Developed by the New England Small Farm Institute, Exploring Your Small Farm Dream will help you answer the important question: "Is starting an agricultural business right for me?" Offered since 2000, this highly regarded business course has been taught in several North American provinces and states.
The course offers a learner-centered approach to exploring agriculture as a career. You will be guided through a detailed self-assessment process that will help you identify the aptitudes, interests, skills, and resources that you can bring to your new farm business.
You will receive support through the process of researching opportunities in agriculture. And you will meet other serious gardeners, livestock enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs who are also asking themselves, “Is starting an agricultural business right for me?”
View a video that Shaw TV shot during the last class of our 2011 course in Winnipeg.
Is This Course For Me?
Thinking about small-scale commercial farming, with the intent to make a profit? You will learn what it takes to start and manage a farm business, and decide whether this is something you really want to pursue. The course will enable you to set personal and farming goals, assess available resources, determine if farming as a business is a good fit for you, and develop an action plan to guide next steps.
Exploring Your Small Farm Dream is an ideal learning and networking opportunity if you are considering:
full-time farming
farming part-time while continuing other employment
changing your career
taking over an existing family farm business
developing an existing but informal agricultural pastime into a more serious business activity
re-strategizing your existing agricultural business
Participants will take a close look at the realities of working for themselves, including what it takes to own and manage a successful agricultural venture. This course is not about developing a farm plan or business plan. It is about researching farming as a career and deciding whether it will align with your interests, values, resources, and skills. All applications will be reviewed to make sure the course is a good fit for you. Click here for a virtual overview of the Explorer course.
*Please note the date and location change for the second session. Registration is closed for this year's course. If you want to be added to the contact list for next year, please email
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This course is funded by the Canada and Manitoba governments through Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
Instructor
Our course instructor is Clint Cavers, co-owner/operator of Harborside Farms near Pilot Mound. Clint, his wife Pamela, and their three daughters operate a 200-acre livestock farm and direct-marketing business. In 1997, Clint and his family started thinking about making the transition from being debt-ridden conventional farmers to a successful, diversified, small-scale operation.
The Cavers family draws on many sources of knowledge, incorporating holistic management, as well as organic and biodynamic farming principles to their farm. They sell grass-fed beef, pastured pork, pastured poultry, and eggs. At their on-farm store, they process and market traditional cuts and deli meat, sausages, hot dogs, beef jerky, (all nitrate-free, using their own original recipes) and doggy treats produced by two of his daughters!
What past participants from Manitoba are saying about thecourse:
“The worksheets were the most important because you don’t even know what you don’t know!”
“Thank you! Very high quality instruction, very important opportunity.”
“The structure of the worksheets led me through a wide selection of thoughts in an orderly fashion. Having someone like Clint who has transformed to 'alternative' farming adds a lot of credibility to the course.”
2011 Explorer Graduates
"I learned that I still have very much to learn before I start, but feel that I am capable of becoming a small farmer."
"I think this is a great initiative and has quite a lot of potential to help small scale farmers be successful."
"This [course] was one of the steps needed to help us get there. A list of short and long term goals, it also helped set in the reality of yes, yes I can do this, I can farm! So it was inspiring."
Financial Assistance
You may be eligible for tuition reimbursement from the Growing Forward Agri-Excellence Program, once your Gaining Ground Agribusiness Assessment is complete. To find out more, contact Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI). Click here to find your nearest MAFRI GO Office and ask the Extension Coordinator to help you through the first step.
There are scholarships available from Manitoba Farm Mentorship for those who can demonstrate financial need and do not qualify for the Growing Forward Agri-Excellence program. To apply for a scholarship, you must complete the Online Registration Form and the Passing on the Gift Agreement (download Word or PDF file). We will notify you of our decision within four business days.
If you have any questions or need more information, please phone 204.772.3790, or email
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