Small and medium-sized vegetable farms face unique challenges balancing profitability with sustainable production practices and food safety requirements. To better understand how these farmers navigate complex decision-making processes, the Soil to Market Team—comprising Maria Marshall, Renee Wiatt, Petrus Langenhoven, Betty Feng, and Nathan Shoaf—conducted a comprehensive survey of 500 small and medium-sized farmers across the…Read more about Understanding Farm Decision-Making: Insights from the 2024-2025 Producer Survey[Read More]
Renee Wiatt
Small and medium-sized vegetable farms face unique challenges balancing profitability with sustainable production practices and food safety requirements. To better understand how these farmers navigate complex decision-making processes, the Soil to Market Team—comprising Maria Marshall, Renee Wiatt, Petrus Langenhoven, Betty Feng, and Nathan Shoaf—conducted a comprehensive survey of 500 small and medium-sized farmers across the…Read more about Understanding Farm Decision-Making: Insights from the 2024-2025 Producer Survey[Read More]
The survey examined how farmers integrate decisions across three critical areas: farm business planning, production management, and food safety practices. Participants were asked detailed questions about their operational decisions, the timing of various planning activities, and the people involved in farm decision-making processes. The research team sought to understand what decisions farmers make and when…Read more about Understanding Farm Decision-Making: Insights from the 2024-2025 Producer Survey[Read More]
Small and medium-sized vegetable farms face unique challenges balancing profitability with sustainable production practices and food safety requirements. To better understand how these farmers navigate complex decision-making processes, the Soil to Market Team—comprising Maria Marshall, Renee Wiatt, Petrus Langenhoven, Betty Feng, and Nathan Shoaf—conducted a comprehensive survey of 500 small and medium-sized farmers across the…Read more about Understanding Farm Decision-Making: Insights from the 2024-2025 Producer Survey[Read More]
Small and medium-sized vegetable farms face unique challenges balancing profitability with sustainable production practices and food safety requirements. To better understand how these farmers navigate complex decision-making processes, the Soil to Market Team—comprising Maria Marshall, Renee Wiatt, Petrus Langenhoven, Betty Feng, and Nathan Shoaf—conducted a comprehensive survey of 500 small and medium-sized farmers across the…Read more about Understanding Farm Decision-Making: Insights from the 2024-2025 Producer Survey[Read More]
In a producer survey done in 2024-2025 by the Soil to Market Team (Maria Marshall, Renee Wiatt, Petrus Langenhoven, Betty Feng, and Nathan Shoaf), small and medium farms were asked questions related to decisions, operations, and people on the farm. Some of those questions inquire about their interactions with and considerations of customers. From interacting…Read more about Small and Medium Farms: Does Focusing on and Communicating with Customers Pay Off?[Read More]
Conflict is present in almost every aspect of our lives: personal, business, family, community; the list goes on and on. Inherently, conflict is not good or bad. Conflict can be the fuel for change, a learning or leadership opportunity, or can bring issues that were otherwise ignored to light. Conflict only becomes unhealthy when it…Read more about Why Are We Fighting? Succession Conflict and How to Handle It[Read More]
It is something that those who work with farmers hear frequently: “I’ll never retire!” or “I do have a retirement plan; to die in the tractor!”. While those statements may seem humorous on the surface, they give insight to a deep-seated issue among farmers. Many farmers are simply disinclined to retire. In a recent survey…Read more about Farmer Retirement: An Elusive Concept?[Read More]
Grab your farm family and join the Purdue Succession Planning Team as we offer a three-day lunchtime virtual succession series! There will be presentations from Extension Educators and Specialists on “First Steps To Succession Planning” along with “Financial Feasibility of Farm Succession.” An attorney will also present at the workshop on the topic “Structuring…Read more about Virtual Succession Planning Workshop Series[Read More]
This article is the second in a series that covers risks and planning for farms and agribusinesses. The first article, Adapting and Planning for Farm Businesses in Uncertain Times, can be found here. When you hear the term “human resources”, do you automatically envision a large corporation’s department that manages benefits for many employees? Surprisingly,…Read more about Death, Divorce, and Disability: How Can Your Farm Plan for Human Resource Risk?[Read More]