Small farms

Extension provides information on best business practices, crops, livestock, farm safety, and land management. The small farms program builds on more than a hundred years of experience working with Minnesota farmers to meet their changing needs.

Our goal is to build on the profitability and success already achieved by Minnesota’s agricultural industry and help small farm owners succeed as stewards of the land.

Guides and resources for small farms

Find recommended resources and video playlists on a variety of topics related to managing a one- to 40-acre farm.

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Business and marketing

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

Equipment and structures

• Buying a used tractor
• Cleaning tractors and farm machinery
• Fencing system design for grazing
• Raising livestock under solar panels
• Tips on using temporary fencing
• Watering system design for rotational grazing

Video playlists

• Equipment and grow systems (36 videos)
• Youth farm and tractor safety (15 videos)

Horticulture

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

Video playlists

• Apple pruning (3 videos)
• Cold climate fruit webinars (19 videos)
• Fruit crops (51 videos)
• Fruit and vegetable production webinars (12 videos)
• Vegetable crops (9 videos)
• Vineyard and orchard management (34 videos)

 

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

Video playlists

• Animal management (17 videos)
• Biosecurity for alternative swine farms (4 videos)
• Grazing systems (4 videos)
• Raising chickens (7 videos)

Pest management

• Disease management for vegetable crops
• Preventing plant diseases on farms
• Raspberry insect pests
• Strawberry insect pests

Video playlists

• Buckthorn, soybean and aphids (2 videos)
• Integrated pest management (5 videos)
• Pest, weed and disease management (21 videos)

Soil, water and nutrient management

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

Video playlists

Soil and water (24 videos)

Resources

Cover crops

Keeping living roots in the ground year-round can improve water management, soil protection, and nutrient scavenging.

Pollination on fruit and vegetable farms

For fruit, vegetable and other specialty crop farmers, bees are the most important pollinators

Growing safe food

Our on-farm Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Education Program helps Minnesota’s produce farmers develop and implement on-farm food safety plans and prepare for GAPs audits.

Farm finance

Find resources and tools to help you budget and manage your farm's financial health.

Farm food safety workshops

Extension offers courses to help you stay up to date on important topics to protect your farm and your customers and improve the safety and quality of your fresh produce.

Fruit and vegetable production workshops

Small to medium-sized farmers, as well as aspiring farmers, are invited to join University of Minnesota Extension educators, industry experts and experienced farmers for webinars focused on the finer points of fruit and vegetable production.

• Tier 2 cottage food producer training

  Self-guided, online course

• Youth tractor and farm safety certification - Appleton

  Jul 21 - Jul 22

  Swift Co. Fairgrounds

• Confidence with tractors, trucks, and trailers - Crookston

  Jul 27, 2 - 6:45 p.m.

  Northwest Research and Outreach Center

• Youth tractor and farm safety certification - Crookston

  Jul 28 - Jul 29

  Northwest Research and Outreach Center

• Confidence with tractors, trucks, and trailers - Crookston

  Jul 28, 2 - 6:45 p.m.

  Northwest Research and Outreach Center

• Commercial animal waste technician (CAWT) workshop - Farmfest

  Aug 6, 8 - 11:45 a.m.

  Farmfest

Learn more about small farms

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Contacts:

• Farm Information Line, [email protected]

• Emily Krekelberg, Extension educator, Farm safety and health, [email protected]