From 2015 to 2022, New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (UNHCE) led two research projects focused on the financial analysis of diversified, direct market farms.
The first was a pilot project, Benchmarks for Diversified Direct Market Farms in New England, conducted from the fall of 2015 to the summer of 2017. The pilot project was a sub-award of a the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant administered by the Center for Farm Financial Management (CFFM). The pilot project provided essential groundwork for further study.
The second project, Benchmarks for Northeast High Value Agricultural Sectors1, was funded by a NIFA USDA grant awarded to UNHCE for research initiated in the fall of 2017 and completed in the summer of 2022. This NIFA grant expanded the farm types addressed, adding maple syrup operations, and the geographic area covered, adding eastern New York.
This report provides an overview of this research, focusing on the results for diversified, direct market farms2. Highlights are provided under discussions of farm profiles, per acre measures, and financial benchmarks.
1 Farm Business Management and Benchmarking Award No 2018-38504-28901/1017512, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture.
2 The results pertaining to maple syrup operations are presented in a separate report prepared by Mark Cannella, University of Vermont Extension.
