Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
My name's Laura Masterson, and I run the 47th Avenue Farm.
We started growing organic vegetables over 20 years ago.
We're here on Grand Island in the heart of the Willamette
Valley.
We have 38 acres, and we grow a variety of mixed vegetables.
So when most people start farming,
they go into it for the reasons that I
went into it, which is I loved growing food,
and I was really excited about trying
to do that in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way.
But I quickly discovered, as a business person,
as an entrepreneur, that I couldn't do that unless I
could make ends meet.
And I think that's a big challenge for beginning farmers
for a couple of reasons.
One is because maybe they're not excited about the spreadsheets
and the number crunching.
The other is just the complexity of most small farms.
You really-- most people are growing so many different crops
that it's really hard to figure out even where to begin
with all of the analysis.
So that is where the cost study cohort
has been really helpful--
is in figuring out what the most important numbers are to track,
and helping people do that in a way that is less overwhelming
and actually happens.
OSU and Oregon Tilth are working on this cost study program,
which is basically just helping us figure out
the cost of production on really diversified types of farms.
How do we understand what a crop is actually
costing us to grow so we know what to sell it for?
Or we know, if we're selling it at the price point
the market will bear, is that profitable for us
or not profitable for us?
So that has been super exciting-- to get much closer
to understanding that kind of information
about the different crops.
We are just so excited that this is
a joint project between Oregon Tilth and Oregon State
University.
I think it's exactly the kind of thing
that the more these types of organizations
work together to help the small farms, the better it works.
They both have a little bit different expertise,
and they both have great relationships
with a lot of farmers in the valley.
So this has just been a really exciting project,
and they have both brought a lot to the table,
and I hope that we have more projects
like this in the future.
A few years ago, Laura Masterson became one of the first participants in a pilot program called the Cost Study Cohort. The cost study cohort, now known as Know Your Costs to Grow, intends to help small farmers know their costs of production so they can make informed decisions about their operations. Oregon State University’s Small Farms Program partnered with Oregon Tilth to develop the curriculum aimed at helping growers know their costs, and stay in business for long haul. Learn more about how to enroll in the Know Your Costs to Grow course.
See also: 47th Avenue Farm and Center for Small Farms & Community Systems