Business Planning Tips for Ag Biz Resilience
- Oct 2
- 2 min read
The 2025 REGENERATE Conference will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on November 5-7, 2025 and features a host of speakers exploring adaptation, innovation, and resilience. One of the plenary speakers will be Brittany Duffy from Uncompahgre Farms in western Colorado. If you are a beginning farmer/rancher interested in agritourism and direct to consumer sales, you will want to hear Brittany's presentation titled: "Depth Over Breadth: Rooting in Place to Cultivate True Resilience."
Brittany Duffy is not only co-founder of Uncompahgre Farms, but also the Cowpoke Palooza, a community agriculture event. Although Brittany did not grow up on a farm, she always imagined one day being able to farm. In 2019, that dream took root when she and her co-founder Caleb Valdez started with just five cows and three leased acres. With tenacity, creativity, and a whole lot of fence-moving, they’ve grown a vibrant, community-focused farm that raises grass-finished beef and lamb while hosting educational programs and on-farm events.
As part of their professional development, Brittany and Caleb took Holistic Management training through HMI's partnership with Valley Food Partnership in Montrose, Colorado and funded by the USDA. “A lot of the course focused on the triple bottom line,” says Brittany. “The class helped us hone in on the financial side of things so we can stay viable. The people and land management side of things were clear to us about why we are doing it. But the financial side of things is another hat that we haven’t worn too much.” They also appreciated the Holistic Management focus on quality of life and mental health and how the management process is all encompassing.
“The weak link test was particularly helpful on where to expand and use our capital. Everyone has a finite amount of capital to invest. Now we are looking at anything we purchase and asking: ‘Is this necessary for the business and what is the return on investment?’ When we were getting started I would search on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. As you acquire things you start asking ‘Do I need this?” It was great to have a class to be challenged on what needed to be expended and for what.”
Learn more about Brittany's journey and how you can take these tools home with you at the 2025 REGENERATE Conference and at HMI's "Planning for Profit in Agriculture" workshop on November 5, 2025.
