Join one of the most engaging and impactful teachers on small farm finances, Julia Shanks, for a one-day intensive course that will focus on three core concepts: developing a chart of accounts, enterprise budgeting, and forecasting sales and expenses to build a cash flow projection for your farm. This daylong workshop will be part “lecture” and part practice; you will review key concepts in farm financial management and then work together on your individual businesses with the support of the instructor. Expect to go home with new knowledge and tools for your farm’s financial needs! All attendees will be eligible for up to 6 hours of free follow-up technical assistance from a professional farm financial advisor.
Registration is required. Free. Attendance capped at 30 (up to 2 people from the same farm business can attend). Beverages and snacks will be provided; bring your own lunch.
The day will be split into three sections, with breaks in between.
- Section 1 – Bookkeeping Systems: an overview of recordkeeping and how to set up the Chart of Accounts. Review of the basic tenets of bookkeeping and discussion on how to set up the chart of accounts so that your books give you the information you need to make data-driven decisions. You will spend time working on your own QuickBooks to update your chart of accounts, and as time allows, we will address specific bookkeeping questions that you have.
- Section 2 – Enterprise Analysis: a review of the concepts specific to enterprise budgeting and unit cost analysis. Work through a case study, looking at multiple enterprises (like flowers, eggs, meat, vegetables), to tease apart different expenses to truly understand which enterprises are profitable and which are dragging the business down. We will go over the key concepts of enterprise analysis as we work through the case study, and spend some time addressing the specific questions you have about your own farm enterprises.
- Section 3 – Forecasting Sales and Expenses: a walk through how to create a cash flow budget from farm projections. You will create a cash flow budget for the coming year. We will review the process for projecting sales and expenses, and then work together to create a dynamic budget in Excel, which will be usable for the coming year and will serve as a template for future years.
Julia’s Bio:
Julia Shanks, author of The Farmer’s Office, works with food and agricultural entrepreneurs and organizations as a business coach, strategist, and educator. She brings a broad range of professional experiences to her clients, from pilot to chef to serial entrepreneur. She combines the practicality of an accountant with the creativity of a chef.
Through her consulting practice, Julia helps food and farm businesses maximize profits and streamline operations through business planning, feasibility studies and operational audits. She provides financial management trainings to farmers and business advisors who work with farmers. Julia shares her tools and knowledge more broadly in her second book, The Farmer’s Office. This book is a practical hands-on guide to help farmers think like entrepreneurs so they can build financially sustainable businesses. Her third book, (title TBA) co-authored with Dan Brisebois, makes the direct link between the financials and the practical reality of operations to create an action plan for increased profits and sustainability. It will be released in the fall of 2026.
This work is supported by the Northeast Extension Risk Management project award no. 2024-70027-42540, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.