Seeds for Success: Planning and Financing your Local Food Business seminars will provide local food business entrepreneurs the tools to identify financing and get started on a business plan, updating current business plans and expanding businesses to the next level. This one day seminar will be offered at three locations around the State to make this event more accessible. Pick the seminar location that works best for your schedule or the one that is closest to you.

 

 

Carl Rainey, Business Consultant with Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP),  will facilitate the morning program on business planning. Rainey has worked with entrepreneurs seeking capital since 2003. He provides assistance with writing business plans, sourcing project capital, analyzing financial performance of the business and suggests possible solutions to resolve issues. Prior to working for DATCP, Rainey worked as a business consultant for the Small Business Development Center in Wisconsin and New Mexico. Rainey publishes the “Got Moo-La?” booklet that lists sources of debt capital, grants, and other resources available.

 

The afternoon will feature a panel of local financial experts in each area who will focus on loans, cooperative-based funding and grant opportunities.

 

Lunch and morning refreshments will be provided at each location. The registration fee is $10 per person to be paid by October 25, 2011. Checks are to be made out to Wisconsin Farmers Union. Please register with Diane Tiry at dtiry@wisconsinfarmersunion.com or by phone at 715-723-5561 prior to October 25, 2011.

 

This seminar is made possible in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Local Food Network and co-sponsored by U.W. Extension and the Wisconsin Farmers Union.