Nine years ago, the first Focus on Farming in Snohomish County was held in a cold building on the county fairgrounds. I believe there were 10 people in attendance. This year, on November 15th, it was held in the Comcast Arena Conference Center and there were over 600 attendees. In less than a decade, small farming has become an important force in this county, and both politicians and businesses have taken notice.

For the first time since World War II, small farms are growing in number. The growth in farmers markets and organic grocers reflects this trend. More businesses are serving the needs of farmers, including those in the high-tech sector. I’ve previously talked about companies such as Farmigo, whose program manages CSA business models end-to-end, but there is now so much more out there.

AgSquared demonstrated their new farm management software, showing some really innovative tools. They incorporate Google Maps in order to measure the square footage of your cultivatable land and to give you a ton of information about it. They add crop management and forecasting tools, in addition to comprehensive reporting options. All this is priced very reasonably, at $60 per year, with the first year at only $36. Their future components will include livestock management and a CSA planner.

There are now so many ways for small farmers to reach their customers online. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, there are a number of low-cost, easily configurable web site options, including Intuit, Go Daddy, Word Press, and many others. Many incorporate blog options and ways to connect to social media.

There are online financial management software packages, from Mint (which is free) to Quickbooks Online (which requires a monthly charge). None of these options require that you install software on your system, so they can be used by a number of devices, including computers, tablets, and smart phones.

How do you decide what to use? You consult your two planning tools: your business plan and your marketing plan. The information you glean from going through the process of developing these plans will really guide you to the proper tools you can use to grow your business and connect with your customers. You’ll want to put your efforts towards the tools that your customers access most.

In my next few postings, I’m going to talk about cutting costs for access to broadband and wireless systems. There are now new ways to access the internet in most places and you don’t have to go through the big, expensive companies. (Unfortunately, a full third of the country still doesn’t have access to wired broadband. That’s slowly changing…very slowly.)