Free business planner for farmers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Maria Marshall, an agriculture economics professor at Purdue University, developed a software called INventure Business Planner to help farmers plan their operations.

“I had this idea after doing my taxes,” explained Marshall during a webinar. “TurboTax asks you a whole bunch of questions and you put the information in.

“This is a TurboTax approach to business planning. It prompts you to think these things through. That’s the real benefit of business planning. It’s the thought process.”

Business Planning Steps

The software walks farmers through the process step by step:

1. Fundamentals of your business.

2. Analyzing your market.

3. Producing your product or service.

4. Marketing your product or service.

5. Financial analysis of your business.

6. Executive summary.

“For each step, use complete sentences to answer the question,” Marshall advised. “It will offer things to consider, which are thought-provoking questions to help guide your answers.”

Be sure to save your answers as you progress.

“Once you’ve generated a report, you and your team can open the Word file and edit it,” Marshall said. “You can generate multiple versions of your business plan. You can make different plans for different audiences.

“Make your business plan look and reflect the style of your business.”

Learn more at www.purdue.edu/newventure.