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Farms & Agribusiness

A Choose-and-Cut Pine and Fir Christmas Tree Case Study
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A Choose-and-Cut Pine and Fir Christmas Tree Case Study

Choose-and-cut Christmas tree farms often are part-time family businesses. With sometimes several members of a family involved, it can be difficult to record and place a value on the time and costs required to establish,...

Agribusiness Management Simulation
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Agribusiness Management Simulation

The Purdue Agribusiness Management Simulation, designed to be used in agribusiness management courses, lets students run a virtual feed and fertilizer store in order to learn about inventory, pricing, human resources,...

Agribusiness Online Webinar 3-Pack
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Agribusiness Online Webinar 3-Pack

Join faculty experts Allan Gray, Mike Boehlje and Scott Downey for this online webinar as they address critical issues in agriculture: where the industry is headed, what large growers want and need and how to best commun...

Allan Gray: Get Inside Your Customer's Head (Farmer Panel) (Online Webinar)
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Allan Gray: Get Inside Your Customer's Head (Farmer Panel) (Online Webinar)

Allan Gray, professor and director of Purdue's Center for Food and Agricultural Business, talks with two farmers in this online webinar to explore the needs, desires and motivations of today's large commercial producers....

Building a Sustainable Business
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Building a Sustainable Business

Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses brings the business planning process alive to help today's alternative and sustainable agriculture entrepren...

Building Bank Relationships - A Small Business Banking Guide
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Building Bank Relationships - A Small Business Banking Guide

A personal relationship with a bank is one of the most important business relationships that a small business owner has. Bankers play a vital role in helping small business owners obtain financing, receive financial advi...

Capital Investment Analysis and Project Assessment
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Capital Investment Analysis and Project Assessment

12-page publication explaining two phases of project assessment: economic profitability and financial feasibility....

Costs and Returns of Producing Hops in Established Tree Plantations
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Costs and Returns of Producing Hops in Established Tree Plantations

This article is the first of two publications that analyzes economic opportunities in forest farming for Indiana forest plantation owners. This study explores growing hops along the fence lines of newly established fo...

Defining Your Business Through Goals and Objectives: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs
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Defining Your Business Through Goals and Objectives: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs

Starting a new business requires a lot of thought and time before even a cent is spent. This is a 4-page publication that helps you determine how a new venture will fit with your personal and business goals. It uses the ...

Defining Your Business Through Goals and Objectives: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs (EPUB format)
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Defining Your Business Through Goals and Objectives: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs (EPUB format)

This publication helps new entrepreneurs determine how a new venture will fit with their personal and business goals. It uses the example of a new bakery start-up to illustrate the concepts discussed.

This publication ...

Developing Effective Job Descriptions for Small Businesses and Farms
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Developing Effective Job Descriptions for Small Businesses and Farms

16-page publication explaining the components of effective job descriptions and providing a suggested format for a job description and a few examples to illustrate how completed job descriptions might look....

Developing Vision and Mission Statements
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Developing Vision and Mission Statements

12-page publication to help farm business managers develop effective vision and mission statements to help them gain a better understanding of themselves, their business, and the business environment in which they operat...

Elevator Pitches: Showcasing Your Business
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Elevator Pitches: Showcasing Your Business

This 12-page publication helps business owners and entrepreneurs take the steps necessary to develop and deliver effective elevator pitches to showcase their businesses in two minutes or less. Included are two examples a...

Emprendimientos alimentarios: Alimentos orgá nicos
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Emprendimientos alimentarios: Alimentos orgá nicos

Esta publicación ofrece un panorama de los requisitos necesarios para producir y etiquetar un alimento como orgánico para la venta. Incluye información sobre el Programa Orgánico Nacional del Departam...

Emprendimientos alimentarios: Mé todos para la conservación de alimentos
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Emprendimientos alimentarios: Mé todos para la conservación de alimentos

Esta publicación ofrece a quienes inicien un emprendimiento con alimentos un panorama básico de las diferentes técnicas de conservación de comida, que incluye refrigeración, secado, pasteurizaci&...

Emprendimientos alimentarios: Regulaciones para el procesamiento de alimentos en Indiana
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Emprendimientos alimentarios: Regulaciones para el procesamiento de alimentos en Indiana

Es necesario conocer y comprender las regulaciones alimentarias antes de iniciar un negocio de comida. Esto puede involucrar a varias agencias del gobierno, dependiendo del tipo de comida, de cómo sea elaborada o pr...

Emprendimientos alimentarios: Uso de la cocina del hogar para preparar alimentos para vender
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Emprendimientos alimentarios: Uso de la cocina del hogar para preparar alimentos para vender

En 2009, Indiana estableció la excepción conocida como HBV (home-based vendor) para quienes quieren usar la cocina de su casa para preparar alimentos para la venta. Esta publicación explica qué alimen...

Emprendimientos alimentarios: Uso de una cocina aprobada para preparar alimentos para vender
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Emprendimientos alimentarios: Uso de una cocina aprobada para preparar alimentos para vender

La mayorí a de los productos elaborados por emprendedores alimentarios deben ser preparados en una cocina aprobada, tal como una cocina comercial, a fin de cumplir con las regulaciones estatales y federales sobre el...

Estimating Breakeven Sales for Your Small Business
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Estimating Breakeven Sales for Your Small Business

4-page publication explaining how to estimate breakeven sales for your business and conduct a sensitivity analysis relative to breakeven sales....

Estimating Breakeven Sales for Your Small Business (EPUB format)
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Estimating Breakeven Sales for Your Small Business (EPUB format)

This publication explains how to estimate breakeven sales for your business to help you set goals concerning the sales volume you will need to for your small business to be profitable.

NOTE: After you pay for your ePub...

Fatal Business Planning Assumptions
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Fatal Business Planning Assumptions

4-page publication describing 10 dangerous business planning assumptions that entrepreneurs can avoid once they are aware of them....

Food Preservation Methods (Food Entrepreneurship Series)
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Food Preservation Methods (Food Entrepreneurship Series)

This publication provides food entrepreneurs with a basic overview of various food preservation techniques, including refrigeration, drying, pasteurization, thermal processing, and acidifying, including fermentation. It ...

Food Safety Regulations for Farmers' Markets
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Food Safety Regulations for Farmers' Markets

Food Safety Regulations for Farmers' Markets 8-page publication that explains food safety regulations so that market masters and vendors can keep consumers safe at farmers' markets....

Guide to Information for Starting in the Nursery Business
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Guide to Information for Starting in the Nursery Business

This is a reference list of informative publications which can provide answers to many of the questions which arise when considering a new nursery business. ...

Guide to Production Information for the Commercial Nursery Crop Grower
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Guide to Production Information for the Commercial Nursery Crop Grower

This publication is a reference list of informative publications which can provide answers and guidance to the commercial nursery grower on topics from propagation to pest management. ...

How to Use Goals to Achieve Business Success: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs
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How to Use Goals to Achieve Business Success: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs

6-page publication explaining how to use goals to identify tasks critical to a business's success and set up a tracking system for accomplishing them....

Implementing Strategy: The Key Strategic Decisions for the Farm Business
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Implementing Strategy: The Key Strategic Decisions for the Farm Business

8-page publication to help farm business managers make strategic decisions in seven areas: business enterprise focus, growth/downsizing, marketing and channel linkages, financial structure and business model, organizatio...

Indiana Agricultural Statistics App (iOS)
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Indiana Agricultural Statistics App (iOS)

The "Indiana Agricultural Statistics" app has information about Indiana's entire agricultural industry. This publication satisfies the growing need for accurate, reliable and unbiased information and data. The data i...

Industry Analysis: The Five Forces
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Industry Analysis: The Five Forces

This 16-page publication describes the five forces that can influence an industry: bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and rivalry among competitors. ...

Intellectual Property: Obtaining Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights
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Intellectual Property: Obtaining Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

Intellectual property rights, including patents and trademarks, can protect business innovations. This 6-page publication describes different forms of intellectual property rights and explains how to obtain them....

List of Assistance and Regulatory Agencies for Starting in the Nursery Business
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List of Assistance and Regulatory Agencies for Starting in the Nursery Business

This publication is a listing of Federal and Indiana state government agencies that regulate various activities involved in operating a landscape plant nursery. ...

Manufacturing and Marketing Eastern Hardwood Lumber Produced by Thin Kerf Band Mills
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Manufacturing and Marketing Eastern Hardwood Lumber Produced by Thin Kerf Band Mills

This full-color, soft-cover book brings together a lifetime of sawmill experience and technical training to help readers solve lumber manufacturing problems and save money. It includes chapters on wood quality and charac...

Marketing's Four P's: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs
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Marketing's Four P's: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs

12-page publication explaining the four "P's" of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Includes a set of worksheets to help you tailor your marketing mix to your customers'....

Mike Boehlje: What's Coming Next? A Broad Look at Today's Industry (Online Webinar)
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Mike Boehlje: What's Coming Next? A Broad Look at Today's Industry (Online Webinar)

Your farm customers are facing a future that is less prosperous than it has been, and that's something you need to understand in order to best serve them. In this online webinar, professor Mike Boehlje shares the perspec...

Opportunities in the Fresh-Cut Fruit Sector for Indiana Melon Growers
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Opportunities in the Fresh-Cut Fruit Sector for Indiana Melon Growers

8-page publication provides an overview of the fresh-cut produce industry and of the melon industry in Indiana and discusses available opportunities for Indiana melon growers in the fresh-cut fruit indistry....

Organic Foods (Food Entrepreneurship Series)
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Organic Foods (Food Entrepreneurship Series)

This publication provides an overview of the requirements for producing and labeling an organic food product for sale. It includes information about the National Organic Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture as w...

Planning for the Unexpected: Human Resource Risk and Contingency Planning
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Planning for the Unexpected: Human Resource Risk and Contingency Planning

8-page publication explaining the six sections of a contingency plan and how writing one can help you plan for the unexpected and combat human resources risk....

Principles for Structuring Small Businesses and Farms
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Principles for Structuring Small Businesses and Farms

4-page publication explains five principles guiding the organizational structure of small businesses and describes three common organizational structures....

Projected Costs and Returns Associated with the Production of Kentucky Bluegrass
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Projected Costs and Returns Associated with the Production of Kentucky Bluegrass

Turfgrass is a major specialty crop in the US. In the Midwest, production has been dominated by Kentucky bluegrass. This publication, the first in a forthcoming series, uses data from Indiana and Iowa to assess the econo...

Regulations for Indiana Food Processing (Food Entrepreneurship Series)
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Regulations for Indiana Food Processing (Food Entrepreneurship Series)

It is necessary to know and understand food regulations before starting a food business. Several governmental agencies may be involved, depending on the type of food, how it is prepared or produced, and where it is to be...

Scott Downey: Communicating Benefits to Your Customer (Online Webinar)
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Scott Downey: Communicating Benefits to Your Customer (Online Webinar)

Communicating effectively as a salesperson isn't about just knowing the benefits of your product. It's about understanding what a customer wants. Supported by research from the Large Commercial Producer Survey, professor...

Selecting and Managing Consultants
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Selecting and Managing Consultants

Consultants can help you implement a plan for solving problems, provide an outside perspective on your business, or fill short-term positions calling for highly specialized skills. This is a 4-page publication that provi...

Small Meat Processing Plants: A Pest Control Program
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Small Meat Processing Plants: A Pest Control Program

Basic pest control in the food processing plant is an essential prerequisite food safety program. Unfortunately, many processors have never estalished a systematic, organized approach toward a pest control program. Thi...

Small Meat Processing Plants: A Recall and Traceability Program
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Small Meat Processing Plants: A Recall and Traceability Program

For the very small meat and/or poultry processor, verification procedures are one of the most difficult aspects of a HACCP plan, a sanitation program, or other required programs. This fact sheet explains the parts of ve...

Small Meat Processing Plants: Overview of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point)
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Small Meat Processing Plants: Overview of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point)

Federal regulations, phased in from 1998 until 2000, require all large, small, and very small meat and poultry processors to implement a HACCP plan. This fact sheet explains the benefits of HACCP, presents an overview t...

Small Meat Processing Plants: Selection and Maintenance of Temperature Measurement Devices
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Small Meat Processing Plants: Selection and Maintenance of Temperature Measurement Devices

Accurate temperature measurement is critical for ensuring production of a safe and high quality meat or poultry product. Many of the microorganisms that cause foodborne disease may be eliminated by proper temperature re...

Small Meat Processing Plants: SSOP and GMP Practices and Programs (Sanitation Stand Operating Proc and Good Manf Pract)
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Small Meat Processing Plants: SSOP and GMP Practices and Programs (Sanitation Stand Operating Proc and Good Manf Pract)

A small meat processor must understand the basic principles behind Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and how to comply with them. For meat and poultry processors, S...

Small Meat Processing Plants: Verification Programs
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Small Meat Processing Plants: Verification Programs

Recall of an adulterated food product can be a very traumatic and trying experience for a small meat or poultry processor. Preparation beforehand can make the difference between a recall becoming a learning experience o...

Starting a Farmers' Market
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Starting a Farmers' Market

4-page publication explaining the steps necessary to start a farmer's market....

Starting in the Nursery Business
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Starting in the Nursery Business

This publication discusses starting in the nursery business, including what you'll need, developing a nursery business plan, selecting a specific nursery site, nursery design and space requirements, and labor and capit...

Strategic Planning: Scanning the Horizon
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Strategic Planning: Scanning the Horizon

12-page publication designed to help farm business managers with strategic planning to reach a desired future. Includes two helpful worksheets....

The Competitive Environment: New Realities
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The Competitive Environment: New Realities

8-page publication designed to help farm business managers identify the important trends in agriculture that will affect their farm business. Includes a helpful worksheet....

The Elements of a Business Plan: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs
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The Elements of a Business Plan: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs

12-page publication explaining the seven elements of a business plan. Includes descriptions of common business plan errors....

The Elements of a Business Plan: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs (EPUB format)
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The Elements of a Business Plan: First Steps for New Entrepreneurs (EPUB format)

This publication explains the seven elements of a business plan, which should be the cornerstone of a small business. It also includes descriptions of common business plan errors.

NOTE: After you pay for your ePub with...

The Farm's Legacy: A Guidebook for Intra-Family Succession
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The Farm's Legacy: A Guidebook for Intra-Family Succession

The Farm's Legacy: A Guidebook for Intra-Family Succession is a publication authored by the Purdue Succession Planning Team. This guidebook is a culmination of years of firsthand knowledge and expertise with farm familie...

The Internal Analysis of Your Farm Business: What is Your Farm's Competitive Advantage?
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The Internal Analysis of Your Farm Business: What is Your Farm's Competitive Advantage?

12-page publication to help farm business managers identify the capabilities and competitive advantages of their farms....

Using a Home Kitchen to Prepare Food for Sale (Food Entrepreneurship Series)
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Using a Home Kitchen to Prepare Food for Sale (Food Entrepreneurship Series)

In 2009, Indiana established the "home-based" vendor exemption for food entrepreneurs who wish to use their home kitchens to prepare food for sale. This publication explains which foods qualify for this type of productio...

Using an Approved Kitchen to Prepare Food for Sale (Food Entrepreneurship Series)
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Using an Approved Kitchen to Prepare Food for Sale (Food Entrepreneurship Series)

Most products prepared by food entrepreneurs must be prepared in an approved kitchen facility, such as a commercial kitchen, in order to meet state and federal food-processing regulations. This publication explains what ...

Using the WIC Program: A Guide for Farmers' Market Masters, Vendors, and Roadside Stands
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Using the WIC Program: A Guide for Farmers' Market Masters, Vendors, and Roadside Stands

4-page publication explining how farmers' market masters, vendors, and roadside stands can use the Women, Infants and children (WIC) Program....

Value-Added Business Ventures Through Producer Alliances
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Value-Added Business Ventures Through Producer Alliances

4-page publication identifying the factors that producers should evaluate when considering investment in producer alliances...