Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Taylor in Business, Farming Resources, Law, Management, Publications // 0 Comments

New: Improve Resilience and Stability With Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures

Order or download Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures now. Selecting the right business entity for your farm is like building the foundation of a house. Without the right foundation, the house will falter. Choosing an appropriate business structure encourages you to follow good business practices in accounting and decision-making, and it protects your personal assets should your farm get into financial trouble. SARE’s newest book, Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures, provides practical tools to help you choose the best business entity for your operation.

Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures describes the fundamentals of sole proprietorships, general partnerships, limited liability companies and C, S and B corporations in straightforward language. The pros and cons of nonprofit and cooperative business models are addressed, and the guide includes checklists, sample operating agreements and bylaws to help farmers draft organizing documents.

Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures is available in print for $26 plus shipping and handling or as a free download in PDF, MOBI and EPUB formats. Call (301) 779-1007 or visit SARE’s webstore to order. Discounts are available for orders of 10 items or more.

Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures is published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and was written by Farm Commons with support from North Central Region SARE. Farm Commons believes that strong, resilient sustainable farm businesses are built on a solid legal foundation, and provides proactive legal resources that farmers need to become the stable, resilient foundation of a community-based food system. Learn more at www.farmcommons.org.

Please note: This guide does not provide legal advice or establish an attorney-client relationship between the reader and author. Always consult an attorney regarding your specific situation. Farmers will take best advantage of the resources offered here by working with an attorney, accountant and tax preparer and encouraging clear communication with partners, heirs and peers.

This material is distributed by SARE Outreach for the SARE Program and based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture , U.S. Department of Agriculture , under award number 2017-38640-26822 . SARE Outreach operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.