Does a smallholding need a business plan?

Hugh & Fiona Osborne firmly believe that a smallholding needs a business plan, even if it isn't a business. They have seen too many smallholdings fail for lack of a financial plan.

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WHY DOES A SMALLHOLDING NEED A BUSINESS PLAN?

When we dreamed about “escaping to the country” and turning our backs on our office lives (Fiona was a Finance Director and Hugh was a consultant Programme Manager), the last thing we wanted was to fill in forms, write proposals and do financial projections. Many years later we have a very different perspective. Smallholding is hard work and the rewards can be frustratingly small but it is possible to have a long-term smallholding, it just needs a realistic approach.

We didn’t set out to be commercial farmers, we were (and still are) aiming for self-sufficiency. But whilst that is something we will always strive towards, there are always going to be expenses. Understanding and creating a budget for our living costs is the foundation of our Smallholding Plan

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

All smallholdings will have to spend money and whenever we think we've budgeted for everything, something else comes along. Having a “contingency budget” for those unexpected expenses isn’t a cushion for us, it’s a necessity! In order to have a sensible understanding of what we spend each month, we've break our budget into some major headings

The headings are:

1. Compulsory Spend. These are those things that we cannot choose to ignore including:

a. Mortgage / Rent

b. Council Tax

c. Water Rates

d. Utility Bills

2. Regular Bills These are the bills that we face each month. There is more flexibility in these. They include

a. Food & General Supplies bills. We try to grow and produce as much of what we need as we can, but still have to buy laundry detergent, rice and toilet roll