Cornell to offer online classes in small farms program

ITHACA, N.Y — A lineup of online courses are offered this winter and spring by the Cornell Small Farms Program.
Here are the next courses in the line-up:

BF 102: Markets and Profits is a six week online course aimed at aspiring farmers still forming their farm plans. They will be held Jan. 15 to Feb. 19 with all Thursday night webinars.

BF 104: Financial Record Keeping is a six week course for farmers who need guidance establishing an effective system for tracking and analyzing their farm’s performance. They will be held Jan 12 – Feb 15 with Monday night webinars.

BF 203: Holistic Financial Planning is for farmers with at least a few years of financial records on hand (in any form!) who want to proactively plan to be profitable. Tues. Jan 20 – Feb 24 with all Tuesday night webinars.

BF 120: Vegetable Production I is a five week course for aspiring and start-up farmers seeking to improve their crop planning and planting skills (BF 121: Vegetable Farming II starts in late Feb. and continues with season-long care to post-harvest handling). THey will be held Wed. Jan 7 – Feb 11 with all Wednesday night webinars.

BF 140: Small-scale Organic Grain Production is a new seven week course for farmers of all experience levels to explore adding a grain enterprise to their farms. They will be held Jan 14 – Feb 25 with all Wednesday night webinars.

All courses consists of weekly real-time webinars followed by homework, readings, and discussions on your own time in an online setting.

Each course is $200, but multiple people from the same farm may participate without paying extra. Courses open for registration will have a link at the bottom of the course description page (http://nebeginningfarmers.org/online-courses/all-courses/) allowing online registration.

For more information contact Erica Frenay at 607-255-9911 for details. Participants who complete all requirements of one or more online courses are eligible to be endorsed for a 0% interest loan of up to $10,000 through Kiva Zip.