions (based on the farmer's years of experience) and examples for keeping records on the farming enterprise. At this point I'm about half-way through the book and have not yet accessed the CD which is included, but I expect the remainder of the book and CD will be just as useful as the first half. Sometimes I feel "organizationally challenged" but with this book I do not have to "reinvent the wheel" and can make better decisions about my farm because I will know precisely where I stand with the finances.

This book not only addresses finances, but also time-management issues which are just as important as the dollars and cents. The happiness factor is greatly enhanced when your life is in balance and you feel like you are reaching your goals. This book also addresses dealing with staff which is a huge topic in itself.

Thank you, Richard Wiswall, for writing this book and saving me several hundred hours of my life trying to figure out how to balance the books and keep my sanity. You are as much of a hero to me as Joel Salatin is for his insignts and leadership in organic farming.

There are plenty of books about growing vegetables organically. And there are plenty of books about running a small business. But finally Richard Wiswall has combined the two in a no-nonsense, clear-eyed compendium that will shake the idealistic stars out of any would be farmer's eyes who thinks a little compost and hard work will lead to modest but fulfilling income.
The most important tool in a farmer's tool shed is a calculator, according to Wiswall. If the revenues don't exceed expenses - as any businessman knows - the Going Out of Business sign is not far behind. It doesn't matter if the product is widgets or kohlrabi, if you put more in than you get out, you are engaged in a labor of love.
Wiswall draws on 18 years of experience running his own organic farm where he has experimented with all vegetables in an attempt to sustain himself and his family. Sharing his knowledge of what makes money and what doesn't is one of the most important take-aways from this highly-readable book.
Wiswall has analyzed his business like the most fanatic corporate accountant. How much do seeds cost, fuel, how many hours are spent weeding, cleaning, harvesting, repairing equipment, etc? How much does it cost to send farm crew to work the Saturday morning farmers market, and how much money does that generate? Basically, what pays and what doesn't.
This kind of looking at the dollars and cents of an organic farm business is rare. Sometimes a book will devote a chapter to the business side of organic gardening, sometimes not even that. Anyone thinking of making the leap from raising food for their own family to supplying others, should get this book and make copious notes while reading it.

The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook is a top resource for any farmer trying to link their finances with farming realities. It shows how farmers can become more efficient, better managers of employees, and how they can turn a profit and is based on the author's twenty-seven years of experience at Cate Farm in Vermont. Business and farming collections alike will find this a key acquisition.

I read this book as part of the Green Books campaign. This is large format paperback, 184 pages, printed on chlorine-free, recycled paper and includes a companion CD-ROM with four spreadsheets and a doc file, all of which worked fine in the Open Office included on my netbook. A Kindle edition is available, but I would not recommend it, even on the DX - the worksheets can be a bit of a strain to read even on paper and may be impossible as tables on the Kindle, plus you don't get the companion CD.

Most books on organic farming/gardening approach the subject from the gardening viewpoint. This book, however, introduces the organic farmer to several of the concepts needed to run a farm as a successful business, starting with the principle that profit is not evil (including a chapter on how to plan for a retirement where you don't have to keep working the farm until you die or sell off the farm to afford it). There are worksheets to help determine which crops are making money (after expenses which include more than just materials) as well as track payroll taxes (although I'd suggest considering a program like Quickbooks to handle that part of the business). The worksheets are pretty involved and some of the print is quite small on the page, but each one is included in one of the spreadsheets on the companion CD. The book may not make the actual gardening any easier (or find you reliable laborers), but it should assist in deciding which crops to grow and which markets to attend (if it costs you more to get ready for a market than you sell, you're better off not harvesting the crops at all). With a bit of hard work, good weather and proper planning, you might even get to the income level he discusses in the first chapter, bringing in after-expense profits in the six figures (at which point you might want an accountant rather than a do-it-yourself book for tax planning).

All-in-all, I felt it was a pretty good introduction for someone with an organic gardening background that wants to make it as a commercial farmer. The chapter on production efficiencies uses all organic methods, but doesn't avoid machinery that will be needed for larger operations, while chapters on calculating expenses and costs include hidden costs, marketing and CSAs, as well as special considerations if your spouse is also working on the farm. Most other books on the business of farming have an overwhelming focus on chemical rather than mechanical controls and wholesaling of commodity crops, rather than selling to smaller markets or direct to the customer.