University of Florida

Success Stories

Small Farms Classes


Video Transcript

Tracy DeCubellis, small farm owner and soap-making business owner: "My son is in 4-H, and he had a goat, and she had been to the fair and won a blue ribbon. And she was bred and then had milk, and you can only have so much goat cheese and so I had all this milk left over when I was done with the cheese."

"In Gilchrist County, Marvin Weaver--who is director there--told me about the different opportunities offered to me because I was just starting my agriculture career. And I started receiving the Alachua Grower Magazine from Alachua County Extension, and that’s where I turned out about the classes."

"So from that class I took the idea that it was okay to continue starting off small and to build up from there. So that’s what I did. I just do farm markets and sell at the farm markets and I’ve expanded from there from word of mouth."

"They gave me a lot of ideas as far as coming up with a name for the company and for our farm in general--how to present an attractive display and how to market it, how to find a niche."

"It’s kinds of things that if you’re not a business-minded person, you may not really realize how you come across to the consumer. And you have to change the way you see your business. It is a hobby, and it’s fun, but it’s not what you want--it’s about what people want. And that’s kind of the mindset I tried to learn from that class."

"I think that’s the greatest thing I’ve learned and I think it would be very beneficial to other people in agriculture to take a class like this."

Linda Landrum, Regional Specialized Agent in Marketing and Community Resource Development for IFAS Extension and Small Farms Classes teacher: "You can’t teach production without the business and marketing side of it. So really I look at it as the companion to the production education that we do. You need that business marketing side as well."

"The best place to go to get information on the classes if you’re not able to participate would be to the Small Farms Web site. We’ve put a lot of the presentations online, and they are narrated by the professor at that time. And you can actually listen to those PowerPoints in the comfort of your own home."

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