Genesee County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan

Genesee County: Agricultural Development Plan
Five-Year Action Plan
Recommendation 1: Conduct Business Management Training
High quality business and financial management skills are crucial to the long-term
success of the region’s farms. Specifically, middle and senior management skills should
be supported through aggressive use of structured, targeted seminars; roundtables; and
distance learning protocols. The County may also wish to explore the possibility of
making a satellite location available to a regional University for the purpose of
periodically running an executive MBA program for agribusinesses.
In an effort to support these training initiatives, the County, lead by Cornell Cooperative
Extension and the Genesee Community College, should consider partnering with
professional societies and regional universities to offer the following training:
‣ Labor management and recruitment,
‣ Communications,
‣ Capital markets and finance,
‣ Marketing & sales,
‣ Public policy & advocacy,
‣ Transition planning,
‣ Risk management, and
‣ Negotiations.
Priority Level 1: Open an immediate dialogue between senior managers and responsible
agencies to verify need. Begin programs in the first two program years.
Cost Considerations: Services should be offered on a cost recovery basis.
Responsibility: Cornell Cooperative Extension and Genesee Community College.
Recommendation 2: Develop Industry Specific Short Courses
Genesee County farmers indicated that properly designed and delivered educational
opportunities are not readily available in the region. In fact, many indicated a readiness
to pay appropriately higher training and education fees to access such courses.
Therefore, it is recommended that a dialogue with industry leaders, agricultural
educators, and other service providers be started to identify the training needs of the
industry, such as the following:
‣ Hedging strategies,
‣ Labor management,
‣ NxLevel Agricultural Entrepreneurship Training (Cornell),
‣ Computer skills,
‣ Web development,
‣ HACCP in dairy and vegetable operations,
‣ Speaking and understanding foreign languages on the farm,
‣ Estate planning, and
‣ Conducting market research.
Copyright©, 2001: Agricultural & Community Development Services, Inc, Columbia, MD 17