Consulting

You can start your own farm business

• ■ Learn from Bernard’s experience.
• ■ Copy his model.

Create a Business for Yourself

A great model for working people with little or no farming experience who want to participate in building a farm related business while holding a full time job. I invite you to copy this model in setting up your own farm-to-consumer business.

Local communities already have farmers, hobbyists, and/or backyard enthusiasts that raise livestock animals including cattle, lambs, goats, etc.  Many of these producers do not enjoy the process of marketing, selling, and servicing customers.  So when it comes time for them to sell their animals, they choose to sell them in one single transaction to a broker or local auction house.  Those animals then usually end up in a feedlot somewhere. 

You can insert yourself into this process and with your basic marketing and good communication skills, you can create a business for yourself coordinating the harvest, processing, and selling of high quality meat directly to people in your local community.

What to do

• ■ Remain employed under the security of your job.
• ■ Utilize existing local infrastructure for production, processing, and distribution.
• ■ Conserve your cash for carrying the cost of animals and processing (i.e. product inventory).
• ■ Develop your marketing strategy and sales force (i.e. website).
• ■ Establish relationships (see diagram) and agreements to purchase animals.
• ■ Begin accepting customer orders.

What Bernard has to offer

• ■ Establishing a vision and goals for your farm-to-consumer business.
• ■ Marketing insight (e.g. defining product attributes, setting prices, market analysis, etc.).
• ■ Guidance on building your network of small farms, livestock contractors, processors, and other experts.
• ■ Estimating sales, expenses, and net income.
• ■ Designing the customer order process (scheduling processing, customer communications, order tracking, etc.).
• ■ Spending decision support/coaching (setting spending priorities and knowing when to say no to spending on a project).
• ■ Help to design and lay out an income-generating farm website (like this one).

Contact Bernard

• ■ 925-876-6720

Bernard’s Background

• ■ Grew up on the family farm.
• ■ Education:

• - Oregon State University, BS in Finance, 1987.
• - Santa Clara University, MBA, 1994.

• ■ Business career spanning over 2 decades:

• - Most recently led the Securities Lending business at Charles Schwab.
• - Achieved revenue increases of $20 million per year for 5 consecutive years.

• ■ Established Full of Life Farm in 2008.