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Business plan components• The executive summary is a one- to two-page overview of your plan (put it first, but write it last). Use this section to grab the reader's interest and say why your business idea will be successful.
• The organic sector analysis provides details about opportunities and growth, who's involved in organics and how they've made their mark.
• The market analysis tells what's happening where you plan to do business, who the competition is and how the future looks in terms of who will buy your product.
• The business description tells how long you've been in business, describes the business' legal structure and ownership, and summarizes your short- and long- term goals.
• The product-line section describes your productss or service and emphasizes their benefits to current and potential customers.
• The marketing plan describes your customer base, outlines your pricing strategy and tells how you will distribute your products and promote your business.
• An organizational chart outlines who runs your business and how all the work gets done, from field manager to farmers market help.
• Funding needs explains total money needed, how it will be used, and why the investment makes sense.
• The financial statement summarizes the past three years' balance sheets and income statements, along with five-year projections for income and cash flow.
• An appendix might include items such as field maps, marketing literature or a summary of a recent contract.
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InnovatorsWhen you run your own farm, you’re an entrepreneur as much as a producer. That means you need to understand Business Planning 101, says Penny Brown Huber, program administrator for Iowa’s Growing Your Small Market Farm Business Planning Program.
"Entrepreneurs are innovators," Huber says. "They have a strong desire to create something new. They also have a vision of how their business will grow and a plan to make it happen."
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