How to write a business plan for a grain farm?

Putting together a business plan for a grain farm can be daunting - especially if you're creating a business for the first time - but with this comprehensive guide, you'll have the necessary tools to do it confidently.

We will explore why writing one is so important in both starting up and growing an existing grain farm, as well as what should go into making an effective plan - from its structure to content - and what tools can be used to streamline the process and avoid errors.

Without further ado, let us begin!

Why write a business plan for a grain farm?

Understanding the document's scope and goals will help you easily grasp its structure and content. Before diving into the specifics of the plan, let's take a moment to explore the key reasons why having a grain farm business plan is so crucial.

To have a clear roadmap to grow the business

It's rarely business as usual for small businesses. The economy follows cycles where years of growth are followed by recessions, and the business environment is always changing with new technologies, new regulations, new competitors, and new consumer behaviours appearing all the time...

In this context, running a business without a clear roadmap is like driving blindfolded: it's dangerous at best. That's why writing a business plan for a grain farm is essential to create successful and sustainable businesses.

To write an effective business plan, you will need to take stock of where you are (if you are already in business) and where you want the business to go in the next three to five years.

Once you know where you want your grain farm to be, you'll have to identify:

• what resources (human, equipment, and capital) are needed to get there,
• at what pace the business needs to progress to get there in time,
• and what risks you'll face along the way.

Going through this process regularly is beneficial, both for startups and existing companies, as it helps make informed decisions about how best to allocate resources to ensure the long-term success of the business.

To anticipate future cash flows

Regularly comparing your actual financial performance to the projections in the financial forecast of your grain farm's business plan gives you the ability to monitor your business's financial health and make necessary adjustments as needed.

This practice allows you to detect potential financial issues, such as unexpected cash shortfalls before they escalate into major problems. Giving you time to find additional financing or put in place corrective measures.

Additionally, it helps you identify growth opportunities, like excess cash flow that could be allocated to launch new products and services or expand into new markets.

Staying on track with these regular comparisons enables you to make well-informed decisions about the amount of financing your business might require, or the excess cash flow you can expect to generate from your main business activities.

To secure financing

A detailed business plan becomes a crucial tool when seeking financing from banks or investors for your grain farm.

Investing and lending to small businesses are very risky activities given how fragile they are. Therefore, financiers have to take extra precautions before putting their capital at risk.

At a minimum, financiers will want to ensure that you have a clear roadmap and a solid understanding of your future cash flows (like we just explained above). But they will also want to ensure that your business plan fits the risk/reward profile they seek.

This will off-course vary from bank to bank and investor to investor, but as a rule of thumb. Banks will want to see a conservative financial management style (low risk), and they will use the information in your business plan to assess your borrowing capacity — the level of debt they think your business can comfortably handle — and your ability to repay the loan. This evaluation will determine whether they'll provide credit to your grain farm and the terms of the agreement.

Whereas investors will carefully analyze your business plan to gauge the potential return on their investment. Their focus lies on evidence indicating your grain farm's potential for high growth, profitability, and consistent cash flow generation over time.

Now that you recognize the importance of creating a business plan for your grain farm, let's explore what information is required to create a compelling plan.

What information is needed to create a business plan for a grain farm?

Writing a grain farm business plan requires research so that you can project sales, investments and cost accurately in your financial forecast.

In this section, we cover three key pieces of information you should gather before drafting your business plan!

Carrying out market research for a grain farm

Before you begin writing your business plan for a grain farm, conducting market research is a critical step in ensuring precise and realistic financial projections.

Market research grants you valuable insights into your target customer base, competitors, pricing strategies, and other crucial factors that can impact the success of your business.

In the course of this research, you may stumble upon trends that could impact your grain farm.

Your grain farm may have the potential to attract more customers who are interested in organic products. Market research could reveal that there is a growing trend of consumers who are interested in buying organic and sustainably-sourced produce. Market research might also indicate that there is a potential for increased sales from consumers who are looking for locally-sourced grain. This trend could be driven by a desire for fresher, more locally-produced food.

Such market trends play a pivotal role in revenue forecasting, as they provide essential data regarding potential customers' spending habits and preferences.

By integrating these findings into your financial projections, you can provide investors with more accurate information, enabling them to make well-informed decisions about investing in your grain farm.

Developing the marketing plan for a grain farm

Before delving into your grain farm business plan, it's imperative to budget for sales and marketing expenses.

To achieve this, a comprehensive sales and marketing plan is essential. This plan should provide an accurate projection of the necessary actions to acquire and retain customers.

Additionally, it will outline the required workforce to carry out these initiatives and the corresponding budget for promotions, advertising, and other marketing endeavours.

By budgeting accordingly, you can ensure that the right resources are allocated to these vital activities, aligning them with the sales and growth objectives outlined in your business plan.

The staffing and capital expenditure requirements of a grain farm

Whether you are starting or expanding a grain farm, it is important to have a clear plan for recruitment and capital expenditures (investment in equipment and real estate) in order to ensure the success of the business.

Both the recruitment and investment plans need to be coherent with the timing and level of growth planned in your forecast, and require appropriate funding.

A grain farm could incur staffing costs for hiring an experienced farm manager to oversee the operation of the farm, as well as additional workers to plant and harvest the crops. In addition, the farm could incur costs to purchase and maintain the necessary equipment such as tractors, combines, seeders, irrigators, and other tools necessary for successful grain production.

In order to create a realistic financial forecast, you will also need to consider the other operating expenses associated with running the business on a day-to-day basis (insurance, bookkeeping, etc.). 

Once you have all the necessary information to create a business plan for your grain farm, it is time to start creating your financial forecast.

What goes into your grain farm's financial forecast?

The financial forecast of your grain farm's business plan will enable you to assess the growth, profitability, funding requirements, and cash generation potential of your business in the coming years.

The four key outputs of a financial forecast for a grain farm are:

• The profit and loss (P&L) statement,
• The projected balance sheet,
• The cash flow forecast,
• And the sources and uses table.

Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail.

The projected P&L statement

Your grain farm forecasted P&L statement enables the reader of your business plan to get an idea of how much revenue and profits your business is expected to make in the near future.

Ideally, your reader will want to see:

• Growth above the inflation level
• Expanding profit margins
• Positive net profit throughout the plan

Expectations for an established grain farm will of course be different than for a startup. Existing businesses which have reached their cruising altitude might have slower growth and higher margins than ventures just being started.

The projected balance sheet of your grain farm

The balance sheet for a grain farm is a financial document that provides a snapshot of your business’s financial health at a given point in time.

It shows three main components: assets, liabilities and equity:

• Assets: are resources owned by the business, such as cash, equipment, and accounts receivable (money owed by clients).
• Liabilities: are debts owed to creditors and other entities, such as accounts payable (money owed to suppliers) and loans.
• Equity: includes the sums invested by the shareholders or business owners and the cumulative profits and losses of the business to date (called retained earnings). It is a proxy for the value of the owner's stake in the business.

Examining the balance sheet is important for lenders, investors, or other stakeholders who are interested in assessing your grain farm's liquidity and solvency:

• Liquidity: assesses whether or not your business has sufficient cash and short-term assets to honour its liabilities due over the next 12 months. It is a short-term focus.
• Solvency: assesses whether or not your business has the capacity to repay its debt over the medium-term.

Looking at the balance sheet can also provide insights into your grain farm's investment and financing policies.

In particular, stakeholders can compare the value of equity to the value of the outstanding financial debt to assess how the business is funded and what level of financial risk has been taken by the owners (financial debt is riskier because it has to be repaid, while equity doesn't need to be repaid).

The cash flow forecast

As we've seen earlier in this guide, monitoring future cash flows is the key to success and the only way of ensuring that your grain farm has enough cash to operate.

As you can expect showing future cash flows is the main role of the cash flow forecast in your grain farm business plan.

It is best practice to organise the cash flow statement by nature in order to show the cash impact of the following areas:

• Cash flow generated from operations: the operating cash flow shows how much cash is generated or consumed by the business's commercial activities
• Cash flow from investing activities: the investing cash flow shows how much cash is being invested in capital expenditure (equipment, real estate, etc.) either to maintain the business's equipment or to expand its capabilities
• Cash flow from financing activities: the financing cash flow shows how much cash is raised or distributed to financiers

Looking at the cash flow forecast helps you to make sure that your business has enough cash to keep running, and can help you anticipate potential cash shortfalls.

Your grain farm business plan will normally include both yearly and monthly cash flow forecasts so that the readers can view the impact of seasonality on your business cash position and generation.

The initial financing plan

The initial financing plan, also known as a sources and uses table, is a valuable resource to have in your business plan when starting your grain farm as it reveals the origins of the money needed to establish the business (sources) and how it will be allocated (uses).

Having this table helps show what costs are involved in setting up your grain farm, how risks are shared between founders, investors and lenders, and what the starting cash position will be. This cash position needs to be sufficient to sustain operations until the business reaches a break-even point.

Now that you have a clear understanding of what goes into the financial forecast of your grain farm business plan, let's shift our focus to the written part of the plan.

The written part of a grain farm business plan

The written part of the business plan is where you will explain what your business does and how it operates, what your target market is, whom you compete against, and what strategy you will put in place to seize the commercial opportunity you've identified.

Having this context is key for the reader to form a view on whether or not they believe that your plan is achievable and the numbers in your forecast realistic.

The written part of a grain farm business plan is composed of 7 main sections:

1. The executive summary
2. The presentation of the company
3. The products and services
4. The market analysis
5. The strategy
6. The operations
7. The financial plan

Let's go through the content of each section in more detail!

1. The executive summary

The first section of your grain farm's business plan is the executive summary which provides, as its name suggests, an enticing summary of your plan which should hook the reader and make them want to know more about your business.

When writing the executive summary, it is important to provide an overview of the business, the market, the key financials, and what you are asking from the reader.

Start with a brief introduction of the business, its name, concept, location, how long it has been in operation, and what makes it unique. Mention any services or products you plan to offer and who you sell to.

Then you should follow with an overview of the addressable market for your grain farm, current trends, and potential growth opportunities.

You should then include a summary of your key financial figures such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

Finally, you should detail any funding requirements in the ask section.

2. The presentation of the company

The second section in your grain farm's business plan should focus on the structure and ownership, location, and management team of the company.

The structure and ownership part provides an overview of the legal structure of the business, who the owners are and how much each has invested and owns. If you are seeking financing it is important that the reader gets a clear picture of which legal entity is receiving the funds, and who controls the business.

The location part should give an overview of the premises from which the company is operating, and why that location is of particular interest (catchment area, accessibility, amenities nearby, etc.).

When describing the location of your grain farm, you could emphasize its proximity to major transport hubs, such as airports, seaports, or rail networks. You may also want to mention the availability of local resources, such as water, fertile soil, and access to labour. Additionally, you could point out the potential for growth in the area, both in terms of population and economic development. This could include the possibility of increased demand for grain or other agricultural products. Finally, you could highlight the potential for capitalizing on new technologies, such as automated farming or precision agriculture.

Finally, you should introduce the management team. Explain each member's role, background, and experience.

It is also important to emphasize any past successes that the members of the management team have achieved, and how long they've been working together, as this will help potential lenders or investors understand why they should trust in their leadership.

3. The products and services section

The products and services section of your grain farm business plan should include a detailed description of what your company sells to its customers. 

For example, your grain farm might offer the sale and delivery of grain crops such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats to its customers. Additionally, you might offer crop consulting and soil testing services for farmers to optimize their yields. Finally, your farm might offer storage and drying services to ensure the grain remains in top condition before delivery. These products and services can help customers improve their farming operations and ensure they always have access to the grains they need.

The reader will want to understand what makes your grain farm unique from other businesses in this competitive market.

When drafting this section, you should be precise about the categories of products or services you sell, the clients you are targeting and the channels that you are targeting them through. 

4. The market analysis

When presenting your market analysis in your grain farm business plan, you should detail the customers' demographics and segmentation, target market, competition, barriers to entry, and any regulations that may apply.

The goal of this section is to help the reader understand how big and attractive your market is, and demonstrate that you have a solid understanding of the industry.

You should start with the demographics and segmentation subsection, which gives an overview of the addressable market for your grain farm, the main trends in the marketplace, and introduces the different customer segments and their preferences in terms of purchasing habits and budgets.

The target market section should follow and zoom on the customer segments your grain farm is targeting, and explain how your products and services meet the specific needs of these customers.

For example, your target market might include large-scale grain producers who are looking for a reliable source of grain to meet their needs. These customers would typically be commercial farmers who require large amounts of grain to feed their livestock or to be sold to customers. They would also appreciate the convenience of dealing with a single grain farm as opposed to multiple smaller farms.

Then comes the competition subsection, where you should introduce your main competitors and explain what differentiates you from them.

Finally, you should finish your market analysis by giving an overview of the main regulations applicable to your grain farm.

5. The strategy section

When crafting the strategy section of your business plan for your grain farm, it's important to cover several key aspects, including your competitive edge, pricing strategy, sales & marketing plan, milestones, and risks and mitigants.

In the competitive edge subsection, clearly explain what sets your company apart from competitors. This is particularly critical if you're a startup, as you'll be trying to establish your presence in the marketplace among entrenched players.

The pricing strategy subsection should demonstrate how you aim to maintain profitability while offering competitive prices to your customers.

For the sales & marketing plan, outline how you plan to reach and acquire new customers, as well as retain existing ones through loyalty programs or special offers.

In the milestones subsection, detail what your company has achieved thus far and outline your primary objectives for the coming years by including specific dates for expected progress. This ensures everyone involved has clear expectations.

Lastly, in the risks and mitigants subsection, list the main risks that could potentially impact the execution of your plan. Explain the measures you've taken to minimize these risks. This is vital for investors or lenders to feel confident in supporting your venture - try to proactively address any objection they might have.

Your grain farm faces a variety of risks. For example, your crop may be damaged by weather events such as droughts, floods, and extreme temperatures. These could lead to reduced yields, which could cause financial losses. Additionally, your farm could be at risk of pests or plant diseases. This could lead to a deterioration of the quality of the crop, or even complete crop loss. Both of these risks could have a major impact on the success of your farm.

6. The operations section

The operations of your grain farm must be presented in detail in your business plan.

Begin by addressing your staff, specifying the main roles and your recruitment plan to support the anticipated growth. Outline the qualifications and experience needed for each role and discuss your recruitment strategies, which may involve using job boards, referrals, or headhunters.

Next, clearly state your grain farm's operating hours, allowing the reader to gauge the adequacy of your staffing levels. Additionally, mention any considerations for varying opening times during peak seasons and your approach to handling customer queries outside regular operating hours.

The key assets and intellectual property (IP) required to run your business should also be highlighted. If you rely on licenses, trademarks, physical structures like equipment or property, or lease agreements, ensure they are well-documented in this section.

You could have key assets such as land, equipment, and buildings that make up your farm. You may also have intellectual property such as unique farming techniques and patented seeds that you use on your farm. These assets and IP could be valuable to your farm operations and may help you to become more successful.

Finally, provide a comprehensive list of suppliers you intend to collaborate with, along with a breakdown of their services and main commercial terms, such as price, payment terms, break clauses and contract duration. Investors often seek insight into the reasons behind your supplier choices, which may include a preference for higher-quality products or established relationships from past ventures.

7. The presentation of the financial plan

The financial plan section is where we will include the financial forecast we talked about earlier in this guide.

Now that you have a clear idea of the content of a grain farm business plan, let's look at some of the tools you can use to create yours.

What tool should I use to write my grain farm's business plan?

There are two main ways of creating your grain farm business plan:

• Using specialized business planning software,
• Hiring a business plan writer.

Using an online business plan software for your grain farm's business plan

Using online business planning software is the most efficient and modern way to create a grain farm business plan.

There are several advantages to using specialized software:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here.

Hiring a business plan writer to write your grain farm's business plan

Outsourcing your grain farm business plan to a business plan writer can also be a viable option.

Business plan writers are experienced in writing business plans and adept at creating financial forecasts without errors. Furthermore, hiring a consultant can save you time and allow you to focus on the day-to-day operations of your business.

However, hiring business plan writers is expensive as you are paying for the software used by the consultant, plus their time, and their profit margin of course.

From experience, you need to budget at least £1.5k ($2.0k) excluding tax for a complete business plan, more if you need to make changes after the initial version (which happens frequently after the initial meetings with lenders or investors).

You also need to be careful when seeking investment. Investors want their money to be used to grow the business, not spent on consulting fees. Therefore, the amount you spend on business plan writing services (and other consulting services such as legal services) needs to be negligible relative to the amount raised.

The other drawback is that you usually don't own the business plan itself: you just get the output, while the actual document is saved in the consultant's business plan software - which makes it difficult to maintain the document up to date without hiring the consultant on a retainer.

For these reasons, outsourcing the grain farm business plan to a business plan writer should be considered carefully, weighing both the advantages and disadvantages of hiring outside help.

Ultimately, it may be the right decision for some businesses, while others may find it beneficial to write their business plan using online software.

Why not create your grain farm's business plan using Word or Excel?

I must advise against using Microsoft Excel and Word (or their Google, Apple, or open-source equivalents) to write your grain farm business plan. Let me explain why.

Firstly, creating an accurate and error-free financial forecast on Excel (or any spreadsheet) is highly technical and requires a strong grasp of accounting principles and financial modelling skills. It is, therefore, unlikely that anyone will fully trust your numbers unless you have both a degree in finance and accounting and significant financial modelling experience, like us at The Business Plan Shop.

Secondly, relying on spreadsheets is inefficient. While it may have been the only option in the past, technology has advanced significantly, and software can now perform these tasks much faster and with greater accuracy. With the rise of AI, software can even help us detect mistakes in forecasts and analyze the numbers for better decision-making.

And with the rise of AI, software is also becoming smarter at helping us detect mistakes in our forecasts and helping us analyse the numbers to make better decisions.

Moreover, software makes it easier to compare actuals versus forecasts and maintain up-to-date forecasts to keep visibility on future cash flows, as we discussed earlier in this guide. This task is cumbersome when using spreadsheets.

Now, let's talk about the written part of your grain farm business plan. While it may be less error-prone, using software can bring tremendous gains in productivity. Word processors, for example, lack instructions and examples for each part of your business plan. They also won't automatically update your numbers when changes occur in your forecast, and they don't handle formatting for you.

Overall, while Word or Excel may seem viable for some entrepreneurs to create a business plan, it's by far becoming an antiquated way of doing things.

Takeaways

1. Having an up-to-date business plan is key to maintaining visibility on your future cash flows.
2. A business plan has 2 parts: a financial forecast highlighting the expected growth, profitability and cash generation of the business; and a written part which provides the context needed to interpret and assess the quality of the forecast.
3. Using business plan software is the modern way of writing and maintaining business plans.

We hope that this guide helped you to better understand how to write the business plan for a grain farm. If you still have questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• How to write a 5 years business plan
• What is a business plan?
• Guide to writing the conclusion of a business plan
• Tips to write an effective business plan
• Business plan myths

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