- Educational, Marketing, PFL Academy
This course provides a practical guide for farmers on how to create, market, and price bulk meat bundles in a way that appeals to modern consumers. Through three video lessons and corresponding quizzes, you’ll learn to understand consumer behavior, explore innovative bulk selling formats, and use MeatSuite’s Bundle Builder to build successful, profitable marketing strategies.
- Educational, Marketing, PFL Academy
This course, presented by marketing expert Charlotte Smith and sponsored by PA Farm Link, provides farmers with essential strategies to convert social media engagement into actual sales. Participants will learn how to leverage social media as a tool for community-building, integrate it with a strong marketing foundation, and implement proven engagement techniques. The course also debunks common social media myths and introduces best practices for growing an email list, creating effective content, and improving customer relationships.
Resources, Guides, Tools, Webinars and More
PA Farm Link Resource Hub
Our extensive Resource Hub offers a wealth of websites, documents, videos, and more, covering all facets of farming. Whether you’re just beginning, exploring new ideas, or are a seasoned expert, we have resources tailored to suit your needs.
PA Farm Link Resources
- Succession / Transition
This booklet is designed to provide you with the resources needed to prepare for and manage a loved
one’s care needs. It includes The Caregiver’s Handbook a NIA publication that will “walk you through”
the aspects of being prepared arranging for and managing care.
- Succession / Transition
See what’s at risk before you need to know!
For Pennsylvania farm families, long-term care costs can put decades of work at risk. This tool gives you a private, plain-language snapshot of which of your assets are countable, and which are exempt from being available to pay for long term care before Medicaid begins. It’s a starting point – not legal advice – designed to help you be prepared for a conversation with an estate planning attorney.
- Business Planning, Educational
Starting a farm is more than planting seeds in the soil or raising cute animals. It’s planning a viable business, with vision, goals, enterprise budgets, and plans that are flexible when things don’t go as planned. This book was created with those beginning steps in mind. It is designed to serve as a practical and approachable resource for new and beginning farmers in Pennsylvania, whether you’re launching your first season or still shaping your farm dream. Our goal is to help you navigate the complexities of farming by offering insights on a wide range of topics, from land access and business planning to risk management and market development.
- Educational, PFL Academy
Our academy offers a collection of free online video courses focused on various organizations that can provide assistance and support to farmers like you. Gain insights, expand your skills, and discover opportunities to thrive in the agricultural industry.
- Succession / Transition
Welcome to Cultivating Continuity: Expert Insights for Farm Succession, a companion to the Cultivating Your Farm’s Future workbook.
- Succession / Transition
This workbook may also be useful for service professionals as they facilitate conversations around farm succession planning with their clients.
End of Content.
- Educational, Succession / Transition, Webinar
A single nursing home stay can drain a lifetime of farm equity. The free Long-Term Care Medicaid Asset Risk Calculator shows Pennsylvania farm families which of their assets may be at risk if long-term care is ever needed.
In this recorded webinar, Darlene Livingston, Executive Director of PA Farm Link, explains why long-term care puts family farms at risk, and Voyage Media Works walks through the calculator live with a fictitious farm family. The calculator gives estimates only; it does not determine Medicaid eligibility and is not legal advice.
- Educational, Financial, PFL Academy
In this three-lesson course, Danny Jordan, a young, beginning, and small (YBS) relationship manager with Horizon Farm Credit, walks beginning and young farmers through the farm loan process from the lender’s side of the desk. He covers what a lender looks for in a loan application, how the Five C’s of credit shape a loan decision, and how to choose the right lender and build a strong financial foundation so you can approach a lender prepared and confident.
- Business Planning, Educational, PFL Academy
In this three-lesson course, Winifred McGee, who spent more than 30 years as a Penn State Extension farm and food business consultant and has worked with SCORE and the PA Small Business Development Centers, shows farmers how to use diversification to build a more resilient operation. She explains what diversification really means, when it is the wrong move, and the five-step process for choosing and launching a new enterprise. She then works through the two ventures farmers ask about most, adding value with a food product and agritourism, covering Pennsylvania’s four food-business paths and licensing rules, and much more.
- Succession / Transition
This booklet is designed to provide you with the resources needed to prepare for and manage a loved
one’s care needs. It includes The Caregiver’s Handbook a NIA publication that will “walk you through”
the aspects of being prepared arranging for and managing care.
- Succession / Transition
See what’s at risk before you need to know!
For Pennsylvania farm families, long-term care costs can put decades of work at risk. This tool gives you a private, plain-language snapshot of which of your assets are countable, and which are exempt from being available to pay for long term care before Medicaid begins. It’s a starting point – not legal advice – designed to help you be prepared for a conversation with an estate planning attorney.
- Business Planning, Educational
Starting a farm is more than planting seeds in the soil or raising cute animals. It’s planning a viable business, with vision, goals, enterprise budgets, and plans that are flexible when things don’t go as planned. This book was created with those beginning steps in mind. It is designed to serve as a practical and approachable resource for new and beginning farmers in Pennsylvania, whether you’re launching your first season or still shaping your farm dream. Our goal is to help you navigate the complexities of farming by offering insights on a wide range of topics, from land access and business planning to risk management and market development.
- Educational, Marketing, PFL Academy
In this course, Charlotte Smith of CharlotteMSmith.com teaches farm business owners how to build a profitable email newsletter from the ground up. Presented by PFL, the three-lesson series covers why email marketing beats social media, how to grow your list with a lead magnet, and the exact seven-part newsletter format Charlotte uses to build trust and drive sales.
- Educational, Financial, PFL Academy
An introduction to farm record keeping presented by Danny Jordan of Horizon Farm Credit. This course covers what farm records are, why they matter, different methods for keeping them, and more!
- Educational, Marketing, PFL Academy
In this three-part course, farm marketing expert Charlotte Smith walks farmers through the core principles of building a brand that actually sells. You’ll learn why logos and farming practices don’t drive sales, how to identify your ideal customer, and how to use a simple four-step formula to create marketing that connects, builds trust, and makes price irrelevant. Whether you are just starting out or hitting a sales ceiling, this course will shift the way you think about marketing your farm.
- Succession / Transition
Communication plays a vital role in every avenue of life. It is normally a challenge that creates friction whether in the family, on the farm, in the office or the manufacturing facility. It’s something we can all work to improve.
- Webinar
How can today’s farmers make room for the next generation? In this inspiring webinar, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms shares 10 powerful principles for creating opportunities, building farm succession, and ensuring the future of regenerative agriculture.
From unlocking hidden potential on the land to fostering entrepreneurial spirit in children, Joel offers practical strategies and personal stories that show how farms can thrive for generations to come.
- Educational, Marketing, PFL Academy
This course, presented by marketing expert Charlotte Smith and sponsored by PA Farm Link, provides farmers with essential strategies to convert social media engagement into actual sales. Participants will learn how to leverage social media as a tool for community-building, integrate it with a strong marketing foundation, and implement proven engagement techniques. The course also debunks common social media myths and introduces best practices for growing an email list, creating effective content, and improving customer relationships.
- Marketing
The manual freezer trade pricing calculator was created for those who prefer to calculate prices by hand. It will lead you through steps similar to the online Cornell Meat Price Calculator allowing you to determine a profitable price for quarters and sides. Utilize the calculator to best meet your pricing needs.
- Marketing
The manual meat pricing & yield guide meat cuts pricing calculator was created for those who prefer to calculate prices by hand. It will lead you through steps similar to the online Cornell Meat Price Calculator allowing you to determine a profitable price for direct marketing meat cuts. Utilize the calculator to best meet your pricing needs
- Educational
In 2024, Chester County Government and the Chester County Economic Development Council (CCEDC) joined forces to create an expanded AgConnect program that serves to ensure the agricultural industry in Chester County and the southeast Pennsylvania region remains a leading economic sector, now and in the future.
AgConnect includes a newly-established AgConnect Executive Advisory Committee, designed to steer and set strategic priorities. The 11-person committee includes chairpersons from the four AgConnect action teams (see below), three agriculture industry leaders appointed by the Chester County Commissioners, three agriculture employers appointed by the CCEDC, and one staff member from the County Commissioners’ Office.
- Educational, PFL Academy
Our academy offers a collection of free online video courses focused on various organizations that can provide assistance and support to farmers like you. Gain insights, expand your skills, and discover opportunities to thrive in the agricultural industry.