The Profitable Farmer
Strategic Business Planning for Profit, Purpose, and Quality of Life
Start running a profitable farm—without the burnout, chaos, or constant guessing.
Build a farm that sustains you—not just your crops.
Farming isn't just a job—it's a way of life. But too many farmers work longer hours every year and still struggle to make enough money, take time off, and feel confident about why they're doing this work at all.
The Profitable Farmer shows how to step off that treadmill and build a farm business that supports profit, purpose, and quality of life. Written by farm business experts Julia Shanks and Dan Brisebois, this hands-on guide offers a five-year roadmap to build a farm that's financially resilient and personally sustainable—without sacrificing your values or burning out in the process.
Inside, you'll learn how to:
- Create a five-year vision grounded in real profit goals, meaningful work, and a sustainable schedule
- Turn that vision into clear, workable annual plans
- Align production, sales, labor, and finances instead of managing them in silos
- Use simple tracking systems to adjust before small problems become big ones
- Build a farm that is financially viable, purpose-driven, and personally sustainable.
Built around four core pillars—grounded financials, strategic sales, a balanced team, and effective production—The Profitable Farmer gives you the strategic foundation to grow a thriving farm and a life you love.
Julia Shanks brings a broad range of professional experience to her clients; from pilot, to chef, to serial entrepreneur, she combines the practicality of an accountant with the creativity of a chef. Julia's career started at the FAA as an aviation analyst, and quickly took a turn into the culinary arts. Julia worked as a chef for 15 years, launching several food businesses. After earning an MBA in entrepreneurship, she taught graduate and undergraduate accounting at Babson College. As a business consultant and coach, she supports owners of small- and medium-sized food and agricultural businesses to achieve and maintain financial and operational sustainability. She is the author of The Farmer's Office, Second Edition and together with Brett Grohsgal, she co-authored The Farmers Market Cookbook. Julia lives in Cambridge, MA.
Dan Brisebois is a founding member of Tourne-Sol co-operative farm, which supplies weekly farm baskets for 500 families and operates a thriving retail and wholesale seed business. He earned a B.Sc in Agricultural Engineering from McGill University and has over two decades of experience as both a market farmer and a seed producer. Dan is a founding member of the Eastern Canadian Organic Seed Growers network, former board member of SeedChange, and past president of Canadian Organic Growers. As well as writing and teaching extensively, he mentors farmers in the art of effective planning, systems design, and time management at the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy, and hosts the popular Seed Farmers podcast. Dan is author of The Seed Farmer and co-author of the COG Practical Skills Handbook Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers. He lives and farms in Les Cèdres, Quebec.
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