Women's Agricultural Network Blog

If your bottom line depends on holiday sales you are probably worried about how the slowing economy will impact your business. But could this be an opportunity?
Certainly if a customer has lost their job or is threatened with having their home foreclosed on then they may need to re-assess their spending and it is possible that their new budget will not accommodate your products.
But, there is still a strong core of the workforce that is employed, or at least financially secure, and many of them are becoming increasingly disheartened by the behavior of large corporations. It is entirely reasonable to expect that they are looking for an alternative. What better strategy than buying local? It might be that the silver lining of our current economic situation is that people will pull back and look to their local communities to meet more of their food and fiber needs.
Check out 10 Trends for Near Future to see what Marian Salzman, trendspotter, has to say. Of particular interest is her take on small and local, food anxiety, and value vs. cost. You can hear her talking about these trends on Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve site.

As we get deeper into the fall season and look ahead to winter it is time to think about where you’d like to take your business in the coming year. Now is the time to start putting together a professional development plan that will get you the skills that you need to take your business to the next level.
Going to conferences is a great way to pick up tips and build networks. For more in-depth learning it might be you’ll want to check out a workshop or class that lasts a bit longer and provided the opportunity to drill down into the subject matter a bit.
Another professional development opportunity that you might consider is online learning. This can be a good way to combine the need for more intensive learning with the convenience of not having to leave the house. If you have internet access you might want to check out the increasing number of learning opportunities.
To get you started let me suggest a couple of webinars that are coming up. They happen the second Wednesday of every month — they last just one hour — all you need to participate is access to the internet and a telephone and they are free!
Check out the schedule at http://www.extension.org/pages/Upcoming_Webinar_Topics

There’s a new resource online for farmers who would like to explore how the internet can help them improve their business management practices. Part of a national eCommerce initiative sponsored by the Southern Rural Development Center, this interactive module, Internet Strategies to Improve Farm Business Management, was developed by Sarah Roth, Jeffrey Hyde, and Ellie Hollabaugh Vranich at The Pennsylvania State University.
Session modules include The Internet and the Manager, The Internet as a Communications Tool, Business Planning and Market Research on the Internet, e-Commerce, Developing and Maintaining Your Own Website, and Promoting Your Website. The modules include video clips of farmers discussing how the internet helps them be more effective in their business management.
I hope you’ll check the site out. There are more modules on the way and will be loaded soon.