Small farms

We help Minnesota’s small farm owners succeed as stewards of the land.

Our information on running a one- to 40-acre farm includes Farmbytes, bite-sized, self-guided introductions to a variety of topics related to your small farm, including videos and recommended resources. 

Business and marketing

• The basics of marketing local food
• Marketing for cut flower growers
• Profitability, financial benchmarks, and economic impacts of local food

Equipment

• Buying a used tractor
• Cleaning tractors and farm machinery

Horticulture

• Choosing plants for your cut flower farm
• Deep winter greenhouses
• Growing high tunnel raspberries
  • High-tunnel raspberry basics
• Small-scale hydroponics

Livestock

Cattle

• Making an organic dairy work

Pigs

• Small-scale swine production

Chickens

• DIY poultry feeder
• DIY mobile poultry hut
• Safety tips for handling farm fresh eggs
• Small-scale poultry

Infrastructure 

• Fencing system design for grazing
• Raising livestock under solar panels
• Tips on using temporary fencing
• Watering system design for rotational grazing

Soils and nutrient management

• High tunnel soil health and nutrient management
• Introduction to using the USDA NRCS Web Soil Survey
• Soil sampling and nutrient guidelines

Cottage food producer food safety training

Self-guided, online course

Feb

3

Introduction to high tunnel vegetable production

Online course

Feb

6

Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) training

9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Webinar

Feb

6

Working for agriculture: Labor strategies for farm sustainability

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Webinar

Feb

11

Fruit and vegetable production: Pumpkin Integrated Pest Management

12 - 1:15 p.m.

Webinar series

Feb

17

Suicide prevention for agricultural communities

1 - 2:30 p.m.

Webinar

Sign up for the Small Farms Newsletter

Subscribe