Welcome to the Friends of Family Farmers Resources Library! Check back frequently, as resources are updated often.
Farmer Resources
Visit Oregon Farm Link for a comprehensive, easily searchable library of resources for farmers at all stages of experience. Topics include:
General Beginning Farmer & Rancher Resources
Certifications, Food Safety, & Risk Management
Eater Resources
Resources for Sourcing Pro Pasture >>
Information Warehouses
- Oregon State University’s Small Farms Program provides information and assistance for small, commercial growers and small acreage landowners.
- Oregon Department of Ag’s Grants, Loans, and Technical Assistance page
- ODA’s New and Small Farmer Resources page contains information on trainings, business planning, loans, marketing, compliance, and more.
- National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (formerly ATTRA): news, events and funding for sustainable agriculture, including Evaluating a Rural Enterprise.
- USDA’s National Agricultural Library’s Alternative Farming Systems Information Center focuses on topics related to sustainable and alternative agricultural systems, crops and livestock.
- Ag Risk + Farm Management Library contains thousands of materials on risk management, marketing, financial management and more.
General Guides
- Growing Farms: Successful Whole Farm Management Planning Book is extensive information on whole-farm management
- Illinois Direct Farm Business — Structuring & Setting Up a Direct Farm Business, Marketing & Managing, Taxation, Labor, Regulation by Product Category/Activity
- New American FoodShed Guide Decision Tree helps beginning farmers decide how to organize as a business, how to pursue financing, which advisors to seek and how to market.
- Guide to Farming in New York State — Leasing/Buying, Land Conditions, Infrastructure, Financing, Risk Management, Insurance, Law, Environmental Regulations
- A Guide to Farming in Pennsylvania — Pre-Venture Planning, Production, Marketing, Value-Added Agriculture, Farm Transition
- Cultivate the Soil: Resources for Beginning and Small-Scale Farmers and Ranchers in Washington State: fourteen chapters cover topics such as Business Planning, Marketing, Insurance, Education, Sustainable Agriculture and Energy Efficiency.
- Federal Resources for Sustainable Rural Communities: a guide from USDA Rural Development covering everything from energy and housing to economic development
Also, AgrAbility offers services to farmers and ranchers with disabilities of all kinds.
The State of Ag in Oregon
- Oregon Agripedia: the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s guide to regulations and laws that apply to agriculture.
- Great and Growing: People and Jobs in Oregon’s Agri-Cluster: from 1000 Friends of Oregon
- The Crossroads Resource Center offers nine (9) regionally distinct Farm & Food Economy Studies covering all of Oregon.
* Friends of Family Farmers provides these resources solely for educational purposes. Friends of Family Farmers neither favors nor endorses any of the organizations listed on this website, nor are they responsible for any incorrect information that is listed on the hyperlinked external sites. *