A Startup’s Guide to Success With Sustainable Agri-Business
Nature is the most trustworthy source of inspiration and innovation. So, if you plan to have your own business, you don’t have to look any further than nature and, to be more precise, sustainable agriculture.
Simply put, sustainable agriculture revolves around the idea of building successful businesses by using innovative strategies to grow and distribute agricultural product(s). As explained by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, the definition consists of three equally important aspects:
- Economic: Successful and profitable business over the long term
- Environmental: Following nation’s norms regarding land, air, and water
- Social: The quality of life for ranchers, farmers, and their communities.
And now more than ever, consumers are concerned about the food and supplies on their plate, who grew it, and what kind of machines and production methods were used in the process. As a result, ranchers and farmers slowly realize the advantages of developing a product using sustainable agriculture.
Read the steps below and find ways to give your sustainable agri-business a good start.
Set Goals and Objectives
To start a sustainable agri-business, the first thing you’ll need to do is to find values that are most crucial in achieving your business goals. Make sure you write down your values and goals and what you hope to accomplish with the help of them.
Based on this thought process, set specific but measurable goals. The key to success is your quantifiable goals. Without these goals, it will become impossible for you to know if you are on the right track and soon meet your business’s objectives.
However, setting practical goals and objectives can take some time and even require you to make changes now and then before you convert your dreams into reality. And after a while, you’ll probably find that your ideas are evolving with time, and as your business grows, the point is to build a firm foundation for your agriculture business.
Formulate a Production Plan
These factors can help you choose the most realistic operations for resources available to you:
Quantity of Production: Although your aim should be to produce enough to earn decent amounts of revenue, you should try not to over exceed your limits when you are only getting started. It can cost you more than you can even imagine. Also, think about: what type of quality for your product suits best to your lifestyle? How much quantity do you think you can easily manage? Answering these questions will help you in predicting your annual gross income for your agri-business plan.
Research Methods and Equipment: to find the most efficient way, you can learn from other people’s mistakes. Before you start growing anything, make sure you have researched the commodity you want to grow and which types of equipment will best suit your specific needs.
For instance, if you want to grow a harvest that is small in size, you’ll need equipment that can take care of their size without harming them. Therefore, always be mindful of harvest machines and trimmers that you’ll need with your product. You don’t want to waste your hard work and would like to get as much as you can out of your efforts.
Finding the Production Duration: try to calculate the time and span before you start making profits. However, this task might encourage you to curb the amount of production that you had first imagined. How much in a year do you want to produce? How will you make a profit all year round to keep your customers satisfied during the off-season?
Execute the Plans
The execution of your plans must be more precise than your agri-businesses production plans. Find effective ways of implementing your planned strategies and devise a to-do list with a timeline to help you stay on track.
However, it is natural that each producer will have a different plan for executing their plans depending on various factors. Therefore, the productions and business plans will enable you to prioritize these strategies, further helping you get the most out of your resources.
Additionally, keep in mind that implementing your strategies will be the most challenging aspect of your business. It can sometimes feel scary to put your thoughts into action finally. Research thoroughly and execute your plans with confidence.
Regulate Performance
Once you have implemented your plans and strategies, it is time for you to regulate your business performance to find areas of improvement. Also, it will help you in finding out if you are getting closer to your goals or not.
Like any other business, efficiently running a sustainable agri-business is an evolving process. Regulating your business routine may find areas that you need to improve, such as production plan, need of latest equipment, or even your business goals. Regulating may further include:
Bookkeeping: Keep a close eye on your incomes and expenses, balance sheet, cash flow, and other essential aspects of the business.
Biological Monitoring: Make sure you keep records of the numbers of animals you have on your farm, their everyday feed requirements, birth rate, death rate, growth rate, pest and predators related issues, vegetation surveys, wildlife surveys, and soil surveys.
Marketing and Advertising: you can easily monitor your sales with the latest digital marketing, market trends, social media platforms, and web page activity on your official website. With all this information at your disposal, you get to make effective marketing decisions and find an easy way to recognize problems even before they take place.
To Sum it Up
Starting a sustainable agri-business is not very different from a traditional agricultural business. However, there is tremendous stress on social and environmental aspects of agriculture that a business owner should be aware of regarding sustainability. As a result, in the future, you reap the fruits of your success by passionately following your dream of growing a sustainable agri-business.
