The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

The mission of two Rutgers led projects is to empower women who own horticultural businesses by giving them several sessions of business management training with a focus on developing a business plan throughout the training. Annie’s Project New Jersey is based on a nationally-acclaimed educational program dedicated to strengthening women's roles in the ever-evolving agricultural sector. While Annie’s Project originated in the mid-west where agronomic crops are the primary agricultural crops, New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the U.S. with higher land and labor costs and more regulations than other states.  On the flip side, the state’s comparative advantage over other states is that it has a higher percentage of high-income consumers.  Thus, successful farmers in New Jersey are often horticultural producers and many are direct marketers; they need to produce high value crops and products to succeed in agriculture in New Jersey. With New Jersey farmers working in such a competitive environment, the project team decided that it would require every Annie's Project New Jersey program participant to complete a business plan.  Inspired by the early success of Annie’s Project New Jersey, Rutgers University partnered with Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey to develop Suzanne’s Project in the Antalya province of Turkey. This project provides specialized training in business management, computer skills, and best management production practices to help Turkish women who operate small vegetable greenhouses and citrus orchards pursue opportunities to improve their farm businesses by creating a business plan throughout the course. Lessons learned from each program have been used to improve the other while adapting to local conditions.  Now, all of the women in both locations have completed parts of a business plan, and most of them have plans to finish their plans.