Stevie Schafenacker
Farm and Food Business Coach
About Me
I work with small food and farm businesses, and organizations across the food system, using financial record-keeping, analysis, and project management tools as a way to talk about the health of your business or project. Unique to my approach is the integration of a holistic decision-making process. Whether it’s cleaning up records for tax season or supporting long-term profitability, I step in as a sounding board and coach. My work is grounded in trust, thoughtful questions, holistic goals, and financial data.
Based in Northampton, MA, I work across New England and New York, helping clients with record-keeping, grant writing, budgeting, and enterprise planning.
Background
What's my coaching and advising background?
For nearly a decade, I’ve supported farms and food businesses in western Massachusetts, including one-on-one coaching for over 50 farms and projects in the last five years.
In 2016, I joined Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) as a Business and Technical Assistance Coordinator, connecting farmers to resources, leading workshops, and providing direct support where I developed my skills working closely with farms and food producers.
I’m trained in Whole Farm Planning, QuickBooks, financial record-keeping, and learner-centered adult education, and I stay engaged in ongoing professional development.
I’ve created custom planning tools, cleaned up financial records, written business plans, and coached clients in holistic planning and decision-making.
What's my agricultural background?
I worked two seasons on farms in Massachusetts before moving to NYC, where I managed a three-acre youth-focused farm in Brooklyn. In 2009, I quadrupled its production and revenue to keep the program afloat during the financial crisis, aiming to prove the farm could be financially viable—an idea still new in NYC’s urban ag scene. Afterward, I helped other urban farms develop and improve their projects.
What kind of farms do I work with?
Diversified vegetable, fruit and livestock farms, value-added producers, flowers, honeybees, Christmas trees, perennial plants and nurseries. I don’t currently work with wholesale dairy, cranberry, or seafood/oyster farms.
I mainly support direct-market farmers and those with value-added or agritourism enterprises. While I don’t work with major wholesale operations, I do assist farmers selling wholesale to restaurants, aggregators, and regional buyers.
I’ve helped beginning farmers, family-run operations, enterprises in growth or transition, nonprofit farms, and farmers facing cultural, educational, or language barriers to traditional services.
What about food producers and organizations?
Yes! I offer the same services to food producers and organizations as I do to farms. I’ve spent over 13 years in agricultural nonprofits and about 6 years in the restaurant industry—including managing a butcher shop’s front of house, catering events, and cooking for 200 campers.
Much of my work translates across the food system, and financial planning speaks the same language. I’ve supported nonprofit farms, prepared-food producers, and small startups.