Brian Kowalski
Brian is now wearing two hats. His new one is Agricultural Development Specialist, and his other one is his Murray Meadows Farm hat. He still owns and operates his farm, but he’s taking time away to help the O’Brien Foundation build a new incubator vegetable farm on what was once a small dairy farm.
The purpose of it? To help new farmers discover if that’s really what they’re cut out for, without having to make the heavy investments.
Initial incubator plots will be about 10,000 sq. ft. with all the trimmings – irrigation, a couple of high tunnels, walk-in cool-bot cooler, all the fun stuff like lots of small tractor and BCS equipment (yay grants!).
Not surprisingly, the challenge for these new farmers is business and farm planning, which is one of the requirements to get a plot. Long wordy business plans are overkill at this stage of startup, and aren’t useful for understanding what is most likely to determine success. For beginning farmers, the shorter the plan the better. Like, back of the envelope.
SPIN-simple business planning reduces it to 6 questions, and many of you have already been through that process with us. How they plan to make money is what new farmers need to focus on, and to be able to make clear, right at the start of their journey.
If you’re just starting out, or helping others do the same, and want to use SPIN-Farming fast track training as a framework for pacing and gauging first year success against measurable, real-world benchmarks, email Wally or Roxanne here.
P.S. At Murray Meadows Farm Brian has been targeting high 5 figures on 40,000 sq. ft. for several years now.
MEET BRIAN AND OTHER SPIN-FARMING MENTORS IN THE SPIN ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY SPIN GUIDE HERE.